BK Mangaokar and I attended many small IATA meetings in Geneva.  We usually stayed at the Hotel du Rhone.  On one of our stays, my back started to ache due to the very soft mattress.  Mr. NH Dasur, who was the Regional Manager - Europe suggested that I accept the offer made by Asghar Ali Dharamsey, the Asst. Manager - Switzerland to stay in his guest room.  Having known and worked with Asghar since my training days at the Bombay office way back in 1957, I accepted this suggestion.

Poor Asghar.  He ended up by having to cook for me and also to drop and pick me up at IATA’s Headquarters every day.  Full marks to Asghar.  He never complained and even took BK and me to Divonne some evenings for a little flutter at the Casino and fine dining. 

 Asghar had a two door Ford Capri and BK had to climb into the back.  After a few miles, BK complained about the lack of leg space.  He continued to complain all the way to Divonne.  Asghar quietly drove on and on the way back when BK started to complain again, Asghar stopped the car; opened his door and asked BK to get out.  BK did so, at which point Asghar promptly got in and drove off for 100 yards.  It was a sight to see BK running after the car.  On reaching it, he apologized and said that the name of the car should be “El Magnifique”.  He got in the back and never complained again.

In 1966, BR Patel completed his assignment with Air-India as CEO and went back to his parent cadre.  I believe his next assignment was Secretary in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.  On completing this term, I also believe he was posted as the Indian Ambassador in Belgium.

As indicated in an earlier POST, Mr. Patel’s successor was Air Vice Marshal Chaturvedi.  Nari Dastur wasted no time in cultivating him as he had succeeded with his predecessor. Nari invited the AVM to visit Europe and when the latter accepted, Mr. Dastur prepared a 3 week itinerary visiting various AI offices and GSAs in various cities of Europe.  To his credit, AVM Chaturvedi stated that 3 weeks was far too long and so the itinerary was cut to 2 weeks.  Unfortunately, for all concerned, copies of the itinerary found their way to all and sundry and we all wondered what the AVM was going to achieve by visiting offices of Air-India’s General Sales Agents in Italy, Austria and other countries.  The conclusion reached by many was that this would be a paid holiday for the AVM.

Nonetheless, the trip went through and must have been quite successful as when he returned, the AVM was laden with gifts from every GSA who seemed highly impressed that for the first time ever, the Chief Executive of the airline had come to call on them.  Talk about first impressions; Mr. Dastur had certainly hit the spot.

While he was our CEO, Mr. BR Patel’s office was in the New India Assurance building.  When AVM Chaturvedi took over, he took new premises in the Indian Express building at Norman Point, very close to where the new Air-India building was under construction.  Once the building was ready, he moved into his new office on the 22nd Floor.  I happened to accompany Mr.Kooka when he first visited AVM’s new office.  The astonishment on Mr. Kooka’s office was worth seeing and he muttered a rather rude expression under his breath.  The AVM asked Mr. Kooka what his impression was and the latter quite bluntly told him that the office was way too large.  

As a matter of fact, the room was 2,400 sq. ft. in size and with the AVM sitting in one corner, the other three corners were taken up by sofas and coffee table for small groups.  Mr. Kooka requested Mr. KK Unni to comment who, not wanting to offend his boss, stated that perhaps, the AVM should have a fresh look at the space and achieve better utilization.

Soon, thereafter modifications were made and the room size became about 1,200 sq. ft.  

One of my colleagues who benefitted with the appointment of AVM Chaturvedi was Nani Mital.  Nani was posted as Manager-Thailand in Bangkok in 1964, after his stint in the USA.  He had a rather lackluster tenure in Bangkok and his promotion to the Station Manager (SM) grade was still on probation after three years.  Very soon after we had a new CEO, Nani Mital was promoted to the grade of Senior Station Manager (SSM) and transferred to the very prestigious post of Manager - Western India at Bombay.

Nani Mital and I were close friends and he quite often confided in me.  He had been very unhappy that he was still unconfirmed as an SM in Bangkok, and when he moved to Bombay on a promotion told me that the AVM was a close family friend and this move was the fruit of such a friendship.  Ironically, Nani Mital was still on probation as an SSM for another three years.

However, at a cocktail party when he had had more than a few drinks, Nani told me “Inder, I know you are senior to me but I will make Commercial Director before you”.  I was surprised at this outburst, but wished him good luck.  At that stage, I felt that if I did not move back to the Commercial Department pretty soon, not only was my future growth in AI limited, but I may be reporting to Nani Mital.  So, I requested Mr. Kooka for a change.  I reminded him of his offer to move laterally as Commercial Manager - Sales before Balendu Shah used his family connections to get this post.  

Mr. Kooka took me to see the Air Marshal (he had received his full grade by then) and asked me to make my case to him, which I did.  AM Chaturvedi listened carefully and stated that he was quite impressed with my performance in AI, particularly at such a relatively young age.  However, he was not happy that the careers of “two very promising" Commercial Department staff would be hurt if I were to be transferred back to this Department.  He went on to state that since I was still very young (I was about 35 years old at that point in time), I had plenty of time to rise vertically.

I asked him point blank who the two officers he had in mind and was not unduly surprised when Nani Mital’s name was mentioned as one of the two.  It took a lot of effort on my part to keep calm and then after a few seconds, I told him that I was very disappointed that he would compare Nani Mital to me.  Nani had not been confirmed in the SM grade for 3 years and even now in the SSM grade, he was still on probation after two years.  The other officer he named was more that ten years older than me and was still in the SM grade while I was a Commercial Manager with an outstanding record.

I left the Air Marshal’s office rather dejected and informed Mr. Kooka that he had in me, a very unhappy and dissatisfied member of his team.

Unfortunately for me, the Air Marshal had decided that I would be a major obstacle in his long term plans for Nani Mital.  So, when after a few months, Air Mauritius requested Air-India for a senior member of its staff as an Adviser to their Chairman, he promptly told Mr. Kooka to depute me for this assignment and promote YY Ajila as CM-Planning in my place.

Lickily, Mr. Kooka did not agree and as a compromise, Lal Sikka who was Manager - Africa was sent to Mauritius.

Meanwhile, Nari Dastur visited Bombay and he and Katie had lunch with my wife and me at our apartment.  He asked if this was a furnished apartment provided by AI.  I told him that the apartment was owned by AI, but the furniture was ours, paid for a by a loan from the Bank.  He was surprised as his impression was that as a Commercial Manager, I was entitled to a fully furnished apartment.  I informed him that of all the CMs, only the SM-Sales had been given a furnished apartment.

On my next visit to Geneva, Nari Dastur confided in me that he was slated to become Commercial Director when Mr. Kooka retired and he had made it very clear to Management that he would choose his own team.  He asked if I would be interested in moving laterally as CM-Sales.  I replied in the affirmative.  It so happened that when he did take over as C.D., I did move back to the Commercial Department and my designation was changed to CM - Marketing & Sales. 

Mr. Dastur mentioned to me that as a compromise, he had to agree to the Air Marshal’s request to promote Nani Mital as a Regional Manager.  He asked for my advice where to post him and accepted my suggestion that he be sent as RM-Africa where he could do the least “damage”.

My problems with Air Marshal Chaturvedi continued while I was still in the Planning Division.  I had been a member of the Indian delegation during our negotiations with the British for rights to operate the 747s in place of the 707s, through London to the USA.  The British were opposed to our large capacity increase as, according to them, the majority of our passengers on the trans-Atlantic sector were UK/USA origin/destination and the through India/USA traffic was only a small part of our carriage.

I had opposed any concession to the British as I felt that under the existing Bilateral Agreement, we were entitled to substitute any aircraft for the 707 that we were operating and in this, I was supported by Mr. Narottam Sehgal who was the then Aviation Secretary and leader of the Indian delegation.  I was surprised and disappointed when for the last meeting with the British, the M.D. decided to take YY Ajila and leave me behind in Bombay.  The agreement that was reached would require AI to pay a royalty for every passenger carried on the LON/NYC/LON sectors beyond a certain figure.

This agreement was not, in my opinion, to AI’s benefit and I will elaborate on it in another Post.