Kota Harinarayana is revered globally as the man who shaped India’s modern fighter jet mission.Bengaluru: Nothing much has changed in the life of Kota Harinarayana, who recently turned 75. Despite age catching up at supersonic speeds, he stays fit. He travels a lot, mentoring hundreds of aeronautics scientists. His wife says Harinarayana is wedded to plane dreams.
Revered globally as the man who shaped India’s modern fighter jet mission, Harinarayana is a satisfied man, with his pet bird – the Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas) – finally joining Squadron duty. He was born in 1943 in Bhramapur in Odisha. He is an alumnus of the Institute of Technology, Banaras, which is now the Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras. He did his Phd from IIT, Bombay.
In a freewheeling interview with Onmanorama, the man who passionately guided the Tejas project through one of the most turbulent phases said he still dreamt and looked forward to making India a mighty power in aviation and defence.
The top scientist touched upon many facets of life in the interview, including an incident when he, along with fellow scientists, were captured by Naxals in Manchal village, near Ibrahimpatnam in Telangana. His team was working on a project of their trust, of which former president APJ Abdul Kalam too was a member.
“We wanted to have a small office in the village. So we were in the process of setting it up when they caught us. They were armed. They interrogated us for some time and let us off after ascertaining our credentials and intentions. We never faced any problems after that, and we could complete the project, helping the villagers in the next six to seven years. I never shared this incident with Kalam as I did not want to bother him,” recalled Harinarayana.
To a specific query as to whether he would have loved to co-pilot the Tejas at least once, considering many scientists, engineers and journalists were given ‘joy rides’ in the past, Harinarayana said he is probably too old.
“I am an aeronautical engineer and I always look at aircraft in totality. It is always a wonderful thing to do that. But I thought my age was not right and it could be a challenge for people to agree to my flying,” he said.
Harinarayana is a satisfied man, with his pet bird – the Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas) – finally joining Squadron duty.When asked if he would accept an invitation to co-pilot the Tejas, Harinarayana said he was ready. “One of the greatest qualities of Tejas is that every pilot who flew Tejas has said it was an outstanding fighter from the flyer’s point of view. This has been a comment uniformly made, right from the first pilot. So, that is what I want to feel…” he added.
(The writer is an independent aerospace and defence journalist. He blogs @ Tarmak007 tweets @writetake.)
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