‘Oh Khetolai! I’ll love to live there on sand dunes’

JAISALMER: After he had become the country’s president, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was once asked if he would like to visit Khetolai. “Oh Khetolai! I love Khetolai. If permitted, I would love to live at Khetolai,” was his instant reply.
“I like the full moon nights on sand dunes. I want to spend some moments alone on a full moon night. And I love Pokhran and Khetolai - a better platform to do something with freedom,” he had continued.
Kalam had played an important role in establishing India as a nuclear power in the world. Both the nuclear tests were done in Pokhran. Kalam’s love and association with Pokhran spanned over 24 years. After 1974, the ‘Buddha smiled’ again in 1998 all due to Kalam’s efforts.
After the nuclear tests, Kalam told then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on hotline, “Buddha smiled again.” Thereafter, the official announcement of nuclear tests shocked the entire world. Although the preparations for five nuclear explosions that took place in 1998 were going on for the last many years, the Operation Shakti was given a final shape in 11 days in May 1998. Its code words Alfa, Charlie, Bravo etc were known only to Kalam.
The Operation Shakti started with placing boxes of apple in the cargo carrier of Indian Air Force AN-32.
The boxes travelled on May 1 from Santacruz airport to Jaisalmer by air and from Jaisalmer to Pokhran in an army truck. The charge of this journey was with major Natraj (R Chidambaram) and captain Mamaji (Anil Kalodkar). But when the truck carrying apple cartons reached the prayer hall of Deer Park (testing control room) made at Khetolai village, the charge came in the hands of major Prithvi Raj (Kalam). Actually, there were not apples in apple cartons, but nuclear bombs made at BARC, which were brought to Pokhran from Mumbai with confidentiality.
For nuclear testing, Kalam worked in scorching heat in summer months and gave shape to this mission in confidentiality that no one could know that India was going to conduct nuclear tests. With the help of Alpha company, five deep wells were dug and their names were quite unique.
Out of these five wells of 200-metre deep, hydrogen bombs were tested in two wells which were named White House, whereas Fison bomb well was called Taj Mahal and Sabkileton bomb well was named Kumbkaran.
The remaining two wells NT1 and NT2 were kept reserved for testing that was done the next day.
In this entire campaign, Kalam and other scientists were living on names of soldiers and in the entire campaign, they were in military uniform.