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.