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.