When I took over the post of Commercial Director, I was still occupying the cabin next door to that occupied by Nari Dastur.  Even though Mr. Dastur was now Deputy M.D (Commercial), he stayed in the same corner office on the 17th Floor and did not move up to the 22nd Floor.

After a couple of months, I manage to “nudge” him into relinquishing the corner office and I finally moved into the “big” office which had previously been occupied by Mr. Kooka and Mr. Dastur.  Before moving, Mr. Dastur had one piece of advice for me - ALWAYS KEEP YOUR DOOR OPEN.  Let your staff have free access to you.

I am proud to state that I religiously followed this advice and was available to anyone not only during office hours but also at home or on flights.  Here, I would like to relate two instances.

First, when on a flight, some cabin crew members wanted to talk to me, I remember my wife complaining - when can you get some quiet time?  You see the staff during office hours and then get phone calls at home.  Why cannot you be allowed to relax on a flight?  I told her that while ground staff had the opportunity to come to my office, this was perhaps the only time that cabin crew could have my undivided attention and that I would not be true to my assignment if I turned them away.

Second, I was awakened by a call around 11:30pm and a rather inebriated voice introduced itself and asked “when will I get my promotion?”  I must have spoken rather rudely to this voice and asked him to meet me in my office the next day.  He said that he was speaking from Delhi and requested if he come the day following, to which I agreed.  He appeared and very sheepishly apologized for his action.  Although I have tried to refrain from mentioning names in my Blogs, I must make an exception at this time.

As the story goes, two gentlemen - Satish Khanna and Gopal Kapoor were spending an evening at Gopal’s house in Delhi and after a few drinks, decided to unburden themselves of their problems and Satish complained that he had not received his “well deserved” promotion for quite some time.  Gopal asked Satish if he had approached the C.D. and when Satish replied in the negative, was advised that the “door to the C.D.’s office is always open” and “why don’t you speak with him”.  At which stage, Gopal promptly got out his telephone book, checked the number, called my residence and handed over the phone to Satish Khanna.

I told Satish that Yes, my door is always open, but during office hours and not when I am asleep at 11:30pm.  I then reassured him that I would look into his case and that his case would be reviewed to his satisfaction.  I don’t recall what exactly happened to his promotion, but when I had left AI and was living in the USA, I received a call from Satish Khanna saying that he was now posted in the USA as Marketing Manager - USA and that he wanted once again to apologize for his rude behavior.  I told him that I bore no grudge and wished him well in his new assignment.

One reason for my relating this incident is that many years later, Satish Khanna (having retired and settled in Westchester County) passed away.  I received a call from Andy Bhatia who informed me that a memorial service had been scheduled at a place of worship and that I may wish to attend.  I did so and paid my respects to Satish’s wife and family.  I was disappointed to see that there was not a single ex-colleague from Air-India at this service.  I knew Andy had a previous engagement, but the absence of any other AI employee or ex-employee was a disappointment.

Here, I would like to make some comments on the very important subject of promotions and I will start with my own career with Air-India.  I had joined in January 1957 in the grade of Junior Officer - a grade which was abolished a few years later.  I was recommended for promotion to the Asst. Station Superintendent grade for effectiveness April 1, 1959 but the actual date was postponed till November 1, 1959.

I only found out about this change when, a few years later, Harish Malik confessed that he was responsible for the delay as his own promotion to the same grade was not recommended at the time when mine was and he worked hand in glove with his then boss to ensure that both of us were promoted on the same date.  At that time, Harish was in the Administrative Section which processed all recommendations and hence, he and his boss could and did play this role.

On April 1, 1962, both Harish Malik and I were promoted to the Station Superintendent grade.  Harsh also received a transfer as Asst. Manager - East Africa and left for Nairobi.  I was  promoted to the next three higher grades at short intervals - 

Station Manager - Apr 1, 1964

Sr. Station Manager - Apr 1, 1967

Commercial Manager - Planning - Dec 1, 1968

In all these cases, certain factors played a vital role as in the normal course, I could not have received such accelerated promotions.

Firstly, I had been offered a job by IATA in April 1963 which I had turned down, but which came to the notice of Mr. A.F. Dubash, Planning Director.  He was at that time, trying to work out a succession plan for the department as a whole and my promotions up to the Sr. SM grade fit into his plan, when on April 1, 1967, I took over as Tariffs Manager from Mr. J.C. Malani.

The promotion to the Commercial Manager grade came as a complete surprise to me and the following events will show how external issues played a major role.

Mr. Dubash left Air-India sometime in 1967 to join IATA as Compliance Director.  He recommended that AI hire H.L. Sikka as CM - Planning. Mr. Sikka was then Planning Manager with Aden Airways, based in Aden.  However, Lal Sikka had other ideas - he did not want to come back to India but agreed to join AI on the condition that for a few years, he should stay overseas.  

Both Joe Andrade and Luis Cabral (Planning Managers) made a strong bid to head the department. Mr. Kooka offered Luis Cabral the post of CM - Planning but not control of the Tariffs division, which Luis did not accept.  Luis left AI and joined Kuwait Airways and I ended up getting the surprise of my life when Mr. Kooka offered me the entire Planning department - Tariffs, Commercial Planning and International Relations.

At a later stage and in another Blog(s), I will speak about my further rise in the airline, but at this stage, would just indicate the various factors which resulted in my getting 5 promotions in the space of 11 years, which was not the norm in the Air-India that we all knew.

However, it is my understanding that as a general policy, promotions to grades up to and including Sr. Station Managers were seniority/merit based.  Since there were very few openings in the Commercial Manager/Regional Manager grade, promotions to this grade were primarily on merit and suitability.  There were a few exceptions as indicate below:

There was the case of one staff member whose brother-in-law was the Minister of Foreign Affairs.  Two others who benefitted from the then South Indian Raj and a fourth, on whose promotion and selection as RD - India brought out the following comment from Eric D’Silva, who was well known for his caustic comments:

“There are those who are born great; those who achieve greatness and then the final lot who have greatness thrust open them.”

There were three Sr. Station Managers whose names came up for promotion to the C.M. grade in the last four years of my career with Air-India.  Their cases were reviewed by the Senior Panel, comprising the Director of Personnel, The Finance Director and myself.  Each year, the Panel did not recommend them for promotion.  In  1976 and 1977, the cases were then reviewed by the Dy. MD and the M.D., both of whom indicated their agreement.  In 1978, 1979 and 1980 (my last year of service), I spent quite some time going through their service records and could not but agree with the recommendation.

In 1980, we had yet another change at the top and Mr. Raghu Raj received appeals from all three for reconsideration.  Mr. Raghu Raj called for their files and after a review, discussed their cases with me.  He felt that although on merit, he did not see the way to promote them, he wanted to give them consideration based on long service.  I advised against this move as it would send the wrong message - staff would expect longevity to prevail and if we took this to its logical conclusion, the same staff would then expect to be promoted as Dy. Commercial Directors and Commercial Directors.  

The question that should be primary in our mind should be “is this staff member fit to lead or are we merely avoiding our responsibility in developing a succession plan?

Raghu Raj asked me to leave the files on his desk and as I anticipated, he promoted all three after my departure from the airline.  This, to my mind, set a precedent and it was not long after that we had massive promotions based upon time served and the net result of over 100 people in the grade of Commercial Manager.  Who needed motivation to rise - just serve the right number of years and you will get to the top!!

After my departure, I have seen not only Regional Heads, but also Commercial Directors whom I would not have recommended for promotion beyond the Sr. S.M. grade.  I know of at least three Commercial Directors who got to the top entirely because of being “YES MEN” and another who came from outside and was the “chamcha” of the then Aviation Minister.  He was the one responsible for the non-stop operations to NYC with a 14 hour layover.  Without an aviation background, it is not difficult to see that he had no clue of aircraft utilization and its benefits in reducing break-even load factors.

Then, there were and still are Regional Heads who could not compare with the caliber and quality of people such as Peter Mahta, Maneck Dalal , Merwan Nanporia and Nikka Qadir, whose background, experience and leadership skills brought out the best in their subordinates.

Sad, very sad, when I see the quality of the top management in the Commercial Department in recent years, going back to the late 1980s.  They are now posting Regional Heads who have spent their entire careers at a desk at Head Office - they have never spent a day in a field office nor have they traveled to see how tickets are sold or met with Travel Agents, Consolidators or Tour Operators.

But then, what can one expect from an airline which has degraded itself from a “top of the pack” cosmopolitan airline of a third world country to a third rate ethnic carrier of the same third world country.  Who needs sophistication when the majority of our traffic is ethnic.  

Even the recent Babus who have held the post of Chief Executive dress as ….. what did you expect, babus.

I wonder how many of my former colleagues and those who joined Air-India after I left, saw and read the booklet “Foolishly Yours” which was the brainchild of Mr. S.K. Kooka, our first Commercial Director.  This booklet was placed in every seat pocket of our aircraft.

The booklet spoke and described in a humorous manner the service on board the airline and poked fun at both the passengers and the airline staff.  As an example, there was a cartoon showing the Maharajah embracing a passenger upon deplaning and collecting the cutlery from the passenger’s pockets that he, the passenger, was attempting to take away.

Mr. Kooka did not even spare the Chairman when he wrote that all passengers should check the seat backs and pockets to ensure that they did not leave behind any valuables.  He went on to hint that the Patek Philippe watch that the Chairman was wearing may have been left behind by a passenger.

This particular and rather expensive watch has always held a particular fascination for me, but the price was way beyond my reach and it was an unbelievable surprise when on a visit to Florida last week, my younger son, Sarat, presented me with one.  Sarat’s company had recently undergone a restructuring and he became Co-Managing Partner.  To commemorate this event, he had purchased the watch for me.  I wear it with great pride and joy.

Speaking of purloining cutlery from airlines, I had, in my bachelor days, decided to collect a piece of cutlery from every airline that I traveled on and it was not too long before, our bachelor pad at “A” Road in Churchgate had a complete set of cutlery for 8 persons.  However, not one piece matched another.  Needless to state, this collection remained in the apartment when I moved out after getting married, as was our tradition.

In one of my earlier Blogs, I have spoken about my very dear and close friend Yash Johar, a well known and established film producer.  In my career with Air-India but mainly after I had reached the top of the Commercial Department, I had the good fortune of meeting and getting to know, a few other film personalities, including Waheeda Rehman, Sanjay Khan and my screen idol, Nargis.

Sanjay Khan came to see me when he was planning to produce Sona Chandi on the island of Mauritius.  He wanted a number of free tickets and also free carriage of baggage and equipment.  In return for publicity, we agreed to some of his requirements with regard to free tickets and also rebated (but not free) carriage of cargo.  He invited me and my wife to dinner at his home but failed to mention that his guest of honor was Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam, the Prime Minister of Mauritius.

When introducing me to the P.M. he requested the latter to try and convince me to give him additional free tickets and free carriage of baggage and cargo.  The P.M. first told Sanjay that not only did he know me, but that I had been his guest at a Mauritian Parliamentary session, followed by lunch.  He then told him that he would not take advantage of this relationship to make any such request.

Sanjay took this in his stride and we soon became good friends although he would remind me of my “stinginess” whenever we happened to meet in the future.

I was present at the Centaur Hotel at Bombay airport when Sanjay negotiated the deal to produce the film Tipu Sultan by purchasing the rights from Bhagwan Gidwani who was the author.  I had known Bhagwan for many years - first when he was DG - Tourism and later when he took over as the DGCA.  Bhagwan insisted that I witness the negotiation and signing the rights over to Sanjay and I could not resisting getting my own back at Sanjay when I stated that he had “swindled” Bhagwan as the amount of money that changed hands was a pittance.

We had a good meeting followed by lunch.  Sanjay did produce this movie a few years after I had left India, but I was saddened to learn that he had an accident at the sets. 

My meeting with Nargis had nothing to do with the film industry.  One morning, my Secretary informed me that a Mrs. Dutt would like to call on me and I agreed to meet her the next day.  Imagine my surprise when Aban, our receptionist walked into my office and announced with great flair, that my visitor was none other than the Queen of the Silver Screen.

Nargis was accompanied by another lady who was introduced as the President of the Spastics Society and that she (Nargis) was its Chief Patron.  The President of the Society gave me a short presentation and its need to generate funds for its working and then asked if it was, at all possible, for Air-India to assist the Society.  She mentioned that it had come to her attention that AI sent out UNICEF Christmas and New Year cards and Nargis enquired if we could purchase a small quantity from the Spastic Society.

I replied in the affirmative and promptly spoke on the intercom with Jal Cowasjee, our Publicity Manager.  Jal told me that our annual purchase was 10,000 cards and I told him that we should henceforth take 50% from the Spastics Society and that I was requesting their president to meet with him and finalise the purchase.  Not being privy to what Jal had told me on the intercom, Nargis enquired how many cards would 50% represent and was overjoyed to learn that we would buy 5,000 cards from the Society.

Both she and the President left my office in a very happy mood and I, in turn, spent the rest of the day wondering how I would describe this meeting to my wife.

A couple to days later, I received a call from Nargis inviting us to dinner at her residence in Bandra which I accepted with alacrity.  Nargis greeted us with great warmth and introduced us to her husband, Sunil Dutt. I mentioned that I had met him many, many years ago and when he asked me to elaborate, I told him the following:

The year was 1959 and I was living with my cousin Ravi Sawhney and his family on Altamount Road.  On the salary of an Asst. Station Superintendent, there was no way that I could live independently.  

One weekend, the door bell rang and I went to answer it.  A very personable young man asked if he could meet my cousin and I said sure and asked for his name.  He answered “Balraj”.  I  escorted him to the living room and then went to tell my cousin that he had a visitor named Balraj.  I retired to my bedroom and a while later heard them talk and laugh.  After a while, the visitor left and my cousin came to my bedroom and enquired “how come you did not recognize him”?  

I said that he looked familiar but that I could not place him and the name did not ring any bell.  My cousin said that the gentleman was indeed none other than the film star Sunil Dutt and that Balraj was his given name.  My cousin went on to state that Balraj’s family and our families were well known to each other prior to Partition when we lived in what is now Pakistan.

When I related this incident to Sunil Dutt, he enveloped me in a big hug stating that I was a long lost cousin, second or third removed. It did not take very long for Manju and me to develop a close friendship with Nargis and Sunil and we did meet quite often.

It is interesting to note here that their son, Sanjay Dutt’s middle name is “Balraj”.

Quite soon thereafter, Nargis and Khushwant Singh, the editor of the Illustrated Weekly were nominated Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Murli Deora who was then the Mayor Of Bombay threw a Reception to celebrate this event.  We received an invitation to attend and since I had met and got to know the Mayor quite well, accepted the invite but asked if I could bring a house guest; a request that was granted.  Brij Mehra, our Sales Manager, US West Coast was visiting and staying with us.  Brij and I go back many decades to our college days and in fact, I was instrumental in his joining Air-India.

At the reception, when Nargis and Sunil arrived, Nargis was almost mobbed by her admirers and well wishers.  Sunil, upon seeing me, came over and greeted me with a big hug, lifting me off my feet in the process.  Brij saw this and asked me how come I was on such friendly terms with Sunil.  I gave him a brief background but he did not appear convinced.  “Ask him for dinner at your apartment on the coming Saturday” said Brij and so, I spoke to Sunil.  He said that he would consult “Bhabhi” which was how I addressed Nargis and came back confirming the dinner.

I invited a couple of other common friends and we had a very enlightening evening.  Sunil got so involved in the discussions that one guest wondered who was the real MP - Nargis or Sunil.  Little did we realize that Sunil would soon embark on his own political journey, becoming first the Sheriff of Bombay; then a Member of parliament and eventually a Cabinet Minister.

It was with a very heavy heart that we learnt that Nargis had developed cancer and this coincided with my leaving Air-India and joining Kuwait Airways.  I was in the USA at that time and we visited Nargis at Sloan Kettering hospital in NYC.  She greeted us and jokingly asked if she and Sunil should now travel on KU instead of AI.  Sadly, she never recovered and soon hereafter, passed away.

Our friendship with Sunil continued and we were guests at Sanjay Dutt’s wedding.  After Nargis passed away, Sunil set up the Nargis Dutt Foundation in the USA which still exists and contributes to cancer cure in India.  We held a small and intimate dinner at our house in Tenably, New Jersey on the occasion of the first Fund Raiser of the Foundation in New York.

Subsequently, and after Sunil Dutt’s death, some events took place here in the USA regarding some personalities involved and my wife and I discontinued our participation in the Foundation.

Before ending this Blog, I must relate an amusing incident which took place when my wife and I returned to our apartment on Pedder Road after an evening out with friends.  In line with  our practice, we hadn’t taken our house keys and rang the bell and the door was opened by our cook/housekeeper.  Unlike all previous occasions, this time she stood in the doorway barring our entry; looked directly at me and accusingly asked “why has Asha Parekh sent you flowers?”

I was non plussed as I did not recall ever meeting this famous actress and confessed that I had no clue.  I promised to check the next morning and after receiving this assurance, we were allowed to enter our apartment.  Next day, I asked Anil Kadam, my Executive Assistant and he told me that Asha Parekh had recently traveled to Europe and one of her staff had asked for special handling which he had arranged.  The gift of flowers must have been a token of her gratitude.

I mentioned this to our cook/housekeeper who accepted this explanation, but did not appear quite happy.  I have to add that she always took a very paternal attitude towards us and our children and even when my wife went out on occasions when I was out of station, she said to her on departure “call me when you get to your destination”.