Soon after Mr. Unni took over as Managing Director, he became a member of the Executive Committee of IATA and since I was a member of IATA’s Traffic Committee, we worked quite closely.  He asked me to accompany him on various occasions for IATA meetings and at one point in time, I reached a stage where I was traveling too much since I had also to attend to my main function as Head of Marketing & Sales.

On one occasion, when we were in London, having just finished the U.K. Regional Sales Meeting, Mr. Unni hinted to me that he would like me to accompany him for an IATA sub-committee meeting that he planned to attend.  I reminded Mr. Dastur (then Dy. M.D.) that I had planned to take a few days off and take my wife to Spain for a short vacation just to get away.  He was very solicitous and told me to “disappear” without informing Mr. Unni and that he would handle the matter if the M.D. suddenly discovered that I was no longer in their midst.

During his tenure in Bombay, Mr. Dastur had to undergo surgery and took a couple of months medical leave.  He came to my office and left the keys of the Mercedes car that he had been allotted and told me to keep it running during his absence.  This was the only period in my career with the airline that I drove a Mercedes car. 

When I became C.D., top management decided not to allot any Mercedes cars to Department Heads any more and we continued using Ambassador cars.

While Mr. Dastur was away, Peter Mahta invited me to attend the ASTA Convention in New Orleans and I obtained Mr. Unni’s permission to do so.  Unfortunately, while Manju and I were packing to go on this trip, I received a call from Mr. Unni.  It so happened that Indira Gandhi had taken a trip to Mauritius and on the flight threw a tantrum when she “discovered” that Air-India did not have the National Herald among the newspapers that it offered to passengers.  

KL Ramchander, the Dy. Director - Inflight Services, who accompanied the flight made a frantic call to Mr. Unni when the flight landed in Mauritius.  Mr. Unni called me immediately and said that he wanted me to personally ensure that every AI flight that took off from the next day onward must carry the National Herald.  I was aware that this newspaper was the “family heirloom” of the Nehru family, but also knew that hardly anyone read it in those days and its circulation had dropped considerably.

I mentioned all of this to Mr. Unni, but he was in no mood to listen and take up the case with the Aviation Ministry.

I then informed Mr. Unni that the Inflight Services Department did not report to me and that in Ramchander’s absence, his deputies should be instructed to take action.  Additionally, I was leaving that night for New Orleans on a trip that he had approved.  Guess what, he canceled his earlier approval and yours truly went all over the city getting copies of the National Herald to be placed on board all AI flights.  

There went a trip that Manju and I were looking forward to.

During my career with Air-India, I had the opportunity of working with five Aviation Secretaries.  There were others, but I was too junior to associate with them. 

The first one was Narottam Sahgal; an member of the Indian Civil Service (ICS), true gentleman and a very knowledgeable person.  I was a member of the Indian delegation led by him for various Bilateral talks and got to know him quite well.  He also invited me for lunch at his farmhouse outside Delhi.  In his capacity as Aviation Secretary, Mr. Sahgal also served on the Board of Air-India.  In those days, the Indian Government representative was always of the rank of full Secretary.  It was after I left the airline, that Government, in its infinite wisdom, decided to downgrade the representation.

When I took over as Commercial Director, Mr. Sahgal would call me the day before a Board meeting.  He would enquire if I was free that evening and, if so, could I join him for a drink at the residence of his sister?  Since these occasions and invitations became almost routine, I made it a point to keep myself free.

We would have a couple of drinks and go through items of the Board Agenda which pertained to Commercial and revenue earning issues.  He would then formulate his views which he would then present at the Board meeting on the next day.  At the time of my resignation, Mr. Sahgal had retired from the ICS.  He learnt that I had put in my papers and was glad to learn that I had an offer from Kuwait Airways.  He recommended that I do not “broadcast” this offer until I had physically joined the airline, as “you never know what lurks behind the scenes”.  

I was delighted when Mr. Sahgal called on me at the Kuwait Airways office in New York on one of his visits and it gave me the opportunity to take him out for lunch.

Mr. Nirmal Mukherjee, also ICS, took over as Aviation Secretary from Mr. Sahgal and here again, I met and got to know a true gentleman.  One day he said to me “I understand that you are a good friend of the Managing Director of British Airways”.  I replied that my association with Ross Stainton went back many years when we both attended IATA fare and rate meetings and that I had maintained a good relationship with him.

Mr. Mukherjee brought up the problems that we were encountering in the Bilateral Talks with the British and asked if I would agree and go to London and meet with Mr. Stainton and see if we could get an agreement at airline level.  I readily agreed but requested the Aviation Secretary to please clear the visit and meeting with my Chief Executive who, at that time, happened to be Mr. K.G. Appusamy.  Mr. Mukherjee told me that he had already sounded Mr. Appusamy about the meeting and the latter had agreed.

I called Mr. Appusamy later that evening and he confirmed his talk with Mr. Mukherjee and so, I sent a telex to our R.D. - UK to arrange a meeting with Ross Stainton.  I received confirmation about the meeting and left for London that night.  I met Ross and was able to get an understanding with him which I conveyed to Mr. Mukherjee on a telephone call from London.  He was effusive in his thanks and I returned to Bombay and was debriefed by Mr. Appusamy.

In 1978, the Bureau of Public Sector Undertakings interviewed a number of persons for the two vacancies of Deputy Managing Director in AI.  C.L. Sharma and I were shortlisted and the Bureau’s recommendations went to the Cabinet Committee for approval.  

Because of the inquisition by the Committee of Public Undertakings, my appointment was held in abeyance and CL’s was cleared.  However, Mr. Appusamy held back CL’s appointment until mine was cleared and asked me to call on Mr. Mukherjee who had then taken over as Cabinet Secretary.  I met Mr. Mukherjee in Delhi whose greeted my very cordially and when I raised the matter with him said “Inder, your papers came into my In-tray and then went to my Out-tray.   Your appointment has been cleared”.  Both CL and I were appointed on November 1, 1978.

The third Aviation Secretary (Mr. Naik) was one whom I “inherited” from Mr. Dastur.  He led the Indian delegation to a Bilateral Meeting in London with the British authorities and was accompanied by Mr. Dastur and the Planning & International Department team, headed by Venkat.  Mr. Dastur came back from this meeting in a rather agitated state and told me that the Secretary truly enjoyed his evening drinks and every dinner in London never took place before 10:00pm.  In addition, he was accompanied by a friend who could better be described as a “chamcha” or hanger on.

This “chamcha” had many small businesses in India and was anxious to involve Air-India’s participation in their activities and the Secretary had thrown a few hints at Mr. Dastur.  Being aware of Mr. Dastur’s weakness in saying “NO”, I asked him if he had made any commitments and was relieved to learn that on this occasion, he had indicated that he would give “due consideration” once he returned to India and told me to expect a call very soon from this gentleman. 

Sure enough, this gentleman called and Mr. Dastur’s secretary being forewarned, informed him that Mr. Dastur was away and transferred the call to me.  The gentleman then proceeded to tell me about the very “luxurious” hotel that he owned close to the airport in Bombay and he wanted Air-India to use it for their transit passengers.  Having never heard of this hotel, I suggested to him  that I would request our Airport Manager to visit the hotel and give me his recommendation.

I was told that the matter needed urgent action and he asked if I would accompany him that evening and see the hotel personally.  I called the Airport Manager and requested him to join us.

We reached the hotel around 8:30pm.  It was located in a small street which did not appear to be in a good neighborhood.  Upon entering the Lobby, we were greeted by loud voices and were then treated to a grand spectacle of a few drunken individuals involved in a brawl.  Liquor bottles were thrown around and the floor of the Lobby was littered with broken glass.

Fearing for our safety, we made a discreet withdrawal and I returned home.  The next day, I received another call from this gentleman asking for another opportunity to review his “luxury” hotel.

So, off we went (the Airport Manager and myself) on an inspection visit.  The gentleman met us in the Lobby and introduced us to the Manager of the Hotel.  Almost immediately, we heard a small group enter the hotel and in loud voices, asked for three rooms for 2 hours.  The group was three inebriated men with arms around women who could best be described as “ladies of the night” .

I looked at our Airport Manager who signaled that we make another discreet withdrawal and we silently made our way to our cars.

I called the gentleman the next morning and told him that Air-India would not be utilizing his hotel for its transit passengers.  He did not ask for any reasons and accepted our decision.  I asked him if I needed to advise the Aviation Secretary and he said that was not necessary.

For quite some time, Air-India had been toying with the idea of publishing an Inflight magazine. When I took over as Dy. M.D. I told the IFS department to give me a proposal to publish our own magazine.  While this study was being conducted, I received a call from the the same Aviation Secretary that he had heard about this idea and he wanted his son’s Publishing Company to be appointed to take over the job.

I informed the Secretary that once our study had been completed, it was envisioned that bids would be invited from interested participants to present their proposals.  At that stage, we would request his son to also send us a proposal.  I was, therefore, surprised to see a proposal on my desk the next week from his son and a follow up call from the Secretary that I should immediately accept this proposal and sign an agreement with his son.

Looking at the proposal, I learnt that not only would we be charged 50% of the cost of publishing the magazine, but that we had to give the Publisher a large number of free tickets, half of them being for First Class travel.

In the meantime, the IFS Department sent me a comprehensive document showing two or three other bids.  None of them asked for sharing of costs and/or grant of free tickets.

This left me in a quandary and so off I went to see Mr. K.G. Appusamy, who had taken over as M.D.  We agreed to delay the decision hoping that at some time in the near future, the Secretary’s term would come to an end and that would get us out of our predicament.  Fortunately, this event did occur within a few months and we eventually appointed a Publisher in Thailand to publish our Inflight magazine.  

By the time the first issue came out of print, I had left Air-India and was delighted to receive a copy from the Publisher with a covering Note which inter-alia, read “Here is a copy of your baby”.

Many years later, I learnt that the Contract for publishing the magazine was given to an Indian publisher and was surprised to hear from him asking if I could help him in getting advertisements from U.S. Companies.  I told him that due to a conflict of interests, my commitments did not permit me to undertake this function and he then proposed that my wife act as his representative.  Manju readily agreed and for quite a few years after that performed this function.  Eventually, the Contract went back to the original Publisher in Thailand.  This gentleman wanted to continue the relationship, but his terms were not as attractive and Manju declined to do so.

I notice that I have digressed and will now close and revisit this subject in a later posting