A few days ago, I learnt of the passing away of Dr. Arun Misra and I was reminded of the day when he appeared for his interview.  It was sometime in 1969 and I recall quite vividly seeing his face at the interview which was conducted by a Panel comprising Mr. Rama Rao, Mr. Balendu Shah and myself.  Soon after his initial training, Arun was placed in the Revenue Pools Section of the Planning Division which was headed by me as C.M. - Planning.

I recall taking Arun as a member of our team for several Pool talks.  However, after I moved as C. M. - Marketing & Sales, I lost close touch with him, but was aware that some time later, he had also moved from Planning to Commercial.  My last contact with Arun Misra was at a meeting of the Air-India Retired Executives Association conducted by him as President, in New Delhi in 2009.

Arun Misra’s passing away made me realize that another generation of Air-India executives has started to leave us.  Even though Arun was only 3 or 4 years younger than me, to me he represented a younger generation as he joined the airline about 12 years after I had joined in 1957.  

As I look around us, only a very few of my generation are still on this earth.  A very sobering thought indeed and a reminder that life is short and so let’s make the most of it.

Sometime in 1978, I was approached by Camelia Panjabi and Sam Gubbay of the Taj Group of hotels with a proposition.  They had approached Bloomingdales, a major Department Store in the USA to host an India exhibition to showcase India’s various products, including but not limited to carpets, draperies, towels and linen, clothing, brassware, handicrafts and furniture.

Bloomingdales expressed an interest in such a venture but needed a vehicle to transport all Indian goods and here is where Air-India’s participation was requested.  I mentioned the idea to Peter Mahta who said that with Bloomingdales’ vast coverage, Air-India stood to gain considerable publicity provided we ensured that the agreement was constructed to achieve this effect.

I suggested to Peter that he should arrange a meeting and discuss the issue with Bloomingdales.  Peter called to say that he had spoken with Marvin Traub, Bloomingdales’s Chairman who requested that I meet with him on my next visit to the USA.  Accordingly, we met when I was in NYC later that year and Bloomingdales asked if Air-India would carry all the items to be displayed on its aircraft free of charge.

I said that the idea appealed to us, but we would not be agreeable to cover the entire cost of freight.  Additionally, we required that, in turn, we be given adequate publicity in their stores.  Bloomingdales had done their homework and gave us an estimated figure of the freight costs.  We agreed on a smaller amount for a Transportation Service Contract with the balance to be paid by Bloomingdales.  It was also agreed that the details would be worked out by representatives of both parties.  

Mr. Traub then asked if I would join him in holding Press Conferences in the major cities of India and USA to promote this venture.  I agreed to his request with respect to India but suggested that the P.R. Conferences in the USA be handled by Peter Mahta. 

After lunch in their Board room, Marvin Traub requested that Peter and I take a short tour of their flagship store with him, where he would demonstrate some of his ideas for displaying Indian merchandise.

I held three Press Conferences in India (Bombay, Madras and Delhi) jointly with Marvin Traub and we did get considerable publicity in the media.

Peter forwarded to me an invitation to a Black tie opening of the India exhibition held simultaneously at all Bloomingdales stars but I regretted my inability to leave India at that time.  Peter later sent me a detailed letter wherein he expressed great satisfaction at the exposure that Air-India received throughout the period when Indian manufactured goods were displayed at these stores.

Interestingly, this cooperation between AI and Bloomingdales did not go unnoticed by the opposition.  I was attending a Cargo Convention in New Delhi at which the keynote speaker was my old friend James Montgomery, Sr. V.P. Marketing and Sales of Pan American Airways. Jim pointed to me in the audience and said something to the effect that Bloomingdales’ India exhibition had been a great success and he wanted to congratulate Air-India and his old friend Inder Sethi in getting India and its products better known in the USA.

I wonder how many of us have been subjected to an investigation by the Indian Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI).  My first contact with the CBI came in 1978 when they asked me if I had availed of hospitality overseas.  I met with the Joint Director of the CBI and answered all his questions and, as desired by him, gave him a written response.  The matter was “deemed” closed until this investigation was raised at the infamous COPU inquisition, headed by J. Bosu.

I informed Bosu that the CBI had told me that they were satisfied with my answers, to which he remarked that I must have bribed the officers concerned. Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal asked him if he was insinuating that CBI’s top executives were accepting bribes, at which point he changed the subject.

My next contact came when my wife called me that the CBI was conducting a raid of some of the apartments in our building “Sterling Apartments” and that she had been informed to be ready for a visit by its staff.  When I got home that evening, she related me the following events:

1. Three officers came and one went to the master bedroom, while the other two took an inventory of the remaining rooms.
2. The officer who went to the master bedroom came out and told the others - “we are wasting our time.  They don’t even have a bathtub. Let’s go”.
3. However, one officer took great interest in the TV set in our living room and asked for the License which my wife produced.  This officer then stated that the address shown on the License did not match at which time my wife explained that when we got the TV, we were living in Jupiter Apartments.
4. The CBI officers left soon after.

A couple of days later I received a call from a member of the Bombay Branch of the CBI stating that they were levying a penalty of Rs. 25 on the TV License as it did not contain the correct address. I promptly paid the fine.

After a period of about 6 months, I received another call from the same Branch member.  This time, he was very apologetic and stated that his staff would be conducting another raid on our apartment.  He went on to state that his office had received an anonymous complaint that we had 25 radios in our apartment.

I asked him if he was serious and was he sure that when his staff had conducted the previous raid, that they had overlooked this large quantity of radios.  He once again apologized and stated that he was convinced that we could not have such a large number but he had no alternative but to conduct the raid and that as a courtesy, he was giving me advance notice.

I told him to go ahead and informed my wife to expect another raid in the next 15 minutes.  The raid was conducted and nothing amiss was found.  I did get another call, once again apologizing and requesting that they be forgiven for causing us inconvenience.

I spoke to the Joint Director of the CBI who said that by now, it should be obvious to me that some of my colleagues were jealous of my status and that all three incidents starting from the case of overseas hospitality resulted from anonymous information, which they suspected came from within Air-India.  He hinted that someone in the executive offices wanted his way clear to the top job and that I should “watch my back”.

I was looking through some of the boxes that I had brought from our house in New jersey that we sold earlier this year and when we moved permanently to Florida.  One little document brought back a lot of memories.

Even before I left Delhi to join Air-India in Bombay, Morarji Desai had introduced prohibition in the state and one needed a “permit” to drink.  I was too young to be entitled to a permit and at the same time, I did not have any medical reason which could have allowed me to request for a permit.  So, in our bachelors apartment on “A” Road in Churchgate, with a few exceptions, we drank liquor supplied to us by a bootlegger.

Two of these exceptions come readily to my mind.  The first was a very generous uncle (my mother’s brother) who on occasion gave me a few bottles of beer.  The second was a visit by a team of Sales staff who came from the USA for familiarization. Unfortunately, for us, most of the liquor they brought was actually liqueur and not scotch or brandy.

It was also a lesson that we learnt when we realized that the worst hangover is when one has imbibed too much liqueur.

Our bootlegger did not have much variety in his offerings.  Our need was tempered by our limited funds (a subject that I will dwell upon later in this Post).  His specialty was rum which he brought from Calcutta.  The rum was purchased from his contact in the Indian Army and he brought two trunk loads on each trip. 

After two years of drinking rum and coca cola, our taste buds had disappeared and there are times even now, when I can taste XXX Rum.  Considering that I have not had a drink for over 25 years, that is quite a “feat”.

It was only sometime in the late 1960s that I found a way to get a permit.  Ramesh Sattawalla who was in our P.R. Department and an old friend from my pre-AI days arranged an appointment with the Surgeon General.  I walked in to his office and without any preamble, he told me that since I was suffering from insomnia, he was recommending the grant of a permit which would allow me to have ONE drink each night before going to bed.

I was ecstatic and readily agreed to his request to get him a new stethoscope which he wanted from the U.K.

The little document that I referred to earlier is this Permit which allowed me to purchase, possess and consume liquor in the State of Maharashtra.  Of course, the one still in my possession has no limit, but my very first permit limited possession to one unit (1 liter of hard liquor or 9 bottles of beer).

Looking at this permit, I find that it expired on August 29, 1980 - exactly 8 days after I put in my papers.  Did Fate have a hand in my decision to leave Air-India and India?

Coming back to my reference to our limited funds, it so happened that as a coincidence, all of us roommates were broke around the 20th of each month, with the exception of B.L. (Nichi) Nichani who being a Purser, had more funds than any of us.  It became a routine for me to collect whatever little money that the rest of us had and go out looking for a card game.  

It may seem unbelievable, but in almost every month, I managed to come back, not loaded with cash, but enough for the kitchen to last till the end of the month.  It may also appear unbelievable that since my bachelor days, I have never won in cards or in any other form of gambling.  Whenever we go out to a Casino with our friends, I am the only one who never plays and I come back as rich or poor as when I entered the Casino.

Just goes to show that I truly lucked out - I am lucky in love with a most affectionate and wonderful spouse.

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing away of Purush Baliga who retired as Director of Engineering and later worked for Jet Airways.  I first met Purush sometime in the mid-1970s and was greatly impressed not only by his knowledge, but also by his gentle nature and his ingratiating smile. 

There are two instances which will always remain foremost in my mind whenever his name comes up.  A good friend of mine, Amar Singh wanted to visit Mauritius and Reunion with his family.  Amar’s wife, Sally suffered from Polio and was bound to a wheel chair plus had the need for oxygen at most times.

I called Purush Baliga for assistance and he arranged to have the 707 that operated on both the outbound and inbound flights adequately wired to cater for her oxygen needs.

Purush was also the driving force behind my interest in promoting Indian Tennis and he was instrumental in my election as Vice President of the Maharashtra Lawn Tennis Association.

Many years later after I had left AI, I learnt about the incident of the VVIP flight where Rajiv Gandhi made a major complaint and which resulted in the delay in the appointment of Purush Baliga as Director of Engineering.  The complaint was completely uncalled for and undeserving.  As a former pilot who should have known better and understood why that particular aircraft had a very minor problem, it was unacceptable.  

Bobby Kooka was the creator of the Maharajah symbol.  He was also the author of the booklet “Foolishly Yours”.  In addition, he was the brain behind the ads that appeared on the two Hoardings (billboards) at Nariman Point and Kemps’ Corner.  Mr. Kooka had a great sense of humor and both his booklet and the ads on the hoardings reflected this; he poked fun at both the outside world and at the airline itself.  He often got into trouble with “our friends” in Delhi and I believe that the JRD umbrella helped him out of many scrapes.

When I took over as Commercial Director, the advertising portfolio came with the post.  Initially, I let Jal Cowasji (our Publicity Chief) and his successor, S.S. Dhabolkar, handle the hoardings with our ad agency.  Later, I tried my hand at two hoardings.  The occasion was the national elections and the first ad that I suggested depicted a party atmosphere, balloons, buntings, streamers and all.  The caption was “WHOSE PARTY WILL YOU JOIN - HERS, URS OR MINE?”.

“HERS” referred to Indira Gandhi, “URS” referred to her opponent Dev Raj Urs and “MINE” was Air-India.

The ad was quite well received by the public.  However, the Ministry bureaucrats called the M.D. expressing displeasure which, to my delight, he ignored.  

The next ad coincided the the Janata Party’s victory and depicted a group of folk dancers celebrating Charan Singh’s election as the Prime Minister.  In this case, the caption read “SING, SING CHARAN SING”.  I received accolades but Delhi was not amused and I was instructed to take down the ad overnight.  Mr. Appusamy, who was the then M.D. advised me to lay off political ads and concentrate on earning revenue.

So ended my attempt to enter the world of Madison Avenue.

On one of my visits to New York, Peter Mahta requested that I meet a team from Landor Associates, Inc., based in San Francisco.  This company’s speciality was re-imaging and they had just recently completed a Contract with British Airways where they not only changed the color scheme of the aircrafts but also the livery of the crew, the crockery, cutlery and even stationery.  Landor was interested in offering us a similar proposal.

I met their representatives and they gave me an excellent presentation, but I was personally not happy to move away from our Maharajah and his promise to offer the highest quality of service.  Landor felt that with the change in Government from the Congress to the Janata party, it may be the opportune moment for Air-India to also offer a new image to the traveling public.  I asked and was told that the total cost to AI would be $7 million compared to $35 million that BA had paid them.

I promised to discuss their proposal with my CEO and get back to them.  On my return to Bombay, I spoke with Mr. Appusamy who agreed with my views and I informed Peter to the Landor that we would take a “pass” on their proposal.

I mention this incident as I will make reference to it in one of my future Posts when I speak of another Chief Executive after I had left AI.  

In the mid 1970s, we found ourselves at a disadvantage vis-a-vis BA, the European Airlines like Air France and KLM and the Arab carriers, who were heavily discounting in the North Indian market.  Unlike AI, these airlines had appointed General Sales Agents to do their “dirty work”.

We brought up this issue at meetings with members of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) and suggested that this body of agents put pressure upon these airlines to do away with their GSAs and let every agent enter this very lucrative market.  The TAAI representatives promised to get us our legitimate share of this market.  We gave them two years to accomplish this, but unfortunately, they could neither compete with the GSAs nor convince the airlines to give up the GSAs and their sub-agents.

So, at the end of the 2 year period, we appointed a GSA and started to see our traffic grow.

I was a member of a Panel at the 1980 TAAI Convention when an agent asked me if Air-India would agree to cancel its GSA agreement.  My answer was “We all know that AI was the last airline to appoint a GSA in North India.  We are also aware that we gave TAAI adequate time to correct the situation, but they failed.  AI will be happy to cancel its GSA after TAAI has the guts to go after other airlines.  Until you develop such courage, you have no right to ask us to give up our share of this market.” 

For a split second, there was pin drop silence after which the entire Air-India delegation stood up and applauded.

I was a guest speaker at a few TAAI Conventions and on each occasion, I tried to speak about a timely and yet controversial topic.  I still remember when, at one Convention, I made the announcement that Air-India would be recommending to the Indian Government to abolish the “P” Form which many airlines (with justification) felt gave Air-India an undue advantage.  My announcement was met with joyous shouts and whistles.

The 1980 TAAI Convention was my last and I took the opportunity to question the statistics of tourist arrivals that the Government of India Tourist Office put out annually.  I felt that these figures were grossly inflated and included persons of India origin who visited India to meet and stay with their families and did not benefit the Tourist Infrastructure.  The next speaker was none other than Som Nath Chib, whom I consider as the father of Indian tourism.  His first words were “I have a bone to pick with Inder Sethi - he stole my thunder”.  He went on to question the same statistics that the Tourist Department rolled out each year to justify its impotence, as he called it.

Many years later, I attended a meeting convened by the Government of India Tourist office in New York to honor and present trophies to 10 Tour Operators who had produced the highest number of tourists to India.  The guest of honor was the then Indian Tourism Secretary and I was representing Pan American Airways where I was a Consultant.  I brought up the subject once again and asked this bureaucrat to explain why the total number of tourists produced by the top 10 Tour Operators did not even equal 25% of the numbers that his office showed as tourist arrivals from the USA.

I asked him to advise the gathering who were these 75%plus “tourists”, but he avoided the question and moved on to another topic.

I did have an opportunity to meet this bureaucrat on a visit to India and will touch upon this subject in a later Post. 

In the last two years of my tenure with Air-India, I gathered the impression that some of our Regional Heads and Managers were not very happy with our tie-up with the Indian Tourist Office.  They felt that the benefits no longer justified the cooperation that we extended to the Tourist Department.  I mentioned this to our M.D. who did not feel that we should upset the applecart and to let sleeping dogs lie.

During this same period, I also felt that we needed to step out and produce our own in-house tours.  It was time we stopped depending upon established foreign Tour Operators.  I spoke with some members of the Hotel Federation who indicated that they would be happy to cooperate with such an in-house agency. 

I then discussed the subject with Malcolm Barretto who was at that time, Managing Director of our Hotel subsidiary (HCI).  Malcolm offered to set up a Ground Handling unit to cater for incoming tours and agreed to place this item on the Agenda of the next HCI Board meeting.  This meeting coincided with my last week in the airline and the issue was discussed but did not find favor with some members of the Board.  

The primary opponent was the representative of the Tourist department who was unfortunately supported by our Chairman and MD (Mr. Raghu Raj).  RR felt that given his brief, AI could not afford to spend funds on an “unknown venture”.  I must have spoken quite vehemently on this issue because C.L. Sharma raised it with me a few days after I had put in my papers.  He asked me why I was spoke so strongly in favor of this idea when I knew that within a few days, I would no longer be with the airline.

I told C.L. that this was not a unique idea for AI.  There were other airlines who had in-house agencies producing tours and that too, quite successfully.  We must look at all avenues to produce traffic and improve our bottom line.  I don’t believe he was convinced and the matter died. 

Just got back from a trip up north to spend some time with the children and grandchildren.  It was wonderful to be with the family and we really appreciate these moments as we grow older.

Many of us have had one or more embarrassing moment  and I would like to relate one such occasion.  It so happened that Air-India was sponsoring a cricket match at Brabourne Stadium and Chtrappal Singh asked me to inaugurate the event by umpiring the first over.

We had a very important person who had agreed to honor this event - he was none other than the top Indian cricketer at that time - Sunil Gavaskar.  I was introduced to him by Chtrappal before the start of the match.

He (Sunil Gavaskar) helped me into an Umpire’s Coat.  Chtrappal took me aside and said that here were 6 pebbles in the right hand pocket.  After each ball is bowled, I should transfer one pebble to the left hand pocket so that once 6 balls were bowled, I would not have any pebbles left in the right hand pocket and should signal the end of the over.

As fate would have it, I missed transferring one of the pebbles and so the bowler ended up bowling 7 balls.  Once the over was finished, I handed over the Umpire’s Coat to the real Umpire who whispered to me that I had allowed 7 balls to be bowled.  You cannot how embarrassed I felt as I had committed this blunder in the presence of India’s best batsman.

During my career with AI, I had the honor of inaugurating some offices.  The first was the Aeroflot office in Churchgate on February 9, 1978 and the occasion coincided with a hockey match between Indi and Pakistan being played at Brabourne Stadium.  My younger son, Sarat had come to my office after his school and tennis lessons and I took him with me.  After the match, we went across the street to inaugurate the Aeroflot office.  I was given a pair of ceremonial sterling silver scissors (with my name, date and the occasion inscribed) to cut the ribbon after which refreshments were served.

I suddenly heard a young voice saying that the drink he was having was “very nice” and to my horror, I realized that Sarat, at age 9, was drinking Russian Champagne.  I quickly took the glass away from him and whispered that he was not to tell his mother otherwise I was in for a stern talk.

During the course of the next two years, I inaugurated four other offices: three of which were - Air Mauritius in Bombay, Trade Wings in Goa and the new office of Mercury Travels in Bombay and I have in my  possession a total of 4 ceremonial sterling silver scissors which bring back great memories whenever I look at them. 

The fourth office was our own (AI) in Jullundur and I flew to Delhi and then took an overnight train to that city accompanied by Randhir Singh, our Manager, North India and Jimmy Martin, our P.R. Manager.   Apart from the snoring competition between my companions, the trip was uneventful.  What was of great joy to me was the occasion.  Instead of a ceremonial pair of scissors, I lit the traditional brass lamp and we had a good lunch which was preceded by some speeches.  I have in one of my albums, photographs of the lamp lighting and one of all the staff who were there.

This occasion came to my mind more than 3 decades later when Manju and I were traveling from JFK to Delhi.  The Airport Manager met us at check-in and having met him for the first time, asked for his background and was very pleasantly surprised that during the course of his career, he had been Sales Manager in Jullundur.  I mentioned that I had inaugurated this office and was absolutely delighted to hear him respond “the photograph of the occasion still hangs in the office”.  It made me proud and yet, saddened that I was a part of that airline which we built together and which does not exist any longer.  

Every time I think back and write these Blogs, I get very sentimental and have very mixed feelings; some happy but mostly sad and despondent.

Sometime ago, I had written about the airline’s interest in developing sports.  I missed mentioning our contributions to two other sports.  The first was golf.  This sport was only played by a very limited number of Indian athletes and we had very few professional golfers of international stature and fame.  The Indian Golf Union tried very hard to develop interest in this sport and invited the Asian Tour to hold one of its events  in India.  I received a request from the IGU to reschedule one of our KUL-BOM flights to stop in Calcutta which had been selected as the venue of the event.

We rescheduled the flight.  The next year, the event was shifted to Delhi and we once again rescheduled our flight to bring golfers to this event.  I am not aware if we continued to reschedule our flights to assist the IGU in its endeavors, after I left AI.  However, I am happy to note here that the Indian Open is now a regular event in the Asian Tour.

If I may take the liberty of boasting a little, I come from a golfing family and Billoo Sethi, my first cousin was the first amateur to win the Indian Open.  A nephew has won the Indian Junior Championship.  Billoo's photograph hangs on the wall as you enter the Delhi Golf Club.

The other sport was a minor one but of importance to the Indian Navy.  I received a request from the Naval Department to transport its team and equipment to Japan for a tournament and we were very happy to assist.  A short while after the event, I received a call from Vice Admiral Rusi Gandhi, C-in-C of the Western Fleet inviting Manju and me to dinner at Lion Gate.  We were delighted to attend and he made it a point to inform the gathering of Air-India’s assistance in their hour of need. 

Rusi Gandhi became a good friend and invited me to a Fleet Exercise.  He also extended an invitation to Mr. JRD Tata and we had a very interested full day on board the aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant. 

I am saddened by the loss of two good friends.  Vinoo Ubhayakar passed away recently in Mumbai.  I had known Vinoo for many years prior to my leaving Air-India and India but we had kept in touch.   A true gentleman and a great ambassador for India’s Tourism.  Ken Bloom, a retired Judge of the Superior Court in New Jersey also passed away in nearby Naples, FL.  We were golfing partners and he and his wife Janet came to India to attend the wedding of our older son, Akhil with Sunanda.  Too many good friends have left this world and Manju and I will miss them.

And now I learned that one of my heroes, the legend of boxing - Muhammed Ali - has passed away.  I met him in 1989, four years after I had assisted him in making a rather secret trip to Israel.  

I was, at that time (1985), working with Kuwait Airways as their Regional Manager - USA and Canada. My Sales Manager, Washington, DC - Bob Sensi - asked if he could visit me and when he came, asked me to confirm what he had heard and that was that I was a good friend of David Schneider, the then U.S. Head of Israel Airlines.  I was intrigued as David and I go back 25 years to 1960, when he was with the Tariffs Branch of BOAC in New York and I was visiting New York to file our Tariffs with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board.  David and I had kept in touch and the next time we met was when I moved to New York and we met at an airlines cocktail party.

I interrogated Bob and he confirmed in strict confidence, that my friendship with David Schneider was known to the Intelligence Agencies of the USA and that his current mission was to enlist our friendship to arrange a secret trip to Israel for none other than Muhammed Ali.  He also stated that under the Official Secrets Act, knowledge of this trip had to be “kept under wraps”.

I called David and he came over to my office on Park Avenue.  I cannot disclose any more except to state that David was very helpful and we arranged the trip for Muhammed Ali and his party under anonymous names.

Moving the clock forward to 1969 when I was now working as General Manager - USA & Canada for Air Mauritius and once again received a call from Bob Sensi who was still with Kuwait Airways in Washington, DC.  This time, Bob wanted me to meet him at a location in New York city where I was introduced to the boxing legend.  Muhammed Ali said that he had always wanted to personally thank me for the assistance that I given four years earlier and apologized for the delay. 

To say that I was take aback by his words would be a great understatement.  I had finally met “the greatest” and to be personally thanked was truly overwhelming .  He had a photograph taken at that site which he signed after making a boxing ring in the top left hand corner.  I still have this highly prized photograph in my home, although the lines of the ring and his signature have been blurred by time.

Moving on, sometime in 1976, I was taking a flight to Europe and as per my usual manner, ran up the stepladder to the aircraft, carrying my briefcase.  We did not have aerobridges in those days at Bombay airport.

Half way up, I felt a heaviness followed by a dull pain in my left arm and after a brief stop, walked up the remaining steps.  On my return to Bombay, I saw our Medical Officer who conducted some tests and determined that I may have developed angina.  I mentioned this to Mr. Dastur who spoke with Mr. Unni, our then M.D.  Mr. Unni referred me to one of the specialists on our Medical Panel who, frankly speaking, did not inspire much confidence in his abilities. 

I was treated by this doctor who will remain nameless for two years but the angina pain became more acute; so much so, that I had to give up playing golf.  I could no longer walk 18 holes.  It was at this time, that this specialist confessed that he was only a chest specialist and not a heart specialist.  I had wasted two years chasing a dream.

My golfing partner, Amar Singh, President of Wyeth Laboratories suggested that I consult a heart specialist and recommended Dr. Ashwin Mehta.  Dr. Mehta confirmed the diagnosis as angina, but said that this could develop into a heart attack if not treated correctly.  

To cut a long story short, Dr. Mehta did not have confidence in the medical facilities then available in India and strongly recommended that I consult heart specialists in the USA where the treatment of patients with my problem was far more advanced.  He asked if Air-India would cover the cost of open heart surgery, in case such a procedure was necessary. 

By then, we were in 1978 and I spoke with Mr. Appusamy who had taken over as M.D.  Without hesitation, he told me to go to the USA immediately.  Dr. Deepak Chopra, my wife’s brother-in-law was practicing medicine in Boston and with his assistance, I secured an appointment with one of the top cardiologists in the USA - Dr. Roman DeSanctis.  After examining me, he determined that the best course of action was open heart surgery.  His office sent me a detailed proposal with the estimated costs.

By then, Mr. Appusamy had also left Air-India and Dr. Vijay Kumar, our CMO, discussed it with Mr. B.S. Das who had taken over and also with Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal, our Chairman.  They approved the budget that Dr. Kumar had prepared and Manju and I left for Boston.  Vijay followed a day later by which time, I had been admitted at Mass General Hospital.

I had triple by-pass surgery and recuperated for one month in Boston before returning to India.  I was fortunate that we could stay the entire month at Deepak and Rita Chopra’s residence.  Before leaving Boston, I was reexamined by Dr. DeSanctis who advised me that, in his considered opinion, my heart problems were the result of the stress that went with my occupation and strongly recommended a slower pace of life, even if it involved a change in job.

Upon my return to India, I took some more time off and went to Kashipur where my in-laws had a farm and recuperated.  It was here that Manju impressed upon me to give serious thought to leave Air-India.  She reminded me of Mr. Appusamy’s advice to “look for another job”.  She even gave me a book to read; the theme of which was that you could not fight City Hall.

I told Manju that while the culture in Delhi had indeed changed, we were experiencing some stability with ACM Lal and Mr. B.S. Das at the helm and that once I got back to work, I would give myself an year or so to see if in fact, there was a need for me to make a change.

Little did I realize that soon after I resumed duty, both ACM Lal and Mr. Das would be summarily removed and we would get a CMD with no airline or commercial background.  On April 1, 1980, Mr. Raghu Raj, a former banker with ties to the Gandhi family was appointed CMD.  It is pertinent to mention here that one of his daughters was married to the son of one of my first cousins (Incidentally, I had 54 first cousins).

Soon after he took over, I invited Mr. and Mrs. Raghu Raj for dinner at our apartment along with their daughter and son-in-law.  My colleague, C.L. Sharma and his wife were also present at the dinner.  On being introduced to the CMD’s son-in-law, CL asked - so you are the Chairman’s son-in-law?  to which, he answered - Yes, but I am Inder Uncle’s nephew first.

I will speak of my short association with Mr. Raghu Raj in a later Blog as this was the crucial period of my career when I had to make a decision of far reaching consequences.

In my previous Blog, I had mentioned that according to the statement made by the Minister of Civil Aviation, Air-India’s aircraft utilization and Load Factors had gone up in the year 2105/06 and that total revenue was also up by 3.4%.

However, a recent article in Livemint (May 19, 2016) gives a much clearer picture - passenger revenue actually DECLINED marginally; a fact that the Hon. Minister failed to inform the general public.

And now the CMD, in one of his Blogposts has blamed the national air carrier’s woes on “the merger with Indian Airlines that never took off as expected and previous bosses who pinned the responsibility on employees for its dismal state of affairs”.  He goes on to say “It makes me sad when the common employee is often blamed for the ills of the organization, in this case too, whereas the real reason for the debacle lies elsewhere, in my opinion on the head honcho”.

Interestingly, the CMD fell short of actually saying that the merger was a wrong decision.  Was he actually agreeing with the decision and, if he was, then, in my opinion, he is playing a “political game” as his own future depends on his political bosses.

The CMD’s statement indicates that in his opinion the actual implementation was incorrectly carried out by the “head honcho”.  He does not say who this “head honcho” is, but to my simple mind, he can only be referring to either one or both the CMDs who held this post prior to Mr. Lohani taking charge.

I don’t hold any brief for either Mr. Jadhav or Mr. Nandan, but in their defence, I must emphasize that they were handed an almost impossible task of trying to merge two diametrically opposite cultures.  I would, at the same time, blame the powers that be for selecting two Babus who did not have the expertise or background to be handed this most unenviable task.  In addition, they were given no free hand to deal with the unions who placed innumerable road blocks.

Ideally, what the Government should have done would have been to invite outside Consultants who had the requisite knowledge and experience in merging these two entities.  Instead, they gave the job to a political hack whose answer to all issues was to ask “how high” when his master told him to jump.  These two Babus who masqueraded as Chief Executives knew that their Annual Appraisals were signed by their immediate bosses and that they had no alternative but to toe the line.

I cannot speak of the climate within Indian Airlines, but I am aware as was everyone who had worked in Air-India  that the morale had dropped immensely.  It worsened even more when the merger was announced.  It is no secret that the IA senior staff very gleefully taunted their AI counterparts with the statement - TUMHARA LOGO BUT HAMARE LOG.

To accomplish a merger with this kind of atmosphere was a herculean task and the two previous CMDs were neither equipped with the expertise nor did they have carte blanche authority to make waves.  In other words, they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

At the same time, I must express my disappointment with the current CMD to place the blame on the shoulders of his predecessors.  When he accepted this position, he knew very well the mess that he inherited.  To openly criticize his predecessors is not a very gentlemanly thing to do.

It is now 5 months since Air-India started its San Francisco operations and I was very pleased to learn that the airline is experiencing excellent load factors and in fact, looking forward to increasing the frequency.  I had recommended the operation of flights to the West Coast way back in 1980 and once again in my talks with the then CMD, Mr. Y.C. Deveshwar in Montreal in 1991.

However, for some reason to which I am not privy, the airline plans to change the configuration of the aircraft by increasing the number of Economy class seats and eliminating the First Class and reducing the Business Class seats.  I would have thought that with the large number of high yield passengers traveling between the Silicon Valley and India, there would be greater emphasis on providing adequate capacity for the hi-yield category of traffic.  I wonder what are the true economics of this flight.

At the same time, I am concerned to learn that apart from an Airport Manager, Air-India has no support staff at SFO.  There is no Station Head and no sales staff to service travel agents.  At a recent Trade Show, the Air-India booth was unmanned.  

Apparently, there is a dispute between AI and the Union regarding hiring of local staff, but I cannot understand why an on-line station has no India based Manager.  AI has signed a long term lease on a brand new office which lies empty.

I also learn that when the flight was inaugurated, there were two senior India Based Officers  who stayed in hotel rooms until the powers that be in Delhi learnt about the cost of these hotel rooms and the daily outstation allowance being paid.  Result - the staff were recalled and never replaced.

A check at AI’s North American headquarters in New York also reveals that there is no Head of the Sales Department; a situation that has existed for quite some time.  I am informed that from time to time, someone assumes the mantle for a couple of days a week but here does not appear to be any continuity in this post.

So, what goes on with this “new” Air-India?  Someone well connected tells me that it would “appear” that all the airline needs to do is to try and fill its seats by lowering its fares and yields.  If this experiment succeeds and, apparently, it is doing so, why do we need sales staff or an India based Manager - why indeed?

A recent written reply given by the Minister of State for Civil Aviation “very gleefully” informed the Lok Sabha that Air-India had made an operating profit of the very large sum of Rs. 8 crores.  The Net Loss dropped from Rs. 5,859 crores in 2014/15 to Rs. 2,636 crores in 2015/16.  

If one looks deeper into this magnificent sum of Rs. 8 crores, the change in the airline’s profitability is due almost entirely to the drop in jet fuel prices, which have dropped from $1.84 per gallon in May 2015 to $0.93 in Jan 2016 and $1.07 in Mar 2016.  What is going to happen to this meagre operating profit when fuel prices go back up.  The price of Crude Oil has already shown a 50% increase from its low point this year.

I am also informed that while utilization has gone up and load factors have increased, the total revenue shows an increase of only 3.4%.  

Is it because the new marketing policy dictates that all that is needed to fill the aircrafts is to drop prices and reduce staff costs?

But then, the entire philosophy and culture has taken a major change.  Maybe, the SFO experiment is what the future holds for AI - elimination of a Manager and sales staff at all stations.  Why does the airline need such “superfluous” staff when the flight fills by itself?  Why, indeed?

A recent e-mail from a person, whom I had never met, thanked me for my Blogs from which he had learnt about his grandfather, Lal Sikka.   This brought back memories of an incident way back when Air Marshal Chaturvedi was our M.D.  Whenever we had a meeting in his office, each attendee was served tea on a small tray.  The A.M., however, had his tea served in the traditional style - on a Tea Trolley with the teapot covered by a tea cosy and milk and sugar pots alongside.  In addition, there were always two cups since his second cup of tea was never served in the first cup that he had used.

That day’s meeting was to finalize the appointment of an Adviser to the Chairman of Air Mauritius and the two candidates - myself and our Manager - East Africa were present in the M.D.’s office along with senior Department Heads.  The attendees were sitting in a semi circle around the M.D.’s desk with the Manager - East Africa at the right of the M.D.

Tea was served on small trays except for the ever present Trolley for the M.D. but no one noticed that there was no tray for the Manager - East Africa.  For some unexplained reason, there was one tray short.  Not to be left out, he proceeded to pour himself a cup using the M.D.’s teapot and the 2nd cup.

When the M.D. finished his cup of tea, he turned towards the Trolley to pour himself a 2nd cup and realized that there was no 2nd cup.  He rang for his peon and asked him - where is my 2nd cup to which the nonplussed gentleman replied - on the Trolley.  Everyone’s head turned towards the culprit - our Manager - East Africa, who didn’t bat an eyelid and calmly went on drinking his tea.

Mr. Kooka then stated something like “Lal, didn’t you get a tray?” and the reply was - “what tray?  I thought the 2nd cup on the Trolley was for me”.  Fortunately, everyone broke into laughter and the M.D. had to smile and wait for a fresh pot and cup to be brought for his regular afternoon tea.

Guess who ended up in Mauritius - Lal Sikka!!  But it was not because he “stole” the M.D.”s tea.  If I had been chosen, Lal would have been the ideal candidate to take my place as C.M. - Planning but, as expressed earlier, he didn’t want to work in India.  As such, he was the obvious choice. 

Air-India had, for many years, been a major supporter of Indian sport and when I took over as Commercial Director, one of my tasks was the promotion of sports and I chose tennis.  My first choice would have been golf, but Mr. Kooka had already taken interest in this sport.  Some years earlier, Vikramjeet Singh who was India’s no. 1 golfer was already on our payroll.

I had been elected a Vice President of the Maharashtra State LawnTennis Association (MSLTA) and had met and seen the Amritraj brothers play.  I asked them how Air-India could help in promoting this sport and they suggested that we provide free travel so that they could play at various centers were the airline had services.  

I agreed and we signed a Transportation Service Contract (TSC) with Vijay and Anand Amritraj to provide free tickets against publicity that they would provide to us.  I remember attending some of the Indian Tennis Open matches where Vijay won the Finals and I invited him to come to my office the next day so that I could introduce him to Mr. Unni, Mr. Appusamy and Mr. Dastur.

Vijay and Anand both came and in addition to the trophy, they brought along the extra large towels that we had produced showing the Maharajah in his tennis attire.  I took them to the 22nd floor and all along the way, many of our staff lined the passage and clapped their hands as we passed.  It was quite a moment.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Gole, our Personnel Director asked me if we could extend support also to another tennis player - Shashi Menon and I agreed.  However, in Shashi’s case, we hired him as a part time staff and allowed him freedom to complete his studies and at the same time play in various International events, such as Wimbledon, The French Open and the U.S. Open.

All three were regular visitors to our home and guess what, even after I had left the airline, they came to visit us in Scarsdale in the USA - more on this later.  Before I speak of these visits, let me digress and speak about another great tennis player, Ramesh Krishnan.

Ramesh’s father - Ramanathan Krishnan  phoned me and requested an appointment to which I agreed.  He wanted me to also sign a TSC with his son and I said that we would be very happy to do so and told him that the value of the TSC would be half that of the TSC with the Amritraj brothers since, in this case, there would be one player and not two.  He did not agree and stated that it would have to be the same.  I asked him to explain his reasoning and his answer was “his mother has to travel and cook for him as he is a vegetarian”.

I regretted my inability and it was with great reluctance that he accepted my offer.

I never got to meet Ramesh Krishnan which was my loss, but saw quite a bit of the other three tennis players who often held clinics for budding tennis players at the MSLTA courts in Bombay.  After the official clinic ended, Vijay and Shashi would informally coach our sons who were great admirers of these fine sportsmen.

One of my duty trips took me to London and this trip coincided with the British Open at Wimbledon.  I “bumped” into Vijay and Anand in a bar in Mayfair and invited them for dinner.  They accepted but wanted to eat Indian food with Vijay saying that during his matches, he liked to eat only Tandoori chicken and so we ended up at Gaylords.

I lost contact with these players after I left Air-India but fate intervened and in 1981 when we had just moved to the USA and were “setting up” home in Scarsdale, we met up again.  I say “setting up” and by this I mean that we had ordered our new furniture which would take about 4 to 6 weeks for delivery.  In the meantime, we are living on make shift stools, cushions and tables made of boxes.  We did, however, have proper beds.

The phone rang one day and the caller was Shashi Menon who said that he had heard that I had left AI and was now working with Kuwait Airways  and based in New York.  He enquired if he could impose upon our hospitality as he intended to play at the U.S. Open staring the next week.  

He needed a place to stay while he played. I told him that he was most welcome to come stay with us, but he would have to rough it out as we were not fully settled and he flew over from Los Angeles a couple of days later.  The boys were thrilled as they had got to know Shashi during our Bombay days.

Shashi came and played at the Open during the first week after which he had to leave since he did not go beyond the 2nd round of the Singles.  But during this first week, we got free tickets to all the matches plus had free parking at reserved lots as we drove Shashi to his matches.

Before the 1st week of the Open come to a close, we bumped into Vijay and Anand Amritraj who were also participating in the tournament.  We exchanged hugs and handshakes and then Vijay asked if he could offer us tickets for the 2nd week, which we accepted by great delight.  Manju asked if they would like to come and have dinner at our house which they, in turn, accepted.  A date was agreed upon and I gave them our address.

Imagine our surprise when a stretched limousine arrived at our house a few days later and out came not only Vijay and Anand, but also their parents, Anand’s wife and their younger brother Ashok - 6 in all.

Manju hastily cooked additional food while we also sat on foot stools and cardboard boxes.  Drinks were served as my bar was fully stocked and we soon got to rekindle our association with these great athletes.  We had met their parents before as they had been our dinner guests at our apartment in Bombay. 

Not only do we have fond memories of this evening, but somewhere in one of my albums, we have photographs of this event.  I must mention here that Vijay kept in touch with us whenever he was playing in subsequent U.S. Opens.  Our older son, Akhil remembers meeting Vijay many years later when Manju and I had stopped going to the tournaments.  He recognized Akhil and asked about us.

Shashi Menon is living on the west coast and is in constant touch with the boys and occasionally calls me..  His Christmas cards always come in time.

Before I left Air-India, I was involved in an another sport at the behest of Jimmy Martin, our P.R. Manager.  It was car racing and AI was one of the main sponsors of the first Himalayan Rally.  I spoke with Mr. Appusamy (also before he took early retirement) and he agreed that we could earmark a substantial sum towards the sponsorship.  

It so happened that the actual event only took place just after I had stopped working for AI, but before I left for Kuwait.  The rally was flagged of by Mr. Raghu Raj, but I was present and by his side when this event took place.

About a couple of years before I left the airline, I received a call from a senior officer in the External Affairs Ministry in Delhi asking for a favor.  The Shah of Iran was due to visit India and they wanted to ensure that his suite was stocked with a particular wine which he was fond of drinking.  Those were the days when Morarji Desai was the Prime Minister.  He was a strong protagonist of prohibition and the External Affairs Ministry could not be seen as a provider of liquor.

I called our then Manager in Paris and he sent a case of this particular wine and also two cases of bottled Evian water.  I do not wish to elaborate how we accounted for these purchases, but in those days, we did manage to cover such expenses.  The wines were in transit to Bombay when we were advised that the Shah’s trip had been cancelled. So the wine packed in a large suitcase and the boxes of Evian were stocked in one corner of the office of Anil Kadam, my Executive Assistant. 

It was only when I had put in my papers that Anil brought to my attention that we had these items which had been sitting in his office for about 2 years.  The Evian water was easy to dispose off - a few of the staff on the 17th floor drank them.

However, the wine was a different issue altogether.  I offered it to Malcolm Baretto who took over as Commercial Director and he gladly took a few bottles.  A friend of mine asked if he could get the balance with the understanding that when I got to New York, I should buy an identical quantity and he would reimburse me.  I did reach New York about 9 months later, made the purchase and served the wine to some of our friends.