In September 1960, I was a member of the Air-India team to the IATA Fares and Rates Conference held in the Martinez Hotel in Cannes.  The other members of the team were Mr. AF Dubash, Mr. JC Malani, Mr. Balendu Shah and Mr. Malcolm Gomez.

I was the most junior member and as such the “Grunt” or “Gofer” and also what my American friends call “Low Man on the Totem Pole”.

Our table at the Main Conference was between Air France and Alitalia (tables were allocated in alphabetic order).  We heard French on our right and Italian on our left.  We, on the other hand, conversed in English as there was no common Indian language spoken by the AI team.

One evening after a rather late session, I was headed to my room and passed the Head of the PIA team, Mr. Afzal Hussain in the corridor.  He casually asked how I was and I may have unconsciously responded in Punjabi, which is my mother tongue.  Mr. Hussain stopped and asked - Hey, are you a Punjabi?  I responded in the affirmative and he asked me to prove it by abusing him in that language.  Having graduated from Government College, Ludhiana, I promptly let go some of the choicest abuses that I had learnt.  

Lo and behold, Mr. Hussain embraced me in a bear hug and said - you know, we are the only two Punjabis at this Conference.  This deserves a drink and so we repaired to the bar, where we spent a couple of hours exchanging our ancestry and background.  It was a truly memorable occasion which left an indelible mark on me forever.

The 1960 Cannes Conference was my first major IATA Conference and it lasted over 5 weeks.  At that time, the airlines were required to vote unanimously for any changes to fares, rates and rules.  The world was divided into 3 major areas - Area 1, 2 &3.  Area 1 comprised North & South America; Area 2 covered Europe, Middle East & Africa and Area 3 covered Asia & Australia.  Fares & rates were negotiated within an Area or between one area and another.  Any airline operating within say Area 1 could veto an agreement reached either within that area or between Area 1 & 2, Area 3 & 1 or Area 1/2/3.  That is why it took as long as 5 weeks to get a unanimous agreement on ALL fares and rates.

The majority of airlines were represented by very senior Marketing & Sales executives and supported by their staff. For example in 1960, the Pan Am World Airways team was led by Willis Lipscombe, their Sr. VP - Marketing & Sales.  The Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa teams were led by their Commercial Directors while the Air-India team was headed by Adi Dubash, Planning Controller.  Looking at records of previous meetings, I did find the names of Mr. SK Kooka and NV Khote as the leaders of the AI team at some conferences.

The Chairman of the Conference was Vic Dubourcq, Sr. VP Sales of KLM.  Because he was away from his office for such a long time, KLM decided to replace him by another senior Sales staff and changed his title to Sr. VP - Industry Affairs.  In time to come, many airlines realized that they could not spare their very senior commercial personnel for such lengthy periods and by 1970, most of them were represented by people who specialized in Industry Affairs.  I think my last major IATA conference was in 1969 or 1970 after which the AI team was led by BK Mangaokar.  I did attend a few smaller meetings where the IATA Director General determined that very senior representation was required to achieve unanimity but such occasions were few and far between.

I recollect some interesting moments at the 1960 Cannes meeting.  First was a Joint Area 1/2 meeting to discuss  North Atlantic fares and it was at this conference that the airlines decided to introduce a 3rd level of classes instead of just First Class and Tourist Class.  The term Economy Class was coined at Cannes.  The major problem was how to distinguish the level of service between Tourist and Economy and someone suggested that we serve a cold meal to Economy class passengers.  This proposal met with the support of all with the exception of one.  Mr. Dubash vetoed it saying “there is no such thing as a cold Indian meal”.

The compromise was to serve sandwiches and herein lay a clever plot by the European airlines.

While the Americans (PanAm and TWA) served a piece of meat between two slices of bread, the European airlines served open sandwiches which meant a slice of bread heaped with meats, cheese and salad leaves, which gave them a competitive advantage.  This agreement did not last very long and at the next Composite Conference in 1962, the airlines dropped Tourist Class leaving only First and Economy and served regular meals.

Because of many meetings taking place simultaneously, there were occasions where each one of us represented AI individually.  I remember my hesitancy in speaking in front of a mike and so went up to Hans Aeppli, the Swissair Sr. VP Sales who was the alternate Chairman and asked for his advice.  His words left an indelible mark in my memory.  If you know your subject, he stated, then assume you are talking to a bunch of fools.  If you are not completely sure, then do not even attempt to speak as these people are veterans and they will eat you alive.

So, my preparations had to be very long and detailed before I spoke into the mike.

Interestingly, at a meeting of Area 1/2/3 where we were discussing fares between India and the USA, I was the lone AI delegate and the Chairman of this session was Kris Kristiansen, a VP of SAS.  I met Kris many years later when he visited Bombay for talks with us.  He was then the Sr. VP - Marketing & Sales for SAS and I was Commercial Director.  He told all present that our first meeting was way back in 1960.  He remembered that session and said that he had seldom come across such a determined young man who wanted, nay insisted that his proposal had to be accepted unanimously.  I must have made a strong impression on him as I did not become C.D. until 1977 which meant a 17 year gap between our meetings.

Mr. Dubash only stayed for a short time at the Cannes meeting and that left 4 of us.  Meetings were held every day except Sunday and Mr. Shah informed Mr. Malani that he must get his long walks while Mali Gomez said that he had to go to church, which left me as the “punching bag” for Mr. Malani who insisted that I spend my Sunday poring over various draft Resolutions to ensure that each comma, semi-colon and period was in the right place.  Herein lay the difference between Mr. Dubash and Mr. Malani; the former was more concerned with policy while the latter concentrated on the detail.  My education, therefore, was complete, but at what cost - no free time.

Being the most junior, I was also told to attend meetings of various working groups and sub-committees.  While this was drudgery, I must admit that looking back many years later, I have to give credit to Mr. Malani for the tremendous grounding that I received, even if much of it was theoretical.

Which brings me to a very important issue brought home to me by a talk given a few decades later by Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, who is not only my younger son’s father-in-law, but also the Dean of Continuing Education at Harvard Medical School.  Sanjiv conducts many Conferences for 5,000 to 6,000 Medical professionals each year and I was fortunate to attend one of his talks at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.  The main subject of his talk was Leadership by Example and he spoke about The Ten Key Principles of all Great Leaders.  One topic that impressed me most was “Packing Other’s Parachutes”.

Dr. Chopra had as a keynote speaker at one of his Conferences a retired U.S.Naval Captain, Charlie Plumb who, on his 75th mission flying a Phantom Jet was shot down during the Vietnam war and held prisoner.  After his release, Capt. Plumb happened to be sitting at a restaurant having dinner with his wife when he noticed a man sitting nearby, staring at him.  Finally, the man walked over and asked him “Excuse me, but are you Capt. Plumb”.  Plumb nodded and the man said “You were flying off the Kitty Hawk, your plane was shot down, you ejected and were captured and spent 6 years as a prisoner of war and were tortured”.  Capt. Plumb said “That’s true but who are you”  The man smiled and said “I am the guy who packed your parachute.  Obviously, it worked”. The point Capt. Plumb makes is the leadership isn’t a one-way street: at some point every leader will have to depend upon other people, just as the other people will depend upon them.

When Dr. Chopra heard this story, he realized that he had never expressed his appreciation to the people who had packed his parachute - the four or five people who gave him the support and made all the difference in his career.  He then sat down and sent letters of appreciation to five persons who were his mentors.  This, Sanjiv says, was absolutely thrilling and fulfilling for him.

This story had a profound impression on me and I asked Sanjiv to send me his book titled “Leadership by Example” and I would recommend to all those who read this Blog to try and get a copy.

The story made me realize that I had not ever appreciated the many persons whose support and guidance I had received and which helped my not only in the furtherance of my career but even in my retirement.  Unfortunately, by then, all these people had passed away and so, I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to:

1. Mr. N.V. (Bakul) Khote, the then Sales Manager, who brought me into Air-India and had me placed in the Tariffs Division stating “Inder, this is the guts of the business.  If you can master the art of pricing, the sky is your limit” 
2. Mr. S. K. Kooka, our first Commercial Director, who smiled at my interview when in answer to his question “Young man what is your ambition” , I respond “Your chair”.  Mr. Kooka taught me to be ready to answer any question pertaining to my sphere of responsibility; how to express myself, both verbally and in writing and that a good presentation is more than half the battle.  I will always remember his advice - write a letter as if you are speaking to a person. Never use cliches and to try and not have more than two sentences in a paragraph.
3. Mr. A. F. Dubash, our Planning Director, who took me as his assistant to more meetings than I can remember.  I truly learnt at the feet of a master.  He knew his subject and no one across the table could best him. It was because of him that I stayed on in Air-India as I had more than one opportunity to leave for another more lucrative job.
4. Mr. N. H. Dastur, who taught me compassion and his ever lasting words to me - Inder, always keep your door open.  Listen to your people and try and help them.  It was because of Mr. Dastur that I moved back to the Commercial Department and then rose to be Commercial Director and eventually, Deputy Managing Director.
5. Finally, and the one person whom I shall always admire and whose guidance saw me through many difficult situations.  Mr. JRD Tata, our Chairman and my mentor.  He always had time for me even after I had left the airline.  I still have in my files hand written letters from him.  I will talk about this great man at greater length at another time.

To all of the above persons - THANK YOU FOR PACKING MY PARACHUTE.

Half way through our round of golf this morning, we had to stop because of a severe thunderstorm which brought heavy rains.  It brought back very pleasant memories of the monsoons in Bombay and the sea of black umbrellas that came out.  I pictured in my mind the scene at Churchgate Station of commuters disembarking from the trains in the early morning and walking towards Flora Fountain, your truly among them having emerged from our apartment on A Road.

The Parsee Raj was very evident from the number of Parsees who occupied senior posts during the 50s and early 60s.  The Commercial Director was Bobby Kooka, The Director of Operations was AC Guzder, The Financial Controller was Noshir Pavri and The Planning Head was Adi Dubash.  The Regional Head - UK was Manek Dalal and the European Head was JRD’s brother-in-law - Gianni Bertoli.  Some of the senior personnel in Europe were also Parsees - Nari Dastur, Clubwalla, Homi Dubash and Jimmy Junglewalla were examples. 

BR Patel must have had one hell of a job getting his way and this he eventually did.  It is my personal impression that to achieve this, he operated under the British Policy of “Divide & Rule”.  Mind you, this is my own impression seeing how the panorama unfolded during my junior years.

At that time,very few of the Commercial Department staff could stand up to Bobby Kooka and they “toed the line”.  The exceptions were Adi Dubash and Nari Dastur and these were the two persons whom BR Patel cultivated.

When I joined AI, Adi Dubash was Planning Manager (Traffic) and responsible for Commercial Planning under the direct control of Bobby Kooka.  BR Patel made Planning independent and Adi Dubash was designated Planning Controller .  At the same time, the Tariffs Division was officially transferred under Planning. 

Unfortunately, the title of a 2nd string Department Head did not sit very well with him and shortly thereafter, Mr. Dubash left AI to join the Wadia Group and NV (Bakul) Khote took over the post.  Mr. Khote did not stay very long and had to resign for personal reasons.

It is my understanding that at that stage, BR Patel agreed to Mr. Dubash’s terms and he came back as Planning Director - at par with the Commercial Director, only to leave once again in 1967 to join IATA as Compliance Director, based in Geneva. I met Mr. Dubash quite often when I visited Geneva for IATA meetings.

The 2nd person that BR Patel nurtured was Nari Dastur whom he nominated to take over from Gianni Bertoli after the latter unfortunately died in the Mt. Blanc crash.  Nari Dastur went directly to BR Patel on many occasions bypassing Bobby Kooka and this must have caused the latter considerable heartburn because when all the Regional Heads were redesignated as Regional Directors, guess who was the exception?  The title of Nari Dastur remained Regional Manager until he came to Bombay as Commercial Director.

It is interesting to note that Nari Dastur refused to come back as Dy. Commercial Director as he did not want to work under Mr. Kooka.

What is more interesting is the moves that Mr. Kooka tried to make before he left.  As some of us knew, Mr. Dastur had little or no time for Stephen Rajaratnam, his successor as Manager Germany.  Mr. Dastur had made it quite clear to Top Management that he wanted his own team at Commercial Headquarters and had nominated some of them.

Despite this knowledge, Mr. Kooka decided to call Stephen Rajaratnam from Singapore to visit Bombay and handed over to him a letter appointing him as Commercial Manager - Sales effective November 1, 1972, the day after Mr. Kooka was to retire and Mr. Dastur to take over as C.D.  That evening, Stephen came over to my apartment and showed me this letter.  I was extremely surprised and disappointed as Mr. Dastur had told me confidentially that I was his choice for this post once he took over.  I suspected behind the scenes shenanigans and suggested to Stephen to keep this letter under wraps for the time being, as there was every likelihood that the picture may change. 

I called Mr. Dastur later that night and he was dumbfounded.  He told me to “stay put” and he took the next flight from Geneva and went straight to see Mr. JRD Tata.  I don't know what transpired at that meeting, but later that day, Mr. Kooka issued a circular in which indicated many changes to take place effective November 1, 1972, among which were:

1. Balendu Shah - from C.M. Sales to Dy. Commercial Director
2. I. D. Sethi - from C.M. - Planning to C.M. - Marketing & Sales
3. S. Rajaratnam - from Manager, Singapore to C.M - Sales (Charters)

The upshot of these changes were that Stephen Rajaratnam resigned and joined Singapore Airlines as their Manager - India based in Bombay.

Nari Dastur was aware that at some stage, a problem may arise having me report to him through Balendu Shah and as such, told both of us that I would be reporting directly to him.  A couple of years later, I was promoted to the same rank as Balendu Shah and was designated  DY. C.D. - Marketing & Sales.  There is a background here which I will elucidate.

When Mr. Adi Dubash left for the 2nd time, he recommended that Air-India hire H. L. Sikka as Head of Planning.  Lal Sikka was then Head of Planning at Aden Airways and was looking for a change. At the same time, Luis Cabral, Planning Manager made his move to be the head of the Planning Division.

Mr. Kooka was willing to consider Luis Cabral as C.M. Planning but the latter wanted the post of Planning Controller.  At the same time, he also wanted Tariffs to report to him; something that Mr. Kooka adamantly opposed.  Luis decide to resign and left to join Kuwait Airways.

Lal Sikka came to Bombay and during his meetings with Mr. Kooka and Air Vice Marshal Chaturvedi, stated that for personal reasons, he could not come to India for some time.  He had lived outside india for a considerable period of time and needed to stay away for another short period.  His request was accepted and he joined AI as Manager - East Africa based in Nairobi.

Mr. Kooka then offered the post of C.M. Planning to me with the understanding that Joe Andrade who was responsible for Bilateral Affairs would report directly to the C.D.  I agreed to take the job, provided I kept the Tariffs Division, in addition to my new responsibilities of Commercial Planning.  This was accepted.

Interestingly, the post of C.M. Sales was left vacant when the incumbent R.N. Kaul was transferred as Head of the new Hotel Division.

Some time elapsed and Luis Cabral decided that perhaps, he had a wrong move and asked Mr. Kooka if he could come back as C.M. Planning.  Mr. Kooka called me for a private meeting and asked if I would consider a lateral move as C.M. Sales.  It so happened that Mr. Adi Dubash happened to be visiting Bombay at that time and I consulted him.  He strongly advised me to take this offer on the condition that I would retain control of the Tariffs Division.  ILITO so informed Mr. Kooka and he agreed.

However, before these changes could take effect, Balendu Shah (Dy. C.M Sales) made his move.  He spoke to Mr. Dinesh Singh, who was his brother-in-law and also the Minister of External Affairs.  Orders came from Delhi and the post of C.M. Sales was given to Balendu Shah; I remained C.M. Planning and Luis Cabral was informed that his request to come back was denied. Luis then went on to join Indian Airlines.

For those readers who were not with the airline at that time, it should be mentioned that prior to becoming Dy. C. M. Sales, Balendu Shah was Manager, Switzerland and before that Dy. Tariffs Manager.  In that latter post, I was junior to him and in fact reported to him.  When I was promoted to C.M. Planning, he was still a Sr. Station Manager; a relationship which did not sit very well with him.  He continued to use his Brother-in-law’s influence when Nari Dastur took over as C.D. to became his Deputy and I became C.M. Marketing & Sales.  And it was this background that Nari Dastur was aware of and tried to work around.

In 1975, I was placed on par with Balendu Shah and AI had two Dy. Commercial Directors.  Finally, in 1976, Mr. Dastur decided to transfer Balendu Shah as RD - East Asia and the Dy. C.D. - Marketing & Sales post was abolished.

The game of musical chairs continued for quite some time and ended when I took over as Commercial Director and Balendu Shah reported to me as Regional Director - East Asia.

Apologies for digressing - let’s get back to my tenure in the Planning Division during the Parsee Raj.  My first major task was to prepare a proposal to the Board for the purchase of 747 aircraft.  I was hoping to rely on the expertise of YY Ajila but he declined to help as he felt rather strongly that he should have been promoted as Head of Planning.  So, I had to learn about market shares, traffic projections and capacity requirements before I could even get to the nitty gritty of preparing a Plan.  Luckily, thanks to the foresight of BR Patel, we had a 10 year plan to work with.  When I took over Planning, I introduced a 5 year rolling plan to replace a 10 year fixed plan.

Talk of burning the midnight oil.  I hardly saw my family and spent very long hours in the office.  Fortunately, I had the support of Saroj Datta and some of the other Planning staff and prepared a proposal to buy 747 aircraft for AI.

I still remember the Board meeting where I presented this plan.  My initial hesitation must have been quite apparent and my confidence was boosted no end when, just prior to the start of the presentation, Mr. Tata took me aside and gave me a few words of encouragement.

Fortunately, the presentation went off quite well – no difficult questions came up and I must have managed to make a convincing proposal because the Board agreed to place an order for the aircraft.

It was the start of a wonderful relationship between a young greenhorn and his mentor and gave me the confidence of approaching Mr. Tata for his advice on several occasions in the future when I had a major decision to make.  

Speaking personally, I have nothing but praise and admiration for the Parsee Raj as everyone of my bosses, Parsee or non-Parsee played a major role in my advancement in the airline.  I will speak of this support in another Post.  Suffice to say, that the best years of Air-India were during the Parsee Raj.

I went to a Mango Festival the other day at the Fairchild Gardens near Miami and was delighted to see a species named Cowasji.  It brought back very fond memories of my old friend and colleague Jal Cowasji who was our Publicity Manager.

Some of you may remember Mahmoud Khairaz who joined us in the late 1950s/early1960s.  One day, Mahmoud came to the office and placed a well decorated small box on his desk.  At that time, many of us junior staff members were ensconced in a large hall in the Bank of India building on M.G. Road in Bombay and we each had a desk in this hall.  Jal Cowasji noticed the box, peeked into it and found neatly arranged pieces of Mithai.  He went back to his office and sent his peon, Dhondu, to pick up the box under the pretext of taking papers from the OUT tray on Mahmoud’s desk. Jal took out the Mithai and replaced it with old copies of the Reader’s Digest. Dhondu put the box back on Mahmoud’s desk.  

Not knowing what had taken place, Mahmoud Khairaz took the box and went to the Post Office where he mailed it to someone in Calcutta.

Dhondu was then seen taking a tray around to all of us in that large hall and offering the Mithai.  When he came to Mahmoud’s desk, the latter looked hard at the Mithai and realized that he had been “taken”.  He confronted Jal (Dhondu having confessed) and threatened to report him to Mr. Kooka.  He was finally pacified by Derek Menezes who was his immediate superior and Jal offered to replace the Mithai box.

And now to the subject of today’s Post.

Way back in the early 1980s, someone said that Air-India went through three distinct periods - The Parsee Raj, The South Indian Raj and the Raghu Raj.

While the Parsee Raj was the longest of the three, it was also the period of Air-India’s Golden era.  At the same time, credit must be given to a non-Parsee; in fact, a Gujarati - B.R. Patel who came to the airline from the Government as General Manager (CEO) sometime in the mid-1950s and left in 1966.  BR was the architect of the Revenue Sharing Pool Agreement between Air-India, BOAC and Qantas. 

Air-India benefitted from this agreement as it allowed Air-India to grow without having to renegotiate certain vital Bilateral Agreements.  Subsequently, the Agreement was widened to include Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand.  It was this multi-party Agreement that I inherited when I took over the Planning Division in 1968 and by that time, it had become so unwieldy that even the Accountants had difficulty in understanding it.  We had many meetings, some at Chief Executive level and I remember the various places that these meetings took place - London, Tehran, Singapore, Sydney and Auckland.  On our side, we had not only Air Marshall Chaturvedi who led our team, but also Mr. Unni and Mr. Kooka apart from the support staff which were Pheroze Balaporia, Saroj Datta and myself.  

It was finally decided to terminate this Agreement and go back to traffic rights negotiated under Bilaterals.  The last time I participated was in Singapore when Mr. Unni was the M.D. and I was C.D.

There were many tense moments, but also some interesting ones.  One that comes to my mind was when we met in Tehran.  The British delegation hosted a dinner at the residence of their local Manager and our team split up into two cars,  The Air Marshal, Mr. Unni and Mr. Kooka accompanied by Hari Kaul who was the then Manager - Iran left earlier than the second car which carried Pheroze Balaporia, Saroj Datta and myself.  Our car actually followed the car which carried the M.D. (Keith Granville) and C.D. (Ross Stainton) of BA as we did not have the address.

Guess what, we kept following the lead car which finally stopped in the middle of nowhere and Ross Stainton came back to our car and asked “Inder, do you have the directions” and I informed him that I did not but were following him as we presumed that his driver knew where to go.  Case of blind leading the blind.  We did eventually get to our destination, but there were a few red faces among the British delegation.

Getting back to the Parsee Raj, it was my impression and of some others that both JRD and Bobby Kooka heaved a sigh of relief when BR Patel went back to the Government and they could once again get full rein on the airline.  BR was a very strong Chief Executive and nearer the end of his term, he had complete control of the airline with both Mr. Tata and Mr. Kooka playing supporting roles.  His successor was Air Vice Marshal Chaturvedi who, in my opinion, never came up to the level of his predecessor and that suited both Mr. Tata and Mr. Kooka.

More on the Air Vice Marshal later.

The first time that I met Mr. B. R. Patel was in 1962 when I was in Washington, D.C. attending a meeting of the Traffic Handling & Accountancy Working Group.  Mr. Patel was also in that city and Peter Mahta had thrown a cocktail party in Mr. Patel’s honor.  I was invited to attend, but my meeting with him was rather brief and I doubt if he paid any note.  The next time I met him was in early 1963 when IATA called a meeting of Senior Vice Presidents in Bermuda, to try and resurrect an Agreement on trans-Atlantic fares (reached at the Sep/Oct 1962 Chandler meeting) which had been vetoed by the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board (C.A.B.).  Mr. N. V. Khote was Planning Controller and should have been the obvious choice to attend this meeting.  He was otherwise occupied and the next person in line was Mr. J.C. Malani, the Tariffs Manager who begged off as his ulcers were acting up.

So, guess who - the undersigned (a mere Station Superintendent) -  was nominated to represent Air-India.  There is a background to this and goes back to the 1962 Chandler meeting and I will talk about it at a later time.  Mr. Khote asked me to go and see Mr. BR Patel for a briefing before my departure.  I gave Mr. Patel the background of the discussions in Chandler, got my briefing and left for New York enroute to Bermuda.  After two days of intense discussions, we did not make any headway and decided to consult our Head Offices and  meet 3 days later in Montreal.  

I called Mr. Patel who told me to meet him in London (he was leaving for that city) and so off I went to New York and caught our flight to London.  I met Mr. Patel and at that meeting he told me about a specific proposal that I should make to all the delegates in Montreal.  Back across the Atlantic to Montreal and the meeting which lasted one short day.  At an appropriate moment, I made the proposal and to my most pleasant surprise, there was no negative vote.  The proposal was carried through and I was complimented by many of the senior VPs present.

Little did they know about the behind the scenes discussions between Mr. Patel and our U.S. lawyer (Joel Fisher) who had the ear of the right persons in the U.S. C.A.B.  I was a mere tool that happened to be at the right place at the right time.

I called Mr. Patel and I still remember his words - Well done, my boy.  I flew back to Bombay and having crossed the Atlantic 4 times in 11 days, went to sleep and woke up 36 hours later.  My flatmates thought I had passed away and made at least 2 attempts to wake me up.

Mr. BR Patel had one great quality - he built a Team.  And that is why, we had top rate executives heading various departments.  Both Mr. Kooka and Mr. Dubash had complete authority to hire qualified persons which they proceeded to do.  Speaking about the Planning Department of which I was then a member, some of these persons included Noel D’Souza, Luis Cabral, YY Ajila and Saroj Datta.  Unfortunately, all of them left AI before superannuation. On the Commercial side, many new direct entrants at the Station Superintendent level were hired, but in my personal opinion, many of them were not truly “up to the mark”.

The South Indian Raj was when Mr. Unni and Mr. Appusamy were Managing Directors.  Mr. Unni took over from Mr. BR Patel but here again, in my personal opinion, he did not distinguish himself.  Mr. Appusamy’s tenure did not last long enough, but as his Deputy, I held him in great admiration.  He delegated authority and at the same time, made a number of valuable suggestions.  I wish he had stayed longer as the airline was headed in the right direction.

A couple of instances which took place need to be highlighted.

Mr. Unni was an avid golfer but unfortunately not a very accomplished one.  He played regularly at the Willingdon Club and his partner was Air Marshal Chautrvedi who was a notch better golfer.  On a flight to Singapore to attend a meeting with BA and Qantas, Mr. Unni suggested a round of golf in that city.  He said that the Air Marshal and he would take on Saroj Datta and me.  He insisted on a bet which had to be settled not in Indian Rupees but in Singapore Dollars.  The inevitable took place and the junior team won.  At the end of the round, no mention was made by the senior team about settling the bet so I left the subject alone.  At dinner that evening, Mr. Unni suggested that Saroj and I accept Indian Rupees which I politely declined as I told him - a bet is a bet and should be settled as originally agreed.  He was most gracious and promptly paid up.  It was the Air Marshal who had been reluctant, but did finally agree.

Mr. Appusamy was the Engineering Director before he became Dy. M.D. and then M.D.  He leaned upon me for inputs on the Commercial and Planning sides and we had a great rapport.  He was unhappy about one issue.  He felt that we overspent on Publicty and Entertainment, but could not make any headway while Mr. Dastur was still with the airline.  Once Mr. Dastur left, Mr. Appusamy raised the issue with me and I agreed to cut down the expenditure on Entertainment by 25% and a smaller percentage on Publicity & Advertising. 

I must admit that Mr. Appusamy had a very valid argument to support his position.  These two Budget Heads has been misused by many senior executives and I could not but agree with his viewpoint.  Till the very end, Mr. Dastur was adamant against cutting the Entertainment Budget.  He accepted that a Salesman was using a part for his personal benefit and that as much as 25% to 30% was spent on himself and his family.  However, his point was that if we were to reduce the budget of the salesman, he would continue to spend the same monetary amount on himself which would leave less for the entertainment spend on the airline’s commercial accounts.  We had numerous discussions on the subject, but he would not budge.

There was the case of an audit by Accounts which revealed a serious misuse of the Publicity Fund by one senior Manager at three stations where he was posted - 2 in Europe and one in India.  It was alleged that he used this Fund for his personal purchases and Mr. Dastur agreed to an enquiry to be conducted by the Regional Head - Europe.  The enquiry revealed that purchases had definitely been made from the Publicity Fund and were divided under three heads:

1. Definitely for the benefit of AI 
2. Definitely for the benefit of the Manager
3. Doubtful.

Mr. Dastur recommended that the Manager concerned by reprimanded and asked to pay back funds used under Head #2.  Mr. Appusamy wanted the Manager to be dismissed.  As a compromise, the Director of Finance and myself were asked to review the case and make recommendations.  I wanted to examine all the records, but this was denied by Mr. Dastur who insisted rather firmly that we were only to look at the RD’s report.  In other words, he tied our hands and I must admit that I was perplexed until the Manager concerned told me that he was not the only Manager who had misused and continue to misuse the Publicity Budget.  He could name many others and in strict confidence gave me a few names which did not come as a real surprise to me. He was willing to take some punishment, but if he were to be dismissed, he would “open the Pandora Box”.

He pleaded with me and even came to my residence with his wife - both with folded hands and begged mercy.

I spoke with Mr. Appusamy and we agreed to bring him back to Bombay and also to withhold the Manager’s next promotion.  On hindsight, I wish we had dismissed this Manager as, from my enquiries, he was one of the persons who gave confidential information to the Committee of Public Undertakings (COPU) with the understanding that his name never came up in the proceedings.  SAD, VERY SAD that we had a real viper amongst us and he got away.

I had occasion to cross paths with this person after I left AI and must state that he continued his nefarious activities.  I received a complaint from an Agent who told me that to get a Contract from AI, he was asked to pay a sum UPFRONT.  He also tried to derail a project that I was working on.  He told my collaborators that they were being misled by me.  He said that I was always a “Planning” man and that I knew nothing about Marketing & Sales.  This collaborator obviously knew me better from the various posts that I had held and told me what our so-called mutual friend had said. 

Yes, there are those who bite the hand that fed them.

He finally left AI under a cloud.  Apparently, there was an enquiry against him and interestingly, he had the audacity to request me to speak to his M.D. and have the enquiry withdrawn.  I told him that I would not intervene as I not only had no knowledge of the reason for the enquiry but had no interest whatsoever, in helping him out.

He finally took early retirement at the insistence of the then M.D. and went back to India.  Good riddance.

In the mid-1960s, Ashok Vaish, Saroj Datta and I decided to start playing golf.  Unfortunately, the opportunities were limited as there was no Public Golf Course in Bombay and the initiation fees at the Private Clubs were prohibitive, leave alone the problem of being accepted as members.

I spoke with Mr. S.K. Kooka, our Commercial Director, who suggested that I check with the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in Chembur if they would agree to a Transportation Service Contract (TSC).  I spoke with the Secretary of the Club who agreed to allow Air-India to set up a Hoarding (Billboard) and that the Club would offset the cost against initiation fees for 3 members.  Mr. Kooka agreed and that is how the three of us and many more members of the staff benefitted in later years.

Thank you Air-India and thank you, Mr. Kooka.  Would you call this MOTIVATION?  I would.

Now to a more serious subject - THE ROT STARTS TO SET IN.

Soon after my return to office in early 1980, after open heart surgery, I traveled to Cairo for talks with the Egyptians regarding the reintroduction of our services to that country.

While I was there, I received the information that Mr. B.S. Das was leaving the airline. I spoke with him on the phone and he told me that not only he, but also Air Chief Marshall Lal had been relieved of their posts by the new Government.  Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s party had won and the Congress was back in power.  He advised me not to terminate my trip, but to continue with my talks and return soon thereafter.

On my return to Bombay, we received the news about the appointment of Mr. Raghu Raj as the Chairman and Managing Director.  I was reminded of the advice given to me by Mr. Appusamy to look for another job.  A few days later, similar advice was given to me by an old college friend Ravi Kathpalia who, upon graduation, had joined the Indian Audits & Accounts Service and was currently attached to the Civil Aviation Ministry.  He, obviously, knew what was in the offing.

In his first meeting with me, Mr. Raghu Raj (RR) asked what assistance I needed to improve Air-India’s profitability.  I informed him that our first priority should be to replace the ageing  707 fleet and lo and behold, to my great surprise, he told me a few days later (he had just returned from Calcutta) that he had an offer of four (4) 747 aircraft.  I asked him if that offer had come from a Mr. Bose in Calcutta and he confirmed that this was the case.  I told RR that for many reasons, we could not accept this offer.  Further, this offer had been rejected by us earlier and requested him to ask his Secretary to show him the Note that I had sent to Mr. B.S. Das the previous year.

RR called me subsequently and said that instructions to accept these aircraft had come from Delhi and if I felt strongly on this issue, he would arrange a meeting with the Minister.  I informed him categorically that my views had not changed and that they were supported by the Director of Engineering.  Later that evening, RR told me to meet him in Delhi that next morning at the residence of the Minister, Mr. J.B. Patnaik.  Both Mr. Kharkar (DE) and I flew to Delhi that evening and presented ourselves at the Minister’s residence the next morning.

Mr. Patnaik himself did not attend the meeting which was, instead chaired by a person whom I had heard of but never met.  He happened to be the Spiritual Guru (SG) to a very, very senior member of the Cabinet.

Said SG opened the meeting by asking who would be Air-India’s spokesman.  RR pointed to me and said that Mr. Sethi, who is the Dy. M.D. would be the spokesman.  SG asked why was I opposed to the directive to buy these aircraft.  I briefly explained to him that, among various considerations:

1. Our need was to replace the 707s with an aircraft of similar capacity and the 747 did not meet this requirement as it was almost 2 and 1/2 times larger.
2. Our policy is to order aircraft to meet our own specifications and fit into our existing fleet.  We cannot accept an aircraft already built as it will have different Avionics, Galley layout, seating configuration etc.
3. Before ordering additional aircraft, we have to plan the recruitment of additional pilots, engineers and cabin crew and start their training.  Having 4 aircraft delivered at one time would mean that they would be sitting idle for many months.

The DE also stated that he did not have enough Engineers to take on 4 additional aircraft.  As it is, the Engineering Department was short staffed, having lost a number of engineers to foreign airlines.

The SG listened rather impatiently and then summarily informed me that the decision was irrevocable and that Air-India had no choice in the matter.  He instructed RR to sign the Letter of Intent.  RR spoke to me on the side and basically told me to hold my peace and so, to delay the inevitable, I requested that such a Letter of Intent should only be signed after we had had enough time to go through the specifications of the aircraft being offered.

This was agreed and we left with “our tails between our legs”.

Before leaving the premises of the Minister’s house, RR handed to me a Slip of paper contain a few items.  I asked him what he wanted me to do with this List and was informed “take care of it.  These are other directives from the Minister”.  I will comment on this List in another Post and at this stage, limit myself to the 4 747s.

I have seldom spent more sleepless nights than the ones after the meeting chaired by this Spiritual Guru.  I even spoke with the Director of Operations who said that he did not have the requisite number of pilots for such an increase in our fleet and agreed with me that there was no way that we could absorb them.  I pleaded with RR but all my efforts fell on deaf ears.

Finally, I called the Secretary to Mr. JRD Tata and requested a meeting with Mr. Tata stating that I needed to consult him on an extremely sensitive and urgent subject.  The Secretary spoke with Mr. Tata and asked me “Beer or Coffee”.  This was a code established by Mr. Tata with me way back when he was our Chairman.  A serious subject called for a meeting at his house with Coffee at 10:00am.  A not so serious discussion was usually conducted over a glass of Beer an hour later.  I emphatically stated “Coffee” and was told to meet Mr. Tata at his house the following Saturday morning at 10:00am.

I apprised Mr. Tata of the background and he asked if I had considered various steps that he listed out.  I answered in the affirmative and he then said “Inder, you have a problem” and I requested his advice.  He asked if I had some very close friends in the media and I promptly got the message.  I thanked him and left.  On reaching home, I called my “friend” in Delhi who flew down to Bombay and we had a fruitful meeting.  He asked me to leave the matter with him and said that I would hear or read something in the next 10 days.

He was true to his word and within a week, the Front Page of a National newspaper carried the headline which read something like “Air-India Buying Aircraft Unseen” over the byline of the Special Aviation Correspondent.  The main story indicated that officials of the airline had been summoned to Delhi and at a meeting in the house of the Aviation Minister, were directed to purchase 4 747 aircraft.  When the said officials stated that they could not usefully and economically absorb these aircraft, they were informed that they had no choice in the matter.  

Subsequent enquires by the Special Aviation Correspondent revealed that these aircraft were being hawked in the market by an Indian “go-between”  and had been ordered by the national airlines of Iran and Libya.  The delivery of these aircraft had been halted by the U.S. President, Ronald Reagan and were being offered at “a discount” to various airlines

The story further stated that 2 of the aircraft were actually ALL-CARGO aircraft and the Correspondent wondered if Air-India had the need for such large capacity freighters..

The subject came up for discussion at the next Parliament Session and the Civil Aviation Minister denied that such a meeting had taken place at his residence.  He was right - no such meeting had taken place at HIS residence because between the time of the meeting chaired by the Spiritual Guru and the Parliament Session, there had been a change of Ministers.  JB Patnaik had moved to Bhubaneswar as Chief Minister of Orissa and A.P. Sharma had taken over the Aviation portfolio.  However, Mr. Sharma promised to look into the allegation and if the facts reported were accurate, he would instruct Air-India not to accept the aircraft.

Two days later, RR called me to his office.  He was red faced and very angry.  He wanted to know if I had sabotaged the purchase of the aircraft.  I kept a very straight face and reminded him that the meeting had NOT been held behind closed doors and from time to time, various persons had peeped in and I gave him the name of Suresh Kilachand whom he (RR) had said hello to.  Anyone, I stated, could have surmised that something serious was being discussed and informed the media who were always on the lookout for such sensational stories.

RR told me categorically that I would be in deep and very hot water if he ever found out that I was behind this cancellation.  At this stage, I had had enough from him and asked him point blank - How much commission was being offered for this purchase and was he getting a cut?  He asked me to leave his office immediately, which I was more than happy to do.

The same morning, C.L. Sharma, the Dy. M.D. (Finance & Admin) came to my office and asked me that if an Inquiry were to be held, what would be my answer to the question - Was such a meeting held and was Air-India directed to purchase these aircraft.  I said that I would tell the truth as otherwise I would be committing perjury.

I called my media friend and thanked him profusely for helping to squash this deal.  I also called Mr. Tata who said that he had read with great satisfaction that his suggestion had proved successful.  He also cautioned me that this the aircraft deal was the tip of the iceberg and that I could soon be receiving instructions to act contrary to “accepted principles” on other issues.

How prophetic were these words and how timely, the advice?  

More on these in future Posts.

1978/1980 – AVIATION MINISTER - P. L. KAUSHIK

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s Emergency had ended and in the elections that followed, her party – The Congress – I – had lost to a Coalition of parties, known as the Janata Party (or People’s Party).

Mr. Parshottam Lal Kaushik was appointed as Minister of Civil Aviation and we in Air-India, waited with bated breath to see what the new administration had in store for us.

For decades and in fact, since the nationalization of the airline in 1953, the country had had the same political party at the head of Government and Mr. J.R. D. Tata who had founded the airline, had been given a relatively free hand in running it.  This had started at the time when Jawarhal Nehru had been the first Prime Minister after Independence and continued under his daughter Indira Gandhi.

We did not have long to wait.  JRD was removed as Chairman and Air Chief Marshall P.C. Lal (retd.) was appointed as our new Chairman.  It was a very sad day for all the old timers who had started with the airline when JRD was at the helm.

The impending arrival of the Air Chief was a cause of anxiety for many employees, particularly those in the Commercial Department and for me, as the Commercial Director.  But more on this in another chapter to be written.

Getting back to Mr. Kaushik, a name hardly anyone had heard of.  He came from an obscure background from the state of Madhya Pradesh.  All we knew was that he spoke mostly in Hindi and did not smoke nor drank.  We were advised to refrain from drinking liquor in his presence.  I met him on a few occasions and he appeared rather aloof and difficult to get close to.

Three episodes of interest come to mind when I think back to the period while Mr. Kaushik was our Minister.

MR. KAUSHIK’S VISIT TO THE U.K.

I happened to be in New York on a business trip when I received a message from our CEO, Mr. K.G. Appusamy, that Mr. Kaushik was traveling to the U.K. on a business-cum-personal trip.  The “business” part was a review of the appointment of our General Sales Agent (GSA) in the U.K.  The Ministry had received a number of representations from Indian Travel Agents in the U.K. which seemed to indicate to the Ministry that the entity which had been appointed was not quite “kosher”.

Hence the Minister took it upon himself to personally review this appointment and Mr. Appusamy wanted me to be present in London during this review.  

Apparently, the Minister’s trip was a last minute decision and hence, I took the next flight from NYC to LON getting there a few hours before the Minister’s arrival on a Saturday morning.  I had a quick shower at a hotel close by, changed into fresh clothes and received the Minister on arrival. 

Mr. Kaushik’s brother-in-law was at the airport to receive him and take him home for the weekend.  I arranged a lunch at the airport to which I requested the presence of Capt. Druba Bose, our Director Operations, who also happened to be in London.  As an aside, I told Druba not to have any alcoholic drink because of the Minister’s views on the subject.

Imagine our surprise when the Minister’s brother-in-law asked for a couple of Gins & Tonic.  Needless to state, both Druba and I had soft drinks.  Just to be on the safe side, I requested the Airport manager to arrange for a private car to take the Minister and his brother-in-law home.  The latter agreed to collect his car the following Monday.

Mr. Kaushik instructed me to arrange a meeting on Monday at our office in the city and gave me a list of Travel Agents who should be invited to attend.  I conveyed these instructions to Mr. Manek Dalal, our Regional Director and we met about 8 to 10 Agents.

Without exception, each Agent told the Minister that he should have been appointed as the GSA.  The Minister asked each of them to indicate the volume of business he had generated in the previous 12 months.  He then compared these figures by the productivity of the GSA in the 12 months  prior to his appointment.

He also asked each Agent to indicate if he was dissatisfied with the  commission he was getting from the GSA and received a negative answer. The Minister then met some of the Agents individually after which he informed the group that he was satisfied that Air-India had appointed the best entity and asked each of them to work in harmony with the GSA.

Later on, he congratulated Manek Dalal and me on our wise and correct decision regarding the appointment.  He further stated that such representations could not be ignored considering that we were a Public Sector Undertaking and it was the responsibility of the relevant Ministry to ensure that we acted quite transparently in all such dealings.

It was very reassuring to hear these words of congratulations which I passed on to Mr. Appusamy who had arrived a few hours after the meeting.

Mr. Kaushik stayed on for a few more days in London and both Mr. Appusamy and I kept him company.  This period was particularly difficult for Mr. Appusamy as his fluency in Hindi was rather inadequate so much so that when we saw off the Minister on his flight back to Delhi, Mr. Appusamy’s first remark to me was – Inder, get me a drink.  I really need it. We immediately repaired to the nearest bar.

An interesting incident took place one night when the Minister by mistake came out of his suite and knocked on the door of his Personal Assistant  whose room was next door.  He wanted some information and after receiving it, found himself locked out of his own suite.  The Minister’s P.A. did not want people to see the Minister in his spotless white pajamas and promptly woke me up.  I called the Night Clerk who opened the Minister’s suite with a Master key.

IATA’S TRAFFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

IATA, the International Airlines Travel Association, has a number of Committees and the Traffic Advisory Committee (TAC) had as its members, the most senior Marketing & Sales executives of 15 to 16 airlines.  I happened to be a member from 1976 to 1980 when I left the airline.

The TAC met at different locations twice a year and I invited the Committee to hold its March 1979 meeting in New Delhi

To make this visit a memorable one for its members, I arranged for a number of lunches and dinners to be hosted by important Indian Travel Trade Organisations.  This would give an opportunity for senior members of India’s travel industry to meet these executives from various airlines, such as British Airways, Pan American, Japan Airlines, Air France and Lufthansa.

As the host airline, one dinner was hosted by Air-India.  There was one hitch in that by Government decree, we were not allowed to serve liquor at such occasions.

I hit upon an idea whereby a Cocktail Party would be hosted by the Travel Agents Association of India immediately prior to our dinner.  We were offered a very nice villa which had adequate lawns both in the front and the back and hence, the TAAI cocktails were held in the front lawn while the Air-India dinner was held in the rear lawn.

Unfortunately, this maneuver did not find favour with the then Aviation Secretary who not only refused my invitation to attend, but also decided to complain about my “flouting the rules” to Air Chief Marshall P.C. Lal.

The Air Chief upon hearing my side of the story, felt that while I had definitely hit upon an ingenious way to offer liquor to our guests, suggested that if I found myself in a similar quandary in the future, I should find a location “a few hundred yards away” for our dinner.

TRAVEL AGENTS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA – ANNUAL CONVENTION

The Association of Indian Travel Agents (TAAI) held its 1979 annual convention in Kathmandu (Nepal).  One of the events was a luncheon in honour of the Mr. P.L. Kaushik, the Indian Civil Aviation Minister.

As Air-India’s Chief delegate and a Speaker at the convention, I was invited to attend and found myself sitting opposite the Minister’s Personal Assistant (PA).

The PA said to me that he was aware that I visited Delhi on many occasions.  He also said that he knew that I left Delhi immediately after my meetings.

The PA went on to suggest that it would benefit me if occasionally, I paid a “courtesy call” on the Minister at his residence (not in the office).  He hinted that bringing a suitable gift would be acceptable. He mentioned that many of my colleagues in the airline always spent an extra night in Delhi to make such “courtesy calls” not only on the Minister but also on senior officials of the Ministry. When I heard this, I wondered if this was one of the changes in the culture that Mr. Appusamy had spoken about.

I told the PA that on principle, I was opposed to making such courtesy calls as I did not want to be seen as trying to curry favour. Further, such an approach was not part of the culture that I was brought up in. If the Minister wished to meet me, all he had to do was to send me a message. 

What surprised me was that the PA did not drop the subject.  In fact, he went on to say that the Minister was aware of the then ongoing ‘Inquistion” against Air-India, being conducted by the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU).  He said that I was the scapegoat because the two principal characters had left the country and could not be subpoenaed and brought before the Committee.  Further, a relatively senior AI officer had turned approver and was supplying information to COPU.

I was confident that I knew who these persons were and when I gave the PA three names, he said that he could neither confirm nor deny.

The PA added that the Minister had, on his own initiative, ordered an enquiry into my finances.  When nothing untoward surfaced, an enquiry was held into the financing behind the farm owned by my father-in-law; an enquiry which also revealed nothing suspicious. He assured me that as far as the Minister was concerned, I was an “outstanding member of the staff”.  

However, he cautioned that there were some jealous colleagues of mine in the airline as well as some bureaucrats who were not happy that at my relatively young age, I was in the grade of Additional Secretary to the Government of India.  He reminded me that I was now a senior Civil Servant having been appointed to my current post of Dy. Managing Director “at the pleasure of the President of India” and hence, very much in the public eye.

I thanked him for his comments and also informed him that I could not change my thinking and would not be making any “courtesy calls”.   I would, however, in the future, be keeping a low profile. If the Minister wanted to see me, all he had to do was to send for me.  We parted on very amicable terms.

July 02, 2015

When I joined Air-India in January 1957, I had visions of foreign postings and good living.  Imagine my disappointment when I was placed in the Tariffs Division after one month at the Ticket Counter in the Bombay office.  Long hours of working on fares, prorates and rules was my fate.

I met Mr. N.V. Khote (then Sales Manager) in the elevator one day and he said that he had learnt that I was not happy with my assignment.  He then told me that what I was doing was learning the “guts of the business” and my future would be assured provided I gave “my all” to this assignment.

In February 1960, three years after joining the airline, I accompanied Mr. Malani (Tariffs Manager) to London for a meeting with BOAC (now British Airways) to prepare for Air-India’s operations to the USA starting in May that year.  Resulting from the meeting, I left for NYC on Feb 21 to file a Tariff with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and returned after 6 weeks.  It took longer than I expected because the Filing Agent that I was supposed to work with came to office only when he was sober and that was not too often.

On my return, I got a call from Mr. Dubash (then Planning Controller) who thanked me for the work done.  This was my first communication with him and I felt on top of the world.  He was my bosses’ boss and I was a lowly Asst. Station Superintendent, but a congratulatory call from him went a long way.

Talk about motivation!!!

During my career with AI, I received quite a few similar congratulatory calls and appreciations.  I will not list them here but may refer to them in future Posts if they become relevant.  Suffice to say, until 1979, I always felt motivated and energized.  All this changed when the politicians and bureaucrats took over the running of the airline. 

Many persons have stated that the rot set in when Mr. JRD Tata was removed from the Chairmanship in 1978.  I personally believe it set in before that event and was triggered by an approach made by a top management executive to get an extension in service.  It was this issue that was picked upon by the mandarins in Delhi to get their scheming hands on the airline.  Mr. Tata’s departure made it easier for them to start their machinations as we had lost the solid bulwark that had kept the wolves at bay.

Nari Dastur took early retirement in 1978.  Some say that he saw the writing on the wall.  However, while this may be true, I also believe that he left because Mr. KG Appusamy was appointed as Managing Director and Mr. Dastur saw that his way to the top was blocked.

Mr. Appusamy certainly saw the writing on the wall.  We had gone through a rather harrowing time with the Inquisition by the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) and the bureaucrats in the Ministry took this opportunity to ask us for meetings at the drop of a hat.  It seemed that hardly a week passed without summons from Delhi.

He and I had were returning on a flight back one day and he said to me “Inder, I suggest you look for another job”.  I asked if I was being sacked and he replied “No, the culture is changing and I don't believe you will fit in”.  He put in his papers the next week and left the airline.

The Government appointed Mr. B.S. Das to replace Mr. Appusamy.  Although Mr. Das had no direct airline experience, he certainly came with a background of the Industry having been the Chairman of the Airports Authority and if memory serves me correctly, he did serve on Air-India’s Board.  I had met him at various meetings and was very pleasantly surprised when within a few weeks of his coming on board, I established a good rapport with him.

When I apprised him of my conversation with Mr. Appusamy, he tried to allay my fears stating that the situation had somewhat stabilized and with Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal as Chairman and himself as the M.D., he was confident that the airline would be allowed to function on a commercial basis. There was definitely a basis for his remarks because of some incidents which I will relate here:

1. A few meetings with Ministry officials were now held in Bombay instead of Delhi and the trips to Delhi became quite infrequent.
2. Mr. Pushottam Kaushik, the new Civil Aviation Minister wanted to review some decisions that we had made.  Some disgruntled parties had indicated to him that these decisions were based on favoritism and not commercial considerations.  He personally went through each case and I remember accompanying him to a meeting with Indian Travel Agents in the U.K. who had complained about the appointment of our GSA.  He held talks with a number of them and then told me that he did not see any reason for us to make any change.

     Talking of this trip of Mr. Kaushik brings back many happy memories which I will relate when the moment is right.

1. We had decided to publish an In-flight magazine and were looking for suitable publishers. Mr. Naik, the then Civil Aviation Secretary, wanted us to appoint his son.  Mr. Das and I agreed to defer this project until Mr. Naik retired and very soon after this event took place, we revived the project.
2. Mr. Naik also wanted us to use a hotel in Bandra for our transit passengers.  This hotel was owned by a close friend and drinking buddy of his and so I visited this hotel on more than one occasion and gave Mr. Naik a report on the poor conditions and maintenance that were prevalent, whereby he withdrew his “request”.

D. The powers that be “asked” us to examine a proposal to purchase four (4) 747 aircraft and   my Note to Mr. Das detailing reasons why we should not accept this proposal was accepted by him and the persons concerned in Delhi were so advised.

Unfortunately, as will be seen later, this subject was revived when the Congress Government came back into power in early 1980.