K. Radhakrishnan > Quotes

“Success is a tricky thing... I read somewhere that if you had nine hours to chop down a tree; you must take eight hours to sharpen your tool.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“The leader has the mandate to communicate his priorities and at the same time provide an environment to achieve them.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“So this is where the chairman of ISRO grew up,' quipped Nilanjan. 'No,' I replied. 'This is where Radhakrishnan, just another boy from Irinjalakuda, grew up.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“I did not want to let this opportunity pass, and I took the responsibility to prepare myself. I did it in the earnest. It was a penance of six months. I would regularly wake up at 4 a.m. to brush up my knowledge of launch vehicle technologies and systems and prepare myself... I firmly believed that even if I did not make it, my learning would never go to waste.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“The next morning started quite early for us. For an operation that was to start at 6.55 am., we reached ISTRAC by 2 a.m. Some wished to stay back on the campus. Excitement, hope, anxiety- all emotions were at play on the campus.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“There were both cheers and tears as our engineers went around congratulating each other... We had scripted history.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“But her (Mini) priority was to be my emotional anchor, and she happily chose it over her own career.”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission

“This trying time did take a toll on my mental bearing. I turned to classical music for the healing touch and to recoup. There were days when I would wake up in the wee hours and start practising vocal music vigorously. I never bothered if I sounded great or not; the very exercise gave me tremendous amounts of mental calmness...”
― K. Radhakrishnan, My Odyssey: Memoirs of the Man behind the Mangalyaan Mission