The game of golf came into the Air-India sphere around 1969/70. Nani Mital was Manager - Western India and a keen golfer. He came to me and suggested an annual Staff Tournament. He and I went to see Mr. Kooka who welcomed the idea and even offered to donate a revolving Inter-Departmental Trophy. We then went to see Mr. Unni and convinced him to donate a revolving trophy for the individual winner of the Championship. He welcomed the idea and we now had the basis for starting this annual event.
The first Tournament was held at the Willingdon Club. I cannot remember who won the Individual Chanpionship but the inter-department trophy was taken by the Operations Department who, incidentally, went on to win this event every year until 1977. I was delighted to win the Stableford Tournament in the first tournament and, not only do I still have my trophy, but also a photograph showing Mr. JRD Tata presenting it to me at the dinner held the next evening.
We also had a trophy for the highest score and it went to Mr. Unni who was presented with a book titled “How To Play Golf”. Unfortunately, Mr. Unni won this trophy for the second time the next year and when the time came to organize the annual tournament for the 3rd time, Mr. B.S. Rama Rao very wisely suggested to me that if I valued my job and future in the airline, I should ensure that someone else won this particular event.
I called H.S. Oberoi and B.L. Nichani, both of whom had never played the game and prevailed upon them to show up for the tournament. Nichi came last and took the Wooden Spoon which was the prize for this event and Mr. Rama Rao congratulated me on a job well done.
As mentioned above, the Operations Department took the inter-department trophy each year until 1977 when Saroj Datta and I combined to win it for the Commercial Department for the first time. This trophy held a prominent place in my office at Nariman Point until I left Air-India. I wonder who won it after that time.
I have continued to play golf ever since and though the golf ball does not go as far as it used to, my accuracy is still quite evident. My golfing partners have a nickname for me. It is Pipeline because I hit the ball straight down the middle of the fairway. I have won a few events at the Ramsey Golf & Country Club in New Jersey (of which I am a member), including the Presidents Cup in 2013. I also won the Seniors Trophy (Legends Division) four times, but the one trophy that I prize most is the Father-Son Championship that Sarat and I won at his Club (Winged Foot) in 2013. The trophy has a prized position at our home in Florida.
When Nani Mital took over as R.D. - USA & Canada, he called me and asked me to join him and a small group to play golf. I was then working with Kuwait Airways in New York. It was a very nice gesture which I happily accepted. Our golf group became quite regular and I am happy to state that I am still in touch with some of the original members.
Nani also invited me to a couple of outings where AI hosted Cargo Agents. This is where I met and became quite friendly with P. P. Singh who was then the Cargo Sales Manager - USA & Canada. P. P. and I met quite frequently after he retired whenever I visited India during the winters. We are still in touch and exchange e-mails.
Nani Mital’s passing away was a sad event. He was a good friend and one who has helped me in various ways during my career after I left Air-India.
As mentioned in one of my earlier Blogs, I took over as Commercial Manager - Planning in December 1968. The Planning team then reported to me in addition to my Tariffs team. One of my first acts was to inform everyone that I valued independent thinking and that I would not be happy with a group of “yes men/women”. I believe this went down well with a number of the staff. Saroj Datta, with whom I had lived as a bachelor and I already had a history of arguments and so we continued to have quite lively discussions on matters concerning Pool Agreements. He had considerable experience on this subject while I brought a fresh mind and so, our evening sessions at Pool meetings in London, Sydney, Moscow and Singapore were very productive.
Neela Talcherkar, who was also part of the Planning (Pool Agreements) team was a very active partner in these discussions. Then, of course was the Accounts team comprising Pheroze Balaporia (Dy. Financial Director) and Gopalakrishnan who brought in a different perspective. I am glad to say that in Pheroze Balaporia, we had a very understanding person who appreciated the commercial side of the agreements.
I did have a problem with a senior member of the Planning Division who not only took my “yes men/women” to heart but adopted a negative attitude on many issues, including the acquisition of the 747s. I received absolutely no assistance from him in preparing the proposal to the Board and he was one whom I had expected to help me the most. I must give credit to Saroj for helping me out considerably. I was quite relieved when that senior member resigned to take his interests elsewhere.
It saddened me when almost two decades later, I received a call from Ranga Rao who called to complain that my no “yes men/women” policy had worked against him. He said that he was in line for the post of Commercial Director but was sidelined and was informed by the then M.D. that he (Ranga) was not going to get the post because he was not a “yes man”. His (the M.D.)’s need was for a Yes Man and Ranga was not going to “fit the bill”.
I told Ranga that while I sympathized with his predicament, I was still of the view that my policy had helped Air-India. We had people who were not afraid to speak up and gave him the names of a number of such persons and the result of which had been to the benefit of the airline.
I am firmly of the view that I could not have achieved what I did during my tenure with Air-India if I had group of yes men/women. I encouraged my staff to speak forthrightly and give me opinions which helped in formulating decisions by which we benefitted. It became a team effort in the airline’s favor. It is true that some of my successors did not have the same view and because of this, I can name a number of Commercial Directors who did not have a team because of which the airline has not benefitted.
This brings me to an interesting anecdote. After one of his visits to Delhi, one of our CEOs asked me to transfer a staff from the Delhi to New York as a Sales Representative and I resisted this primarily because no staff should insist on a posting to a particular station. He or she can request a transfer, but not insist on a particular station, It was up to his superiors to judge if he/she would be suitable to that post. Secondly, I felt that this particular staff had the potential for higher responsibilities and should be groomed accordingly.
A few years later, this particular staff did get posted to North America, but the station of posting was Toronto and not NYC. He called me (I was then working for Air Mauritius in NYC) and spoke with me for a considerable length of time. He wanted to thank me for not having sent him to NYC where he would have been a mere Sales Representative. He had learnt considerably since that time and that he had not only taken to heart my policy of not being a “yes man” but had actively practiced it. His only regret was that he could not achieve his objective - to be one of my proteges. However, he took satisfaction from calling himself “Mr. Sethi’s self appointed protege”.
We had a great laugh and I made it a point to meet and have lunch with him on each occasion that I visited Toronto during his stint at that station. I did meet him in Delhi many times at the annual AI Retired Executives dinners and am sorry to state that he passed away at a very young age. He had some very refreshing ideas and was definitely not a “yes man”. In fact, he sent me copies of some of his Studies of the Canadian market which were quite comprehensive.
There was an interesting development which took place with my appointment as CM-Planning. My entire Tariffs team was male and I had now inherited a fairly large number of ladies from the Planning Branch. It became quite apparent to me that dealing with men was much different than dealing with women and I mentioned it to my wife. Manju decided that it was time that she intervened and without telling me, invited all the women in the Planning Branch for lunch one day at our apartment.
The lunch went on for a number of hours because I could not find any of the women when I asked for them. At the same time, it must have been a success, because I seldom had a problem after that day. I guess my wife told them the secret of dealing with me.
The first Pool meeting that I attended was in Sydney and the participants were BA and Qantas. Before we left for Sydney, I got a call from Tony Pinto who was the Regional Director - Australasia. Tony told me to bring my golf clubs. I mentioned that Saroj Datta also played golf and he extended the same invitation to him. Our meeting in Sydney lasted three weeks and we played golf on about 7 occasions, of which two were during the week. We had a couple of afternoons off and Tony took us out after telling his Secretary that we were going to call on “18” agents.
I met Axel Khan through Tony Pinto. Axel was then the Indian Trade Commissioner in Sydney and also played golf. A very nice gentleman whom I got to know quite well. We resumed our friendship when he went to Kuwait as the Indian Ambassador.
Apart from hosting us at golf, Tony and his wife had the entire team over for lunch on at least 3 weekends at their home. Tony was a good friend and I always invited him to play golf with us whenever he visited Bombay on duty. I was sorry to see him go when he left Air-India for personal reasons.
Unfortunately, for the Pool team, Tony Pinto’s successor was not as hospitable and we never looked forward to our visits to Sydney during his tenure. Narpat Singh was the third RD and a member of our golfing group in Bombay. The good days returned after he took over as the RD in Sydney and continued when Malcolm Barretto took over from Narpat.
In an earlier Blog, I have talked about how with Mr. Kooka’s help, some of us became members of the Bombay Presidency Golf Club. Narpat also became a member on the same basis when he came to Bombay on a transfer and we had a regular group comprising Narpat, Saroj Datta, Amar Singh and myself. Amar was the Managing Director of Wyeth, an American Pharmaceutical Company in Bombay and another good friend. We had some rollicking good times every Saturday on the golf course and off it. Our group eventually became known at the Golf Club as the “awesome foursome".
Many, many years later when we had all dispersed, Manju and I happened to visit Bombay and were staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel. The phone rang and a soft voice asked if she and Narpat could come up and see us. She was Maya, the wonderful wife of Narpat Singh and we welcomed them to join us for tea. Narpat had retired and was living with his family in Australia. Unfortunately, he had Parkinsons Disease and his movements were restricted - he had a “walker”. When he and Maya said goodbye to us, his last words were “remember the awesome foursome. These were indeed the last words I heard from his mouth, because I later heard from his daughter Rani that my good friend had passed away.
Manju and I were further saddened when Rani sent us an e-mail last month that her mother had also passed away. It reminded me of the time when I first met her. I was a very junior member of the AI staff and on a visit to Delhi was invited by Narpat Singh, who was then DSM - Sales, to his home for dinner. The dinner was cooked by Maya herself and when we got the news of her passing away, it took me back almost 57 years. Another era of my life has gone by.
Memories are a funny thing. The string does not seem to end and I am reminded of the time when Ross Stainton, the M.D. of British Airways came for a meeting in Bombay. His local Manager told Mr. Unni that Ross wanted to play golf and so, the BA team played the AI team for a trophy that BA presented. The AI team comprised Mr. Unni, Narpat Singh, Saroj Datta and myself. The tournament was a draw, BA winning one match and AI the other. We never played this tournament again and I wonder where this trophy is?
I could carry on and on with tales of golf and the afternoons and evenings spent reliving the game. But since all good things do come to an end, I will stop here
