Going through one of my photo albums, I came across a group photograph to commemorate the day when Mr. Kooka gave some of us our Long Term Service pins . (I received my 10 year pin on that day).

Looking at the photograph, it dawned upon me that of the more than one dozen of us present that day, only two of us now remain; Eric Pereira and myself.  I sent Eric a copy of the photograph.  He came back saying that he too had a copy.

This reminded me of the first overseas Regional Sales conference that I attended.  I had just taken over as CM - Planning and Nari Dastur invited me to attend the next European Sales Conference in Geneva.  The dates of the Conference were dove tailing quite well with my other major meeting - the 1969 Spring IATA Conference in Athens - and I happily agreed.  It also so happened that I wanted to take a few days off to attend the wedding of Raj Vaide in the U.K. which was to take place soon after the Geneva meeting.  Raj was a member of our Sales Team in the U.K.

Imagine my disappointment when, while I was in Athens, I received a telex from Mr. Kooka stating that he did not feel it necessary for me to attend the meeting in Geneva and that I should return directly to Bombay at the end of the IATA Conference.  My disappointment turned to surprise when the next day, Mr. Kooka changed his mind.

Eric Pereira was the Manager - Switzerland and hosted a dinner at his home for some of the participants and I was included.  After a very nice dinner, Mr. Kooka requested Malcolm Barretto (Manager - France) to sing us a song.  Malcolm had a great voice and he sang “People, who love People”.  Someone then indicated to Mr. Kooka that there was another person present who also sang quite well and this person (who shall remain nameless) started to sing.  

Unfortunately, Eric’s dog did not appreciate this particular voice and started to howl.  Mr. Kooka then asked Malcolm to sing another song with the idea of checking if the dog was genuinely upset with the 2nd singer.  Dutifully, Malcolm obliged and the dog was quiet.  The 2nd person was asked to sing again with a similar result - the dog started to howl.  Most of us felt very sorry for this 2nd person who, as I stated before, shall remain nameless.

The European Sales meeting was followed by a similar meeting in the U.K. hosted by Maneck Dalal.  I had not been invited but had proceeded to London in preparation for Raj Vaide’s wedding.  Manju and I were staying as guests of Ashok Vaish who was then, the Asst. to the R.D. - U.K.  Ashok left for the meeting in the morning and Manju and I prepared to spend the day sightseeing.  Just as we were leaving Ashok’s apartment, the phone rang.  It was Ashok with a message from Mr. Kooka “Why are you not present at the Sales Meeting?”

Why, indeed!!!!  I was neither invited not had Mr. Kooka indicated that I should attend.  After all, we had spent a few days together in Geneva and also traveled to London immediately thereafter.  At no time, had he indicated that I should be in attendance.

Nonetheless, I took this as summons from the boss and leaving Manju to fend for herself, proceeded to the meeting.  During the lunch break, Mr. Kooka told me that henceforth, I should take it as understood that I should attend all Regional Sales Conferences as my input at the Geneva meeting had convinced him that it would be in the airline’s interest to have me in attendance.

One fortunate side effect was that my stay in London changed from personal to business and I collected my daily allowance which certainly came handy.

Coming back to the group photograph, I would like to mention two persons who have helped me immensely in my career.  Firstly, I learnt to pay attention to detail from Mr. Malani for which I am ever grateful.  Mr. Balendu Shah, who told me that authority is always TAKEN; it is seldom given.  How right he was.

In my last Blog, I had spoken about one failing of Mr. Dastur (his inability to say “No”).  I want to add that this got us into serious trouble with the Bosu Committee (Committee on Public Undertakings).  It so happened that two of our senior managers came to me with an unusual request.  Both had their sons enrolled in Doon School, one of India’s prestigious public schools and they had been approached by the then principal that the school would open its doors to the sons of any Air-India staff who was posted overseas if AI offered him and his wife two free tickets for travel in First Class every year.

I rejected this suggestion and thought no more of it.  Little did I realize that, without telling me, they went over my head to Mr. Dastur who agreed to it.  Orders to issue such tickets went to the Manager Northern India directly from Mr. Dastur’s office and someone leaked this information to the Bosu Committee when it started its inquisition.

This issue was brought up by Bosu in one of our meetings when I was overseas, and on my return, faced a furious Mr. Appusamy.  I was dumbfounded and confessed to him that I was completely unaware of it.  It took a lot of convincing on my part before he accepted that the orders had been issued without my knowledge.  

Bosu was given a lot of information - both true and false - about what had transpired in the airline and he grilled me on a number of issues.  He raised these issues in a closed session where only Air Chief Marshal PC Lal, Mr. Appusamy and myself were present. 

For example:

1. Bosu asked if some of our overseas staff brought me gifts when they visited India and I confirmed that I had received bottles of liquor and golf balls on many such occasions. He said that such gifts were acceptable and he himself welcomed a gift of a bottle of liquor.
2. Bose asked if I had received a bedside radio-cum-clock from the NYC office on one of my visits to the USA and if I was aware that the charges for this item had been debited to the Publicity Budget of the Region? I told him that the occasion was a Sales Conference in NYC and that date coincided with my 20th anniversary with AI.  However, the money for the gift was raised by voluntary contributions from some of the staff and not debited to the Publicty Budget.
3. When Bosu appeared unconvinced, I asked him to bring in to the session two members of the USA staff who happened to be waiting outside the room.  They were Peter Mahta and Raj Mullick.  I asked Bosu to question these two staff and get to the bottom of this allegation.  
4. At this point, Bosu accepted my statement, but continued in his merry way of accusing me of improprieties.  Air Chief Marshal took umbrage at this lengthy inquisition and accused Bosu of a biased attitude against me.  ACM Lal further stated that in the questioning, the majority of allegations had been based on incorrect information, but Bosu was adamant in pursuing his agenda.
5. Boss told ACM Lal that while he was aware that many of the “improprieties” had taken place during the tenure of some of my predecessors, he was holding the current occupant of the chair responsible.

After this particular session, I met Bosu privately in his chambers with the approval of Mr. Appusamy and asked him point blank why he had singled me out for an attack on Air-India.  He reiterated his statement that he was going after the current occupant of the chair since the actual “culprits” had retired. He further stated that he would “go easy” on me if I gave him confidential information of two individuals whom he named.  I refused and he answered that in that case, he would continue with his accusations which he confidentially admitted to me were based upon information supplied by:

1. Disgruntled employees; and
2. Employees who had a lot to answer for but whom he was shielding as they were supplying him with “insider” information.

He repeated that if I agreed to become a “snitch” he would stop his crusade against me.  I declined and reported this conversation to both ACM Lal and Mr. Appusamy.

I asked Bosu how come he had accepted the upgrading to First Class the travel of his children without question?  Was this not against his so-called code of ethics?  He refused to answer my question.

The entire proceedings of the COPU were a sad period for Air-India where its Chairman capitalized upon the information which was readily supplied by those who were either guilty of improprieties or who had been sidelined in their careers.  I will be the first to admit that some decisions which were made were not exactly “kosher”, but many of them had to be made in the highly competitive atmosphere in which we worked.