I turned 81 today and my thoughts went to the days of my childhood, school and college, which then brought me to the day when, armed with the letter of offer of employment, I entered the office of the Commercial Department of Air-India, located on the fourth floor of the Bank of India Building at Flora Fountain.  The date was January 21, 1957.

This day will remain vividly embedded in my mind.  I was greeted by the gracious Barbara Shivdasani who, upon reading the letter, spoke to someone and then told me to go across the road to the Bombay District office on the ground floor of the New India Assurance Building and report to Dolly Guzder, who would be in charge of my initial training.

I met Dolly Guzder who introduced me to two other new recruits who had started their training the same day.  They were Jerry Hundal, the new Sales Manager, Los Angeles and R. P. Bhat who would end up in the Administrative Division.  We spent one week studying the ABC World Guide and the Air-India Tariff, and practiced issuing dummy tickets and Exchange Orders.

After the initial week with Dolly Guzder, I moved to the ticket counter and worked there for a month under the supervision of Mrs. Chobi Mazumdar (later Mrs. Chellaram) and Mobedjina.  My colleagues were T.K.P. Pillai, B.K.Mangoakar, T.K. Rao, Sham Rao, Sharad Patel, Deidre Dunne, Capt. Netto and Ashok Gupte. It was a very pleasant group of persons who guided me in answering enquiries and issuing travel documents.

During this period, I also received my first “Blue Note”, which represented a written reprimand.  It so happened that Mr. A.F. Dubash, Planning Manager had returned from an overseas trip and as per protocol, a telex message was sent by the originating station to Bombay office requesting that we advise his residence of his arrival details.  Unfortunately, no one who was on duty that afternoon saw this message and accordingly, everyone of us attending shift duty that afternoon, received a Blue Note. 

It subsequently transpired that for some inexplicable reason, this telex had never been received but the damage had already been done and the Blue Note was not withdrawn.  However, it was never placed in my Personnel File and as such, no real damage took place.

After my stint at the Bombay office, I received orders of my permanent assignment to the Tariffs Division and accordingly, I reported to Mr. J. C. Malani, Tariffs Manager in the Bank of India Building, 4th Floor under whom I worked until 1965, when I took over this Division.  I had two Section Heads - A.B. Fernandez, Superintendent Passenger Tariffs and B. O. Gardiner, Superintendent Publications.  

Most of my first month was spent with B.O. Gardiner who was preparing the Source Document for Air-India’s Prorate Manual.  This Manual was designed to assist the Accounts Department to allocate the actual revenue to each Flight Coupon of a ticket involving one or more stops.  One day I answered “yes, Sir” to a question and was promptly instructed by Mr. Gardiner not to ever use that expression.  He told me that I should address senior executives as “Mr.  …..”  and not “Sir”.   I have religiously followed these instructions ever since.  

Before going any further in my narrative, let me state that I received the best grounding that anyone could expect during my term in the Tariffs Division.  I was a member of various IATA Groups and sub-committees, including:

1. Traffic Handling Group which was responsible for designing travel documents, such as the Passenger Ticket, Exchange Orders, Miscellaneous Charges Orders and the Cargo Air Waybill
2. IATA Prorate Group which indicated each participating airline’s share of revenue in a multi-stop journey.
3. The IATA/UPU Group which coordinated the airlines work with the Universal Postal Union.

Moving on to the 1970s, shortly before Nani Mital moved to Nairobi as Regional Head, he invited me to a lunch where he introduced me to members of an informal “Club” called The HUB.  The other members of this gathering (in addition to Nani himself) were Jimmy Guzder of IndTravels/Air Freight, Sam Gubbay of The Taj, Vinoo Ubhaykar of Trade Wings, Aldo Frei of Swissair and Rusty Palankote who was the Airports Authority Director at Bombay airport.

I learnt that the Club was the brainchild of Sam Gubbay who wanted a small but informal group of persons in the Travel Industry to exchange ideas and keep abreast with trends in hospitality and travel.  I was invited to join this group and must state that I have benefitted from my participation in this group.

Interestingly, the group met at The Oberoi for lunch on the very day that I had submitted my resignation and Jimmy Guzder who sat next to me asked - Inder, what is new?  When I told him that I had given in my papers, he almost fell off his chair.  The group was saddened by my decision and the entire meeting was devoted to this subject with some members requesting me to reconsider my decision.

I enjoyed the camaraderie and as I stated above, benefitted from my participation in this group of which I was a member for almost 8 years.

In an earlier Blog, I mentioned a young man whom I had assisted in setting himself up as a GSA for Kuwait Airways.  I also introduced him to Gulf Air where Adli Dajani was the G.M. - Commercial.  Adli was Air-India’s Sales Manager in Damascus before he left to join Kuwait Airways and then onto Gulf Air.  This young man lost no time in getting on the “right side” of Adli and soon added the Gulf Air GSA to his stable.  

Incidentally, while he was an employee as a clerk in his uncle’s Air France GSA, he had somehow managed to get himself appointed as Manager - India for ALIA, Jordanian Airlines.  This enabled him to apply for interline travel and in those days, most airlines were quite happy in giving him tickets.  This is how one day, I suddenly found him sitting next to me on a SABENA flight to Manila where I was headed to attend a meeting of the PATA Executive Committee.

On enquiring what took him to Manila, he stated that he had recently become the GSA for Philippine Airlines and his travel was in that connection.  He came back to Bombay on the same flight that I traveled on.  What surprised me was that I soon found out that quite often, he was as my companion on foreign trips.  It became obvious that he wanted to get close to me and very often asked for my advice on various matters concerning his business.

I was not averse to offering him such advice so long as it did not conflict with Air-India’s interests and I must confess that this must have encouraged him as he started to drop in at our apartment on the pretext of asking for advice.  There was one occasion where he was in serious trouble with Enforcement Department of the RBI and I got a frantic call from him asking to be “bailed” out of a predicament that he had landed himself in.  My memory is a little fuzzy right now, but I am almost certain that he had spent the previous night in a holding cell.

I called a attorney and introduced him to the young man and I believe he helped considerably and,in the process, became his attorney of record for future dealings.

He was very secretive about his dealings and would not disclose what events caused the Enforcement Directorate to go after him.  He did introduce me to his financial backers who happened to be Diamond Jewelers from Gujarat who had offices in Antwerp, Belgium and the USA.  More on this issue when I discuss my tenure in Kuwait Airways.

When this young man learnt that I had joined Kuwait Airways, he was ecstatic as he thought that he would now take advantage of this new relationship being the airline’s GSA for India.  He even came to Kuwait and called to request if he could stay with us during his visit which I agreed to.  His joy in this new relationship was, however, short lived when he realized that my stay in Kuwait would be short as my ultimate destination was the USA.  He tried very hard, and offered many “reasons” to convince me to stay on in Kuwait but I refused to agree.

Eventually, he visited me in the USA whenever he had an opportunity and needed my advice.

By the time, I left India, this young man had collected a fair number of GSAs including TWA and he became very close to a senior executive of that airline who was in charge of Cargo Marketing & Sales and therein lies another story.  He also became close to a senior executive of Flying Tigers and here again, lies another story which shall be the subject of another Blog.

In addition to the compassion that Mr. Dastur was well known, there was also his “soft” side.  I learnt this both while I was his deputy and also when I took over as Dy. M.D.

He seldom gave a junior a poor Annual Appraisal.  Most of his appraisals were Excellent and this gave me a major problem with a junior Department Head whom he had rated at the top in every category.  During my time with AI, we were instructed not to go by previous appraisal reports and hence, when I took over as Dy. M.D., one of my first tasks was to fill in Appraisal reports of three Department Heads who reported to me - Inflight Services, Planning and Ground Handling.

I duly filled in the reports based on my knowledge of these three individuals and very soon thereafter, had a visit from the Dy. Director - Inflight Services who complained that I had given him an “average” in one category - Job Knowledge.  He complained that he had always been given the top rating in this category by Mr. Dastur.

I asked him point blank if he had undertaken any flight to Nairobi or the Gulf during his tenure.  He replied that he had not.  I then asked him how could his job knowledge be complete?  He had no answer. 

I told him that I expected him to visit every Gulf station and Nairobi to learn about the catering facilities, the accommodation for the cabin crew and the service on board these flights.  Unfortunately, he was unable to completely fulfill this requirement for reasons I will explain in my next Blog.

When Mr. Dastur returned from one of his visits to Delhi, he mentioned that there was a lot of unhappiness in the top hierarchy in the office of the Manager - Northern India and asked me to look into it.  I visited Delhi and held meetings with all the Section Heads. 

Without exception, the major Heads - Dy. Manager, Airport Manager and the Reservations Manager declared their unwillingness to continue working under the then Manager.  

They complained that he issued instructions and then denied that he had done so, in cases when something went wrong.  They could never be certain that he would back them up.

What I learned was nothing new as in my own dealings with this individual, I had come to the conclusion that he was not trustworthy and would “lie to save his skin”. 

I will give an example.  I called his office at 9:45 one morning and checked with his Secretary who confirmed that her boss was in his office and had been there since 09:00.  I then spoke with him and asked him “Where were you at 9:30?  I called and you had not arrived at your office”.

His immediate answer was that he had decided that morning to call on a Travel Agent before coming to work.  I mentioned that he was lying as he had come straight to work and this had been confirmed by his Secretary.  I told him that he was a compulsive liar and that his immediate reaction to any allegation was to find an excuse.  He had no answer.

I reported my findings to Mr. Dastur and told him that we had two choices.  We could transfer either the Manager or all three Section Heads.  He decided to take the latter step and in doing so, sent them all on promotions to various stations.  The Manager was admonished but managed to hold his job because of his personal contacts with the powers that be in Delhi. 

In my own case, I ran into a problem with one of my colleagues whose wife could not hold her liquor and at various social occasions created some embarrassing situations, including one at Mr. Dastur’s own residence.  Rather than confront this colleague, Mr. Dastur sent him overseas on a posting as a Regional Head.

Having observed these and other similar decisions of Mr. Dastur, I came to the conclusion that he preferred to take the easy way out rather than tackle the problem head-on.

Soon after taking over as CM - Marketing & Sales, I accompanied Mr. KK Unni to Mauritius.  This was the first of many trips with him after he took over as M.D.  We were royally looked after not only by our GSA, Rogers and Company, but also were invited to attend a session of the Mauritius Parliament followed by lunch with the then Prime Minister, Sir Seewoosager Ramgoolam.

This also marked the first of three meetings with Heads of countries during my tenure until I left the airline.  

France-Albert Rene was a member of Parliament in Seychelles when he first visited India and Mr. Dastur requested me to invite him and his wife to dinner at the Chambers, a private Dining Room at the Taj Mahal Hotel.  Soon thereafter, he took over as Prime Minister and this time, he was Air-India’s official guest at dinner, hosted by Mr. Appusamy.  I was present at the dinner and he greeted me effusively.

The Prime Minister’s post was abolished in 1977 and Mr Rene became President and in this capacity, he came to Bombay on an official visit.  The Governor’s office called and stated that Mr.and Mrs. Rene would like to host my wife and myself to tea.  We met them at the Governor’s residence where they were staying.  The presented us with a stuffed turtle, which now adorns the entrance to our home in Boynton Beach in Florida.

Mr. Morarji Desai was our Prime Minister in the late 1990s and in this capacity, he traveled to Kenya.  He arrived at Bombay airport on an Air Force aircraft and I met him at the door of the aircraft.  I then walked with him down the steps and across the tarmac to the Air-India 707 which would take him to Nairobi.

He sat in Row 1 and we had assigned seats 1A and 1B for his flight.  He asked me to sit and talk with him until the aircraft was ready for departure.  When he was climbing the step ladder, I saw a glow on the back of his neck and marveled how fit and well he appeared despite his advanced age.  I guess this was due to the diet that he had personally designed for himself.

Those were still the days when the Indian President and P.M. flew on Air-India’s scheduled flights.  It was not too long after that they demanded an aircraft for themselves and that too, a 747.  We had to remove two 747s from the operating fleet as one had to standby and I remember and must relate a couple of incidents that took place.

The first one relates to a Foreign Minister from the BJP who later became PM.  He was traveling on one of our scheduled flights and the RM-India called me from Delhi and stated that the gentleman liked his drink but did not want the “world” to know.  So, I instructed the Inflight Services Dept to serve him scotch laced with Coca Cola whenever he requested for  a drink.  This became standard practice whenever he traveled.

I left Air-India in 1980 and soon thereafter, Indira Gandhi wanted to travel overseas and two 707s were being readied for her trip.  Just after it was decided which aircraft would be used (the other being standby), someone discovered that rats had eaten through some wiring and this aircraft was quickly substituted. 

Unfortunately, the information was “leaked” and the then CMD received instructions from Delhi to terminate the services of both the Engineering Director and his deputy.  The CMD did not attempt to mollify the powers that be and acted upon the instructions of termination.

I had joined Kuwait Airways by then and was working in Kuwait.  I received a telephone call from Mr. Appusamy who happened to be in India at that time.  He told me what had occurred and requested me to check if these two gentlemen could be offered jobs by Kuwait Airways.  I spoke with the Chairman of the airline who readily agreed to take the Deputy D.E., but regretted to take the D.E. who, he said, was of too advanced an age to have a useful career with Kuwait Airways.

I conveyed the decision to Mr. Appusamy.

Some years later, when Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister, he traveled on a 707 aircraft.  This particular aircraft was a convertible where a cargo door was installed in the middle of the fuselage.  An area right next to the door was earmarked for the PM to have a sitting room.  Unfortunately, there was a little draft which to my mind was inevitable considering that by then, Air-India’s 707s had aged considerably.

Rajiv Gandhi took umbrage at this discomfort and asked for the termination of the senior executive responsible for the decision to earmark this particular aircraft.  I am not absolutely certain, but I am given to understand that this was done.

I am also given to understand that on a subsequent flight using a 707, there was a malfunction in one engine and at this stage, Rajiv Gandhi decided not to use the 707s any more.

The then MD of Indian Airlines, who had trained Rajiv Gandhi decided to take advantage of this and offered a 737 for the PM’s future trips.  The 737 then in use were short and medium haul aircraft and the one and only time that Rajiv Gandhi used it proved rather disastrous as it had to make two or three stops before reaching his destination.

I may be wrong in my assumption, but I believe that this was the moment that Air-India’s 747 were “commandeered” for future VVIP flights.

I have just seen two similar emails by Mr. Rathore and Mr. Gupta indicating that Air-India is going to start serving meals in Thalis to Business Class passengers very soon.

My initial reaction was to commend the CMD on this innovation which truly shows that someone has finally starting thinking “outside the box” with a view to improving the inflight experience.

However, I was taken aback when I read that the airline would use plastic Thalis, even if it is to be “high quality” plastic.  Offering food in any kind of a plastic receptacle is “CHEAP” and I repeat, “CHEAP”.  

For many years, the meal trays served to Business Class passengers on long haul flights such as the India/USA/India non-stops have contained salads and desserts in containers covered with plastic film.  I had enquired why could the cabin crew not take this film off before placing the containers on the tray. On a 14 hour flight, are they so busy that this minor effort was beyond them.  

I don’t blame the cabin crew.  I blame Management who could not enforce discipline.

Air-India has always prided itself (at least while I was still there and in charge of the Inflight Department) of using the best quality crockery, cutlery and linen.  I still remember JRD Tata’s requirement that the when meals are served that the cabin crew switch on all overhead lights so that our cutlery would show its shine.

I also remember when Mr. Tata wrote to me that on his last flight, he noticed that we had substituted “Turkish” towels with plain cloth towels in the First Class toilets.  On checking with the Dy. Director - IFS, I was advised that this had been done to reduce costs.  I immediately over-ruled this decision and Turkish towels returned to the toilets in First Class.

Of course, things have deteriorated since then and we now have paper towels in all Toilets.  On a recent flight, my niece and her family did not find ANY - repeat ANY - toilet paper in any of the Economy Class toilets.  I requested the then CMD for an investigation into this and other complaints and never got a satisfactory answer.  The replies completely ignored the lack of toilet paper.

This is how low the service on AI has deteriorated.

Mr. Tata’s mantra was that AI would be second to none and in my humble opinion, the use of Plastic Thalis is a retrograde step.  A Thali is made of stainless steel and contains about 5 or 6 “Katoris” of the same metal.  I wonder what the latter will be substituted by?  Can you still justify the use of the name “Thali”?

Nari Dastur had a saying - there are those who will not understand and there are those who cannot understand.  This saying truly applies in this instance.  You cannot expect better from today’s Babus and similar categories of people who, unfortunately have reached positions beyond their abilities.

So, while I am happy to see innovations such as these, I am distraught at the low level of mentality that goes with it.  Call me a snob, but I will never eat out of a plastic plate when I am paying for my meal.  I will walk out of any top rated restaurant that dares to use such utensils.

But then, is Air-India “top rated” any more?  I have written before on this subject and even told a former CMD that while in my time, we prided ourselves that a Third World country was operating a First Rate airline, we had now a situation where the same Third World country was operating a Third Rate airline. He didn’t have the guts to respond to my allegation.

Is it any wonder that a large number of Business Class passengers on Air-India are Babus who have been upgraded.  Equally, I am not surprised in the decision to remove the First class cabin on the San Francisco flights.  With the quality of amenities and service being offered, did the current Management really expect to attract  high paying clientele?  They live in a Fool’s paradise.

I am sorry if I have come off rather strongly on this issue, but I must state that the matter of Inflight Service to me was always a high priority and, in my time, we did NOT spare any expense to ensure that we were the BEST.

With the arrival of the new CMD, I was hoping to expect an improvement in the quality of service.  One of his first Commandments was that one of his objectives was to improve On Time Performance to over 80%.  I now read that the OTP on December of all AI flights was 62.8%.

And now, PLASTIC Thalis!!!!!

Perhaps, I was taken in by various pronouncements that “we will restore AI’s glory”.  I was not only naive but hoped that finally we had someone at the helm who was different from all the IAS Babus who were dumped on the airline.  I hate to say this, but you cannot compare ITDC with the Oberoi or the Taj Group when it comes to quality of service.

In my career with Air-India, I had worked with Aviation Secretaries who came from both the ICS and IAS fold.  I saw a similar difference in attitudes and outlook.  It was indeed and honor for me to have worked with ICS Secretaries such as Narottam Sehgal and Nirmal Mukherjee.  What a comedown when that cadre retired from the scene!!!

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.

In one of my earlier posts, I spoke about the time when I missed a flight on which my boss was also traveling.  Well, the opposite has also happened.

Mr. Dastur and I were scheduled to visit Tehran and the Iranair flight was scheduled to depart at 00:10hrs.  I got to the airport in good time and at around 23:30, the Duty Manager came to me and enquired if Mr. and Mrs. Dastur were definitely traveling.  I replied in the affirmative and at my request, he called Mr. Dastur at his residence.  They were just about to leave for the airport.  Apparently, he had misread the departure time as 01:10hrs.

I took the flight as we had meetings scheduled in Tehran not to mention a Reception for selected VIPs.  The Dasturs arrived two days later.

KK Menon, the then RM - Middle East and Lalit Khosla, the then Manager - Iran met me on arrival and I apprised them of the change in plans.  It was too late to reschedule the Reception and hence, I stood in the receiving line and greeted each guest with the words “I am standing in for Mr. Dastur, who could not make the trip due to unforeseen circumstances”.  After some time, I decided - what difference does it make,  No one knows me here in Iran and I pretended to be Nari Dastur and shook every guest’s hand on arrival at the Reception.

When I took over as CM - Marketing & Sales, one of the first instructions given to me by Mr. Dastur was that while I had the authority to say “Yes”, I could not say “No” to any request from the field.  Little did I realize how problematic this would become when it soon became apparent that the staff in the  entire European Region had become accustomed to getting everything they asked for as Mr. Dastur could not, and did not, deny them any request.

It took me a long time to convince Mr. Dastur with specific examples that his “lily white” European staff were not always in the right.  However, once I achieved this step, I had no problem as these very staff knew that they could no longer go over my head.

This brings to mind a dinner at Avinash Mahajan’s apartment when one junior Department Head accused Mr. Dastur of his inability to say “no”, particularly to the European stations.  Mr. Dastur took great umbrage at this accusation and the entire evening looked at becoming a disaster until Avi and I separated the two individuals and tempers cooled down.

The many years that I spent working with Mr. Dastur gave me great insight on this “failing” of his.  He was a man of great compassion and unfortunately, many of his staff took advantage of it.  There was the case of one Manager whose daughter had a defect in her heart at birth and he took advantage of this situation to ensure that his overseas posting was not interrupted.  He never came back to India and eventually managed to get transferred to Australia before his retirement.

Mr. Dastur could never see any child suffer and I remember the day when Godfrey Creado came to me in tears with the news that his son had become blind in one eye and was in danger of losing the other one.  I took him to Mr. Dastur who promptly told me to transfer Godfrey to New York for his son’s treatment which I did. 

Even I received special treatment when one day Mr. Dastur came back from a Management Committee meeting to tell me that I would be getting a chauffeur the next morning.  I had been diagnosed by doctors with a problem with my heart and he did not want me to drive my car any more.  I was Deputy C.D. at that time and was not entitled to a driver, but he got Management to make an exception for me.

Mr. Dastur had many great ideas among which was the introduction of Cruises and Air-India embarked upon  a joint venture to offer cruises in the Indian market.  Unfortunately, the timing was just not right and the project was a failure.  Another was the “soiree” that Air-India organized with top music teams who came from all over the world to entertain Indian audiences. We received considerable publicity from this event.

His “failing”, or rather, his inability to say “no” was taken advantage of by TCI who had his ear to their demands and I was approached by many top Indian Agents who felt discriminated against.  Interestingly, it was many years later when we had both left AI and were working with Air Mauritius, that he confessed to me that TCI had taken advantage off his close relations with their senior partners.  

However, he was “delighted” to see that someone had finally taken advantage of TCI.  He was referring to a joint venture between a former AI Commercial Director and TCI to operate Cargo Charters.

Early into his tenure as Commercial Director, Mr. Dastur was approached by Rogers & Company, our GSA in Mauritius to take a financial interest in Air Mauritius.  Dede Maingard, the Chairman of Rogers & Co and Air Mauritius was keen to get the three major airlines (AF, AI and BA) operating to Mauritius to become shareholders in the airline.  

Mr. Dastur convinced the AI board to take an 8% interest in MK and once this came through, Mr. Dastur became a Board member of the airline and took considerable interest in the growth of this airline.  It was many years later that I asked him and he admitted that his initiative was part of his long-term plan.  

His main objective was to be come the CEO of Air-India, but when Mr. Appusamy was appointed M.D., he (Mr. Dastur) realized that he may not be able to achieve this objective as he was nearing his retirement age.  Accordingly, he went to his long-term plan, took early retirement and joined Air Mauritius as its Regional Head for Europe.  More on that later.

However, on one of my visits to Geneva, Mr. Dastur expressed his unhappiness with Mr. Appusamy’s decision to take early retirement.  He told me at great length, the problems that Mr. JRD Tata had to overcome before Government agreed to the appointment of Mr. Appusamy as M.D. Incidentally, the book “AS AIR-INDIANS REMEMBER” reveals, in detail, this entire episode and what took place behind the scenes. 

In one of my earliest Blogs, I have spoken about the early retirements of both Mr. Dastur and Mr. Appusamy and had mentioned the latter’s advice to me to look for another job since, in his words “the culture is changing and you will not fit into it”.  I told Mr. Dastur of this incident and that the change in the atmosphere in Delhi was the main cause behind Mr. Appusamy’s decision to leave.  I don’t know if I was able to get the point across but I left my meeting with Mr. Dastur with the feeling that he was not entirely happy with this decision. 

In any event, Mr. Dastur’s decision to join Air Mauritius was good for him in the long term as he continued working till he was well into his 80s.  As indicate above, more on this later.

In my assignment as CM - Marketing & Sales,  I interacted with a number of Agents and Tour Operators, particularly with Indian Agents and was a regular participant at the annual convention of the Indian Travel Agents (TAAI). I was very fortunate to not only get to know many of them, I established very close friendships with some of them.

Of particular note, were the Asif Dewejee, Netra Rana, Vinoo Ubhaykar, Gautam Khanna, Inder Sharma, Jimmy Guzder, Adi and Nari Katgara and Tej Sahni.  

1. Asif was the Manager of the Bombay (Western India) office of SITA whose owner was Inder Sharma.  Asif was a very colorful character and got “roped in” by a group of ladies who were spouses of men in the travel industry.  These ladies held “kitty parties” every month and they “invited” Asif to become a member.  Each month, one of the ladies would host a lunch at her home.  When Asif’s turn came, the ladies insisted on his hosting the lunch at the Rendezvous, Bombay’s top rated restaurant.  To his credit, Asif gladly paid the bill.
2. Once Asif got to know me, he approached me and said that he wanted to set up his own agency.  He had excellent contacts in the Bohra community and had cornered a substantial segment of this market for SITA.  He also wanted to get involved in the labor market traveling to the Gulf as he had contacts with some of the recruiters.  He asked for my advice and I supported his desire and helped in the initial stages of setting up ABC Travels.
3. Asif and his brother Kasim liked horse racing and they had a box at the Bombay Race Course.  Manju was and still is fond of horse racing and once a year, we accompanied Asif and Kasim to the races.  It was either New Year’s Day or Republic Day and Asif would pick us up in his car and we would spend an enjoyable day at the races.  One day, Asif arrived in a white Mercedes.  It was not new, but in excellent condition.  I complimented Asif on his new acquisition little knowing what was in store for me.
4. February 10 is my birthdate and lo and behold, the bell rang at our front door on that date and Asif’s chauffeur stood here with an envelope in his hand.  The envelope contained a birthday card and the keys to the Mercedes.  I informed the chauffeur that he should take the car back to Mr. Dewjee.  He refused stating that he had been instructed to deliver the car to me and that it was standing below my apartment.  I asked him to wait and called Asif.  Karim answered stating that Asif was in Poona (now Pune).  I explained to Kasim that as an employee of Air-India, a Government owned entity, I could not accept such an expensive gift.  Karim replied that he could not interfere in his brother’s affairs, but reluctantly agreed to get the chauffeur to bring back the car and that he would raise the issue with Asif when he returned.
5. The next day, Asif showed up at our apartment and said that I had “insulted” his friendship by refusing to accept a gift given with affection.  I explained to him that I could lose my job if I accepted such an expensive gift to which he replied “in that case, I will not drive the car again.”  He placed the car in his garage and removed the tires.  It is a matter of record that he never drove the car again and it lay in his garage and rusted till it had to be removed to the junk heap.
6. When I left Air-India and migrated to the USA, Asif was heartbroken.  He refused to accept that he would lose a very dear friend.  I told him that I had no plans to disappear and would visit India regularly.  He made me promise that I would call him first thing on my visits to India.  I kept this promise and we spent one evening on each of my visits to Bombay until he passed away.  He was a very dear friend with a very large heart and his passing away left a deep void in my life.
7. Gautam Khanna, Inder Sharma, Vinoo Ubhaykar, Jimmy Guzder, Adi and Nari Katgara were the stalwarts and the core of the Indian Travel Industry and I learnt a great deal from my association with them.  Tej Sahni invited me to open the new office of Mercury Travels and then decided to branch out on his own like Asif Dewjee and started Vista Travels.  He and I became close friends particularly after I left India and I depended upon him for assistance whenever Manju and I visited India.
8. Netra Rana and Rajni were our first guests when we arrived in the USA.  This reminds me of a visit of Netra when Air-India arranged a limousine for him to come to our house in Scarsdale.  I gave Air-India our address - 26 Leatherstocking Lane - and we waited for his arrival.  The phone rang and it was Netra calling from the house of a diplomat living in Westchester County.  He said that the driver could not find No. #26 Leatherstocking lane.  I told him the it was the last house on the lane and that he could not miss it.  He answered that he was at No. #22 and that was the last house.
9. I was perplexed and asked him to put the diplomat on the phone.  This gentleman confirmed that indeed his house was the last one on Leatherstocking Lane.  The mystery was solved when he added that he lived in the adjoining town of Mamaroneck.  What a coincidence - two adjoining towns with an identical Lane with a name like “Leatherstocking”.  
10. I told Netra to request the driver of his Limo to take Mamaroneck Lane and go west.  This road intersects with our Lane and I would be waiting for him at the crossing.  Guess what, I had another phone call - this one from the White Plains Police Station.  The driver had taken Mamaroneck Road and not Lane and ended up in White Plains.  This time, I told the driver to meet me at Scarsdale Police Station where I finally caught up with Netra Rana.
11. The story does not end here.  A few months late, Netra came again to the USA and was staying in Manhattan.  This time, he was dining with us and took a taxi and told the driver to take him - not to 26 Leatherstocking Lane in Scarsdale, but to Scarsdale Police Station.  I met him there and brought him home.

Those were memorable days and I refer to my associations with the India Travel Agents, with many of whom I have built long lasting friendships.

My tenure as CM - Planning lasted from December 1968 to October 1972 when the Commercial and Planning Departments were reorganized.

At this time, I want to mention a change in Service conditions which came about during this period.  One of the greatest perks of working in Air-India was First Class travel and at that time, such a privilege was given to those staff members who were in the SSM grade and above.  I had reached this grade in 1967 and it coincided with my mother’s visit from Delhi.  The first thing I did was to call Mr. Venkataraman, then Manager Northern India and ensure that she traveled in the First Class from Delhi to Bombay.  She felt very proud that her son had (as she said) “finally made it”.

Unfortunately, this perk was withdrawn for staff based in India sometime in the early 1970s and for the life of me, I cannot remember the exact reason.  I do recall that it had something to do with a tax imposed by the Indian Government for First Class travel. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this issue and I would welcome anyone enlightening me with the exact reason.

The upshot of this new tax was that AI would have to pay this tax whenever any staff member traveled in F/cl whether on duty or on leave.  Management decided that AI would not pay this tax and so all of us in the grade of SSM and above were required to travel in Economy class.  A short time later, Top Management decided that AI would pay the tax whenever members of the Management Committee were to travel.  This would include only the M.D., Asst. M.D and Functional Directors.  

Anyone in the grade of Dy. C.D. or equivalent and below could travel in F/cl if he or she agreed to pay this tax.  The Pilots were up in arms and threatened to go on strike.  At first, Management did not relent but after a number of years, the tax was revoked  and I would once again, request some light being thrown on this issue as I am unable to recall complete details.  Old age is definitely having an effect upon me.

During my days as Commercial Manager – Marketing & Sales, I was flying from London back to Bombay.  Since only members of the Management Committee were entitled to travel First Class, being “middle management”, I was sitting in the rear of the 747 aircraft, but, thanks to the machinations of friends like Godfrey Creado and Norris Baptista, I had the luxury of 3 seats to myself.

After an intermediate stop in Geneva, the In-flight Supervisor informed me that the Chairman had joined the flight and had instructed him NOT to serve lunch to Mr. Sethi; the instruction being delivered most emphatically.  Sure enough, lunch was served to all the passengers around me and I was left alone.

Shortly after all meal trays had been cleared, the curtain separating the First Class Cabin from Economy Class opened and Mr. Tata walked though, came to my row of seats and told me to “move over” which I dutifully did.  He sat next to me and instructed the crew to serve lunch to both of us.  We both ate an Economy Class meal and sat down to a very serious discussion.

Mr. Tata told me that he had heard a rumour that I was contemplating reducing the seat pitch in the Economy Class cabin by increasing the number of rows.  Seat pitch is the distance between the backs of the seats in two consecutive rows.

I advised him that the rumour was indeed true but that no consensus had been reached.  I also mentioned that increasing the number of seats would increase capacity and in turn, reduce the “break-even” load factor.

Mr. Tata told me that yes, economics should always be a determining factor, but in his mind, passenger comfort was a more important issue.  He went on to explain his long held views that his primary objective of “quality of service” should not be compromised.  This should be foremost in our minds as it made Air-India what it was – one of the finest airlines in the world.

Mr. Tata went on to state that if we had unutilized space in the aircraft, he would rather that we put in an additional toilet which would add to the comfort of the passengers.

Guess what - on my return to work, I reminded my colleagues of this primary objective and disbanded the committee which was looking at the issue of additional capacity.

I cannot comment on the quality of service now being offered in Air-India but would only state that during my career with the airline, this objective of Mr. Tata was always foremost in my mind and with great humility and at the same time, pride, I quote below an extract from an email that literally came out of the blue sometime in 2009:

EX-AIRNDIAN THANKS YOU

Dear Mr Sethi

I just wanted to remind myself of the fact how great our Air India was during your Management days.  I am very proud to have worked under you, and you pushed the standard of Inflight Service to a new height,

30 years of happy times and a bonus DY Manager IFSD title, I voluntarily retired and migrated to Western Australia.(1989)

But this is just a gratitude and rememberance of that time.

For me I would like to remember that tall stately quiet person who made changes for the better for Air India.

I wish you well and thank you once again.

Yours sincerely

PJ Mahuvawalla

When Mr. Kooka retired and Mr. Dastur took over as Commercial Director in 1972, the Planning Department once again became an independent entity with Venkat as its head as Dy. Director - Planning & International Relations.  The one major change was that the Tariffs Division came out and continued to be part of my portfolio in my new assignment as Commercial Manager - Marketing & Sales.  I had finally achieved my objective to get back into the Commercial Department with an eye on the job of C.D.

This change in assignment was a major watershed in my career.  Where I had previously traveled all over the world attending IATA and Revenue Pool meetings, I now traveled to study the functioning of our offices and the problems they faced in getting passengers to travel on Air-India.  I visited, for the rest time, outposts such as Fiji, Mauritius and Vancouver in addition to East Africa, The Far East and the Middle East which were areas that I had never traveled to.

It was on one of these trips that I was informed that back home in India, there was a move to appoint a General Sales Agent (GSA) to sell traffic from the Punjab to the U.K.  This move came as a great surprise since we had a GSA in the U.K. who was already selling this traffic and it was one of the reasons for his appointment.  For the uninitiated, most of the Punjab and Haryana originating traffic was, at that point of time, paid for in the U.K.

I was also informed that a decision for this appointment was imminent and that a proposal had been sent by the Manager Northern India to the Deputy Commercial Director and also that it had the full backing of the Regional Director - India.  I sent an urgent telex to the Dy. C.D requesting that no decision be made until the proposal had been studied by me and the Marketing Division.  At the same time, I curtailed my trip and returned to Bombay.

On arrival, I met the Dy. C.D. who told me that he had taken the decision to appoint the GSA.  I questioned the urgency of this decision as the matter fell within my portfolio and any such appointment should have been cleared with me prior to taking a decision.  I advised Mr. Dastur of my unhappiness with this clear breach of etiquette and he agreed to hold a meeting with all present.

The meeting was held in Mr. Dastur’s office and those present were the Dy. CD, the RD-India, Manager - Northern India and myself.  It came out that the Manager - Northern India had been approached by a clerk in the office of the GSA for Air France (AF).  The GSA was actually owned by the clerk’s uncle.  AF had been in the North India market for some time and this clerk who, incidentally, would in later years become the CEO of his own airline, had handled this traffic and as such was (in the opinion of the Manager - Northern India) ideally suited to produce traffic for Air-India.

The Manager - Northern India was so impressed by this clerk that he gave him authority to go ahead with the spade work of opening an office in Delhi.  He then cleared the idea with the RD - India and sent a proposal to the Dy.CD.  I asked why there had been so much haste and why was the proposal not sent to me in the first place?

Imagine my astonishment when the Manager - Northern India confessed that he was aware that I would have turned down the proposal and that he had taken advantage of my absence from Bombay to present the proposal directly to the Dy. CD.  He further confessed that his main objective was to take credit for the revenue produced.  In other words, U.K.’s legitimate revenue credit would have been diverted to Northern India.

Mr. Dastur asked one question and that was directed to the Dy. CD - was the Dy. CD convinced that this appointment would produce substantially additional revenue for Air-India?  There was stunned silence when the Dy. CD stated that he had not looked at this aspect of the proposal.  He had accepted the Manager - Northern India’s word that AI would benefit from this appointment.

I raised two issues.  Firstly, the net effect would be a confrontation between the GSA in the U.K. and the GSA in Northern India as they would be competing for the same market segment.  In my view, the main problem was that the Northern India offices were servicing this traffic (Paid for in the U.K.) and were not getting any credit for such services.  This was, in my opinion, the root of the problem and the reason why the Manager - Northern India was pushing for the appointment.

Secondly, and more importantly, since most of the payments for this traffic were made in the U.K., how was the Northern India GSA going to account for the sales without violating Reserve Bank regulations?  It was quite apparent to me that some of the participants in this meeting were unaware of the manner in which AF and some of the Middle East airlines were handling such payments, which were well known in the market as “Hawala” payments.

If this clerk were to be appointed as the GSA, he would continue the practices of his current employer, leaving Air-India wide open to RBI sanctions.

Mr. Dastur stated that as the latter issue raised by me had so much substance and validity that he had no alternative but to terminate the meeting and that there would be no GSA in Northern India.

Although I had succeeded in my mission, I felt little joy as it brought into the open, discords which had been festering below the surface.  Secondly, the meeting did not end until after 9:00pm and I missed my younger son’s birthday party.  A couple of days later, Mr. Dastur told me in confidence that there was unhappiness among some of my colleagues with my return to the Commercial Department.  However, he assured me that I had his complete backing; an assurance and backing which became evident with my later appointments as Dy. C.D. and C.D.

It was, therefore, a great surprise when a couple of weeks later, the Dy. C.D. brought this young clerk, who had initiated the proposal, to my office.  The young man confessed that he had spent a considerable sum of his own money in the anticipation of opening his own office.  Additionally, he had upset his uncle who was now very unhappy with this move.

He requested my assistance in getting him some work as he was now unemployed.  The Dy. C.D. felt morally committed to help the clerk.  I told him that under the circumstances, I, personally, could not support his desire to work with Air-India but would be willing to get him an introduction to other airlines.  Accordingly, I arranged a meeting with the then Manager of Kuwait Airways who had once indicated to me that they had over 3 tonnes of unutilized cargo space on their daily flights to Kuwait.

I told the young man that there was a considerable movement of vegetables and fruits from India to the Gulf and that without much effort, he could fill three tonnes on Kuwait Airways on a daily basis.  One additional advantage he would have is that there was no discounting on this kind of traffic and once he had established a foothold, he could also service other carriers such as Gulf Air who had more flights than Kuwait Airways.

It is interesting to note that while he accepted this suggestion a little reluctantly, he made such a success of it that in a short while, he had become the GSA for a number of airlines.  He never looked back and in time to come, started his own airline.  I will comment on this airline in a future Blog.

Getting back to the Manager - Northern India’s move to appoint a GSA, it actually came as a surprise because he was Manager - London when the U.K. GSA was appointed and he played quite a large part in the selection of the GSA.  More on this subject at a later time.