I had my first haircut today, after almost 3 months.  My head feels much lighter even though I don’t have as much hair as I used to in my younger days.  The Devonshire Management is slowly opening sections of the community and this was one facility which many residents were waiting for.  You would be surprised how many women have lined up for getting their hair cut and, more than that, dyed to hide the grey.

Manju has just come back after her visit to The Salon and is delighted with the change.

The fitness center has also opened through it will require appointments and only 4 residents are allowed at any one time to conform to Social Distancing.  I have got the first opening time of 07:30 every day, because of my excellent rapport with the Gym Instructor.  She is absolutely wonderful and very helpful.  

Devonshire’s food has also improved somewhat and the selection is better.  Even then, Manju is still cooking and yesterday, we had Gobi and Aloo Parathas.  What a treat!!.

Eating the parathas reminded me of the time when we conducted a market study of the Punjab, Himachal and Haryana for traffic to the U.K.  I had deputed Nusli Petit to join Randhir Singh for this project.  When Nusli came back from the 7 or 10 day trip (I forget the actual number of days), he had put on quite a bit of weight.  

I asked him - how come and his answer was that he could not resist the excellent parathas, well greased with freshly churned butter and the sweet lassi that he had for breakfast every day.  Plus, of course, the Makhni daal and sarson ka saag, again garnished with butter followed by kheer at the roadside Dhabas in the villages that he and Randhir visited.

Even the very thought of all these dishes makes my mouth water and yearn for the Spring days when we could eat such food in Delhi and places nearby.  Delicacies such as sarson ka saag are only a memory, never to be tasted again.

The Croquet court in Devonshire has also opened and I am back playing this game which I enjoy very much.  Once the summer truly sets in and the overhead sun gets stronger, I shall quit because I feel light-headed.  I will resume playing in late October when the heat is more bearable.

Golf is starting next week and I am hoping to join my group.  It is going to be different  in that there will be no valet service and no bag boys to put your golf bag on a cart. Locker rooms are closed.  In addition, we will have individual carts and the interval between each group will increase from 8 minutes to 12 minutes.

Since early March, we have not been allowed to step out of the community except for emergency medical reasons.  These restrictions have been relaxed somewhat and Manju and I took advantage and went to Trader Joe, our favorite grocery store.  We picked up our items and when we went to the Check out counter, the lady greeted us as long lost clients.  She told me that she had missed my weekly visits and then proceeded to give a bouquet of flowers to Manju.  How thoughtful of her; Manju was delighted.

Our children and grand children are up north in NYC and NJ and we miss seeing them.  This was the time of our semi-annual visit to the north when we spent a week with each of them.  It was also the time when Aanya, our older granddaughter had her annual piano concert at Carnegie Hall, an event which we eagerly looked to attend.  Sad, how times have changed; I wonder when, if at all, we can go back to leading normal lives.

I have spent a considerable amount of time describing our lives here at Devonshire and would love to hear from my friends in India how they are faring.  Please share your experiences.  

Our “esteemed” President continues to act like the moron and idiot that he is and our only hope is that he will be ousted at the next election scheduled for November this year.  Politics in this country is now a bad word in every sense and the two parties are so polarized that the country is completely divided.  Add to that the recent protests  on racial issues and we have a real mess.

And now that maniac in the Oval Office wants to start his election rallies where thousands of people will not be wearing masks nor keep social distance and thus be exposed to the coronavirus.  Yesterday, his party announced that all participants will have no legal recourse if they catch the virus.

When he went to India earlier this year, the locals welcomed him with great enthusiasm.  Is it possible for us to export him to India - keep him there permanently.

The very thought of playing golf again brings to mind our first group(s) when I started to play the game.  Our initial foursome was Ashok Vaish, Saroj Datta and Amar Singh in addition to myself.  Amar was the President of Wyeth (India), a pharmaceutical company and had a big Chevy Impala which could easily take four golf sets in the dickey. 

Since both Saroj and I traveled considerably on AI business, there were always others willing to fill in the gaps.  There were our own Ferdoas Nagarvala and Madal Lal who was then the Sales Manager - WI.  Ram Talcherkar (Neila Talcherkar’s husband), Uttara Parikh’s husband and David Lowe, BA’s Manager, Bombay.

Both Amar and David liked to have a couple of drinks after the game and I was concerned about driving back from Chembur on crowded roads and as such, they accepted my suggestion to repair to our apartment on Pedder Road for the martinis which was then the favorite drink.

Of course, one thing led to another and on one occasion, both Amar and David decided to see how high they could jump over the sofa in the living room.  It so happened that Manju walked in and saw the spectacle of Amar’s shorts fall to below his knees after his attempt.  That was the end of our martini get togethers.

The final foursome was Amar, Saroj, Narpat Singh and myself and we were nick-named the awesome foursome by the other golfers at Chamber.  I believe I have written about this foursome in an earlier Post.  On one of our stays at the Taj Mahal Hotel sometime in the late 90s, Narpat and Maya visited us and joined us for a cup of tea and reminiscing.  On their departure, he whispered “remember the awesome foursome”.

It was the last time that we met.  The saddest part is that all of my colleagues of the original and final foursome (Amar, Ashok, Saroj and Narpat) are no longer with us on this earth.  I miss every one of them.

A few days ago, all residents were notified by the Management of Devonshire that we had a case of COVID - 19 in the community.  A resident had tested positive and was quarantined in his/her apartment.  The identity of the resident remains secret.

Two days later, the resident was again tested and the result was negative and hence, the President of our Council advised this development to other members of the Council and our Informal Club (read Think Tank).

This morning, the Executive Director sent an email to the Council President stating that since the first test was positive, they want to play safe and treat the case very cautiously.  The particular resident is being constantly monitored.

For many years, I have been getting a copy of India Abroad which is a weekly publication with a wide circulation in the eastern United States.  This publication was started by Gopal Raju about 50 years ago and later sold to another person.  Last week, I heard that it has been discontinued because of a substantial drop in revenue.  It would appear that many businesses have felt the need to cut costs in the current economic state and one of the casualties is advertising which forms the main source of the newspaper’s revenue. 

I have never subscribed to the newspaper, but was put on a complimentary mailing list by Gopal Raju and thereby, hangs a tale.

Way back in the 1960s, Goyal Raju owned a travel agency and if memory serves me right, the name was Becker Travel.  Becker Travel used to arrange travel to India for small groups of Indians living in the USA and along with a similar consolidator based in Chicago, offered these groups to Air-India at a price that they negotiated with the airline.  Between the two of them, they had a fairly large share of the market and could negotiate prices to their advantage.

When we introduced the $450 fare from New York to Delhi and Bombay in the early 1970s, these groups “disappeared” and individuals started to book directly or through an agent rather than be herded into a group and Becker Travels’ income dropped substantially.  Gopal Raju complained bitterly and took up the issue with politicians in India who raised the matter with our M.D.

I offered to speak with Gopal and accordingly, on one of my visits to NYC had a luncheon meeting with him.  I must have been very convincing because the upshot of the lunch was that we parted as friends; a friendship which lasted many years until his death some time ago.  During this period, he came to my help when Air-India tried to scuttle Panam’s $999 fare to India and I helped him when he wanted my assistance in a dispute he had with Japan Airlines.

Gopal Raju was honored by the city of New York and was given the Ellis Island Award.  I was present on that occasion.

We are eating a lot of soup and salad these days, as these are integral parts of every dinner that Devonshire prepares for us every day.  Yesterday, when I added some pepper to my soup, I was reminded of my twice weekly lunches after a round of golf at Ramsey, my erstwhile Country Club in New Jersey.  

At this time, let me preface my story by stating that when I first started to travel outside India, I found western cuisine very bland and always ended up by adding pepper in fairly substantial quantity to every dish that I ate.  When Manju and I visited Argentina in the mid-1980s, I was very disappointed to see only a salt cellar on each table at a restaurant.  There was no pepper shaker.

Coming back to my Ramsey lunches, each time I had soup, I added pepper and this habit of mine elicited the following remark from one of my golfing partners - Inder likes his soup with his pepper!!

I seem to be reminiscing quite a bit in this Post and if I may be allowed to indulge in this fashion, I would like to write about some of the memories that I will always cherish.

On my first overseas holiday in 1958, I traveled to Switzerland and London.  The lack of foreign exchange was overcome by an introduction to Freddie Mascarenhas, the Asst. Manager, Geneva, by Mr. J.C. Malani, who was Tariffs Manager of AI and my then boss.   Freddie paid his Insurance premiums in Indian Rupees and was quite willing to pay me an equivalent amount in Swiss Francs if I took care of his premiums, which I gladly did.  

Many, many years later, I was able to assist Freddie’s son, Terence when he was trying to start a Travel Agency in New York.  I am happy to state that Terry is now a well established airline Consolidator with offices all along the East Coast.

As it happens many a time, my new friends here in Devonshire ask for my opinion and advice whenever India and things Indian are a topic for discussion.  The subject recently was Kashmir and the Indian Government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution of India.  I was asked if I had traveled to Kashmir and this is what I had to say.

As a child, I visited Kashmir very often.  My family owned property in Srinagar and in addition, a Transport Company owned by the extended Sethi family used to operate a regular bus service between Rawalpindi and Srinagar, which ceased after Partition and later started a similar service between Pathankot and Srinagar.  So there were a number of pieces of property (Commercial and Residential) in and around Srinagar which were owned by the Sethis.

After joining Air-India, I did not travel as often to Kashmir and my last two trips were 

1. To attend the Cargo Agents Convention in Srinagar.  I forget which year it was, but I do remember that the AI team was led by Nari Dastur and hence, it had to be before 1977.

2. To meet Sheik Abdullah, the then Chief Minister of J & K.  We wanted to get permission to lease a plot of land around the Dal Lake to build a Convention Centre - cum - Resort.  Interestingly, the subject of the Sethi family came up during my meeting with the Sheik.  He asked if I was a member of the family living in Srinagar and when I replied in the affirmative, he told his Assistants (who were at the meeting) something like “He is family - give him what he wants”.

Obviously, he had made up his mind to accede to our request, but decided to put a personal touch to it. 

Life under the Stay at Home orders at Devonshire is getting tedious and many of us are tired of eating the meals served to us.  We no longer have the luxury of selecting one of the 5 restaurants with their wide selection of entrees and our Menu is limited to 5 entrees only.  Many a time, there is no item that Manju can eat as she does not eat either red meat or seafood.  

On certain occasions, she orders a vegetarian meal and the Catering Director arranges one.  On other occasion, she cooks a meal at home.  She makes a chicken dish using the Rotisserie chicken which is a standard item on the menu.  So, we have had chicken chaat and chicken curry a couple of times in the recent past.  Tomorrow, she plans to make Sooka Murg and complete the meal with a daal and grill some vegetables which are usually served with the main course.

It is anyone’s guess when life will be back to near normal, but we seem to be quite resigned to accepting a fairly long “lock down”.

Farewell until next time, when I shall take us back on Memory Lane.

I ended my last Post with a hope that next time, I will have only pleasant things to speak about.

I am glad to say that with the good care that Manju has given me, my health is better and until the latest developments that have taken place, I have resumed my normal activities.  I was playing both Croquet and Golf, but all that has been put on hold once again due to the Coronavirus.

Some of our children visited us in February.  Akhil, our older son came with his younger son while Sarat, our younger son came alone.  We were expecting Akhil to return with his younger son and Sarat with his younger daughter in March, but they had to cancel.  Sarat had also planned to bring his older daughter in April, but all that has gone by the board.

Sarat started visiting us every month since December.  He has clients in Florida and hence, makes it a point to add an extra day or two to his business visits.

Devonshire now has another Indian couple residing in the Community.  Ravi and Neera Seth have moved here and will be the third couple of Indian origin; the other two being Ed & June Macedo and Manju & myself.  Both the Seth’s are retired doctors who lived in Syracuse and also had a place in West Palm.  Manju and I are working to help them settle down.  Ravi has joined my golf group while Neera is now in Manju’s golf group.

There have been few interesting mix-ups since their surname very closely resembles ours.  Their laundry & dry cleaning has been erroneously delivered to us, while our dining slips have got mixed up a few times.

Our “esteemed” President went to India for two days and was invited by the Indian P.M. to speak at a large gathering at the new cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.  He put his foot in his mouth by mis-pronouncing some names and didn’t have the courtesy to apologize.  He made it very clear a long time ago that he has never apologized and never will.  I wonder why he was asked to mention Swami Vivekanand.  It is not an easy name to pronounce by a foreigner.

In any event, the visit seems to have achieved to Indian P.M.’s main purpose.

Air-India continues to be in the forefront of aviation news in India.  I was surprised by the overnight change in the post of CMD but have learnt from more that one source that Mr. Lohani was apparently working behind the scenes to upset the Government’s decision to sell the airline.

With the onset of the Coronavirus, the sale of the airline is likely to be delayed.

A short while ago, I learnt about the passing away of another former Air-India stalwart, Choubi Chellaram, nee Mazumdar.  Choubi was the Counter Supervisor at the New India Assurance Building when I joined Air-India in January 1957.  I spent a full month at the  Ticket Counter before being posted to the Tariffs Division.  She was a very gentle and pleasant person and the mention of her name brought back very pleasant memories.  May God bless her soul.

We now have a major crises with the onset of Coronavirus.  Here in Devonshire, the Management has taken many steps to guard against it, but with the average age of the residents being in the 80 to 100+ range, the relatively lower level of built-in immunity presents a major problem. I recommended that we substitute the handshake by folding hands and say Namaste.  I am glad to state that many members of the staff and also residents have adopted it.

If I may digress, Devonshire has a Stay at Home order and the only time we can leave our apartments is to go for a short walk or an emergency visit to a Doctor.  We must leave by the door leading to our building (Devonshire has 3 buildings in addition to the Clubhouse - all are interconnected) and also return by the same door.

This morning on my return from my walk, I pressed the call button and was greeted by “Good morning, Front Desk, Conchshena speaking”.  I responded “Hey Sheena, you are again on duty after last night” and I was pleasant surprised by her response “Namaste, Mr. Sethi welcome back from your walk and yes, I slept here last night - let me buzz you in”.  I replied “Thanks, little one”.

We have run into a major problem by the lack of hand sanitizers and wipes which have disappeared from the shelves of all supermarkets and even Amazon has no supplies.  The Supermarkets and big box stores such as Costco have run out of all paper products such as Paper towels, toilet paper, Kleenex and paper napkins.  

The Florida Governor issued a “Stay at Home” order which allows people to leave homes for visits to grocery stores, banks, gas stations and other similar purposes.  However, Devonshire has forbidden all residents from going out except in an emergency, such as a visit to a doctor.

Fortunately, we were able to find some supplies by remembering the old adage - the early bird gets the worm.

I got up earlier than usual for many days, opened the website of both Costco and Amazon and managed to find some essential items.

At the same time and completely out of the blue, the daughter of my very old golfing friend Amar Singh from Bombay days (he passed away some years back) sent a text message to Manju indicating that she is sending us a box of wipes and two small bottles of sanitizer.  She works at a major hospital and was able to get some supplies.

Devonshire is providing us with dinner every day.  Obviously, the menu is limited (unlike the regular menus in the 5 different restaurants, when our lives were normal), but the quantities and quality is great.  With our dinner, we get an item for breakfast as well.  Unfortunately, Devonshire’s efforts to help us with our grocery shopping has not been successful, and they are looking for alternatives.

Manju had some frozen Indian food and she supplements that with a little cooking once a week.  She is also planning to cook a whole batch of a daal today. Unfortunately, we may soon run out of essential spices if things don’t get back to normal soon.

I am sure the lives of all our friends and acquaintances have also been upset by the various restrictions and hope that many, if not all, have found some things to keep oneself busy and occupied.  On our part, Manju and I have been watching television shows.  We have just finished Episode 47 of Ramayana - we see one episode each day.  After this, we intend to start with Buddha.  I also work on jigsaw puzzles.

All public libraries are closed and Devonshire even closed its own small library after it was discovered that some residents were not abiding by the social distancing and wearing of masks directives.  It is indeed sad that some residents have flouted all the rules designed to keep us safe and secure.  Some of them were playing cards in the public areas and having drinks and snacks.  Some even invited other residents to bring their dinner and have pot luck in individual apartments.

I am now reading books on my iPad but it just doesn’t feel the same.  I like to hold a book in my hands.

Time to close and say goodbye for now.  With every good wish to all to stay well, safe  and secure. 

I had ended my last Post with an apology for “sounding off” on the subject of the Air-India CMD.  

Unfortunately, he has once again put his foot in his mouth and taken unjustified credit.  In an interview with Jyotsna Sharma of Business World, Mr. Lohani stated:

“The biggest high was posting operational profits for two years running, in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and this happened after a gap of 10 years. We proved to the world that left to us we can run this airline as well as anyone else.” 

Air-India’s operating profits in those two years were an illusion and speaking bluntly, the books were “cooked”. Not only did Air India fail to pay arrears to the staff, but also held back invoices from oil companies, AAI and vendors. Just visualize a scenario of these bills and arrears having been paid on time and Air India as a consequence having had to borrow an equivalent amount from banks to manage its operations. Would the interest payable on this borrowed amounts been less than the claimed operational profit? AI, as per media reports still owes massive amounts, in the region of over Rs 10,000 crore, to airports, Oil companies, employees and vendors.

As if taking this unjustified credit was not enough, Mr. Lohani has the audacity - yes, the audacity to run down Jet Airways by saying “It (Air India) is a fully functional airline that operates over 450 flights every day. It is definitely not Jet Airways, which suddenly disappeared.”

I hold no brief for Naresh Goyal, but it is ludicrous to compare the two airlines.  Air-India has existed during the last decade entirely due to the subsidies and handouts from the Government.  Had these not existed, the airline would have also “suddenly disappeared”.  Jet received no such largesse.

I can only console myself by the news released today that Mr. Lohani has gone and that AI has a new CMD.  The sycophant, boot licker “headless run-around chicken” has finally left.  I am sure he is hoping to be awarded the Padma Bhushan or similar award for his service to the P.M.  This would be similar to the Congressional Medal of Honor awarded by Donald Trump to Rush Limbaugh who is a divisive racist and another of the U.S. President’s boot lickers.

Let me switch now to a more interesting topic.  Manju and I were members of Team Devonshire which joined a large group of volunteers to pack 75,000 meals for the school children of Haiti.  In the one hour alloted to us, Team Devonshire packed 1,296 meals.  This is the second time that we had participated in such a venture and we are indeed proud to be part of the Team.

While we were awaiting our turn, I overheard a very familiar language being spoken.  I saw two ladies in white clothes and was delighted to learn that they were speaking in Urdu and were part of another Team comprising women and children of Pakistani origin.  Interestingly, two of them were born in the same town as Manju - Faisalabad, which is the new name for Lyallpur.

It is now over 2 and 1/2 years since we moved to Devonshire.  Ed and June Macedo joined us at Devonshire a year and 6 months ago. And, next week another couple of Indian origin is moving here.  They are also Punjabis - Ravi and Neera Seth, both retired Doctors and so, we appear to have started a movement.  

The similarity of our surnames is bound to cause confusion.  As a matter of fact, their laundry (bed sheets and quilts) were delivered to our apartment by mistake yesterday.

When we came to Devonshire, there was no vegetarian dish among the entrees in any of the 5 restaurants.  Today, 3 restaurants have one for more vegetarian entrees and on occasion, we have chicken curry and fish curry as a “Special”.

Manju and I were invited to meet the Culinary team this afternoon and I am glad to say that future menus will include two or more International Specials once a week.  The Internationals will be seven types of cuisines, including Thai, Chinese, Turkish, Greek and Indian.

We certainly have made an impact in Devonshire.

The only fly in the ointment has been my health.  Apart from being hospitalized twice in 2019, I have last week undergone hernia surgery.  This was due to a reoccurrence of hernia in my right side which was operated upon by Dr. Arther D’Sa , Bombay’s premier surgeon at St. Elizabeths’ Nursing Home in 1970 - exactly 50 years ago.

I am recovering, albeit slowly.  I haven’t played Croquet of Golf for the past two months but do hope to get back shortly, once I get the free signal from my Doctors. Incidentally, Ravi and Neera Seth both play golf and will be joining the men’s and ladies golf groups once they settle down.

In closing may I offer my condolences to the families of Somu Mukherjee and Dennis Daniel, two of Air-India’s stalwarts who recently passed away.  Another two sad occasions for us.

So, till next time and this time, with a hope that I will have only pleasant things to speak about - au revoir. 

Manju and I were visited a couple of days ago by Tuk Tuk Mukherjee.  She is the widow of our dear friend and former colleague, Shanu Mukherjee.  Tuk Tuk is visiting one of her sons - Mohit - who lives a few miles away in Palm Beach Gardens.  We had offered to drop by and pay our condolences but Tuk Tuk wanted to drop in and also see Devonshire of which she had heard from my conversations with Shanu.

Which brings me to another sad episode of my life - the death of another former colleague, Brij Mehra.  Brij was not only a former colleague but also a very dear friend.  I had known him since 1956 (63 years ago) when he was a college friend of one of my cousins.

Soon after I had joined AI, Brij dropped by at the Bank of India building in Flora Fountain to meet me.  He enquired if there was any possibility of his getting a job with AI and I offered to speak with Mr. N V Khote, our then Sales Manager - titles like Executive Director of Commercial Manager did not exist in those days.

I went to Mr. Khote’s office and he agreed to arrange an interview for Brij with the senior panel the next day.  I went back to my desk and informed Brij and asked if he had brought a suit and tie that he could wear to the interview.  He replied in the negative and so I took him home and gave him a shirt, a tie and one of my very few suits.

Brij appeared the next morning and was interviewed by the Panel and was seen later by Mr. Kooka.  He did get an offer as a Junior Officer - same title as mine -  which he gladly accepted.  The only downside was that the trouser of my suit was ruined as being a couple of inches short, the heels of Brij’s shoes had constantly stepped on my trouser cuffs and frayed them.

During his career with AI, Brij was posted to Calcutta, Los Angeles, Bombay (with HCI) and at the end, in Sydney.  He left Air-India a few years after I had resigned and came to the USA with some ideas of what he wanted to do.  

Unfortunately, none of his ideas bore fruit and he finally settled back in India and when I last spoke with him, he was living as a “hermit” in Rishikesh.  His nephew called my son Akhil a few days ago to let him know of Brij’s passing. To the best of my knowledge, there are now only two remaining former colleagues who had joined AI at about the same time as I had.

I had mentioned about celebrating Diwali in one of my emails and I had attached a copy of the Menu.  I am glad to state that the event went off very well.  We had over 90 persons for dinner that night and there were lights and decorations all over the ground floor of Devonshire.  We received a number of compliments not only because of the food and decorations, but also for imparting knowledge about our culture to the residents.

Unfortunately, yours truly was unable to attend the event as I was hospitalized due to a GI bleed.  One of my intestines decided to act up and I lost considerable blood.  This is the second time that this has happened; the first was in 2012.  I am still recovering and have only recently started playing Croquet.  I also intend to resume my golf outings, starting with 9 holes on the 3rd of January.

Starting in January 2020, I have decided not be be on any of the Standing Committees.  It is time for me to make room for fresh ideas and hence, my decision to step down.  However, I will continue to be a member of our Think Tank and also  become more involved in determining tax benefits for our residents.

My alma mater and the Organization I care most about is going through a very rough phase.  Air-India has shown its highest ever loss during the year 2018/19 and it is quite apparent that the top management has absolutely no clue how to run the airline.  This is not surprising since every Babu and Government bureaucrat who has been appointed has left the airline in a worse condition that when he came aboard.  Sad, very sad and now we hear that there has been lukewarm response to the Road Shows which the Government conducted.

I wrote an email to the CMD asking some pertinent questions and he hasn’t had the courtesy of even acknowledging it.  Typical of a sycophant, boot licker “headless chicken” who should never have been appointed in the first place.

I am sorry to end this Post on a sour note and hope that I can speak of more pleasant subjects in future posts.

I was deeply saddened by the passing away of another former colleague and dear friend, Shanu Mukherjee.  Shanu had been suffering from poor health for some time and I had called him regularly almost every week for the past two years to enquire how he was faring.

I was a member of the Senior Panel when Shanu came up for his interview for the post of Station Superintendent.  We did select him and after he had joined Air-India, he mentioned to me that in his previous job, he had worked for my brother in Jamshedpur.  I remember his remark that he now had the unique opportunity to work for two brothers.

It was ironic that he never did work for me.  He did not spend any time at Commercial Headquarters until I had left the airline.  As a matter of fact, I received a letter from him expressing regret that he never had the opportunity to learn marketing techniques from me.

Shanu was 8 years younger than me and hence, one could say that he was from a different generation.  I still have a few former colleagues of my generation and hope they will continue to enjoy good health.

Incidentally, there was a very nice and very positive article recently in the Hindustan Times written by Mr. Vir Sanghvi.  He highlighted the great years of Air-India and paid excellent compliments to both Mr. JRD Tata and Mr. S.K. Kooka.

Unfortunately, towards the end of his article, Mr. Sanghvi engaged in “sensational journalism”.  I say unfortunately, because what he said was grossly erroneous and cast the then Top Management of Air-India in a very poor light. Perhaps, Mr. Sanghvi presumed that there was no member of the airline’s Top Management still living who could contradict  him.  He didn’t realize that I was the then Dy. MD and the sole living member of that Team.

Mr. Sanghvi stated that both Mr. Tata and Mr. Kooka were evicted from the Air-India building, which is a blatant lie.

Mr. Tata never - repeat - never had an office in the Air-India building at Nariman Point. His office was in Bombay House at Flora Fountain which is the Headquarters of all of the Tata Companies.  Mr. Tata only visited Nariman Point for Board meetings and for certain events.

Mr. Kooka’s stay in Norman Point requires me to provide some background which I have not talked about in my Blog so far.

Air-India Charters Limited was created sometime in the early 1970s when we need a vehicle to combat under-cutting of U.K - India fares by the Middle East carriers.  Here, I would like to reproduce an extract from my Post of September 2015:

“The U.K. originating market was our next target.  We sent a Market Research Team to the U.K. to study the market potential and come up with a plan to get our rightful market share.  The Team was led by Randhir Singh and included Michael Mascarenhas and Kanwal Jasuja.  They spent almost a month and produced a series of recommendations which included not only the establishment of a low round trip fare for the VFR (Visiting Friends & Relatives) market, but also the opening of new offices, such as one in Southhall. 

This Report was discussed at a Top Management meeting and negotiations commenced with the British so that we could jointly sponsor the introduction of such a fare.  Unfortunately, the British declined to agree and we responded by going unilaterally at this market.

Air-India Charters Ltd. (AICL) chartered aircraft from Air-India and commenced operating flights between Delhi and Ostend in Belgium, since we were denied traffic rights by the British.  An agreement was negotiated with British Air Ferries (BAF) to operate flights between Southend in the U.K. and Ostend to connect with the AICL flights.  A consortium of Indian Agents was mobilized to get passengers to travel on the connecting BAF/AICL flights.

The success of this venture was soon proven when the British asked us for talks to introduce  a low round trip fare - low enough so that the 6th freedom operators would have difficulty in undercutting it.  We established such a fare and then to ensure the success of this venture, I suggested to Mr. Kooka, the establishment of an “Ethnic Sales” cell in the U.K. headed by Randhir Singh.  He agreed ….

At Mr. Kooka’s request, T.K. Rao, Manager - Charters and I made a detailed study of the European market to ascertain the potential of operation charters under the AICL Banner.  We toured Western and Northern Europe and submitted our Report which I believe, ended up on a shelf in Mr. Kooka’s office.

To the best of my knowledge, AICL never did get off the ground until quite recently when it was converted to Air India Express.  After Mr. Kooka, the next Chairman was Nari Dastur and I did take over the reins for a 2 year period from 1978 till I left Air-India in 1980.”.

When Mr. Kooka retired as C.D., he should have gracefully moved out of his office, handed over the reins to Mr. Dastur and left the AI building at Nariman Point.  However, he wished to retain a connection, no matter how fragile with his alma mater and as a parting gesture, Mr. Dastur agreed to let him remain as the Chairman of AICL even though it was only a “shell” company and had neither a single aircraft nor a single employee.  Mr. Kooka came to his new office to attend to his personal affairs. 

Air-India even gave him a very selective parking spot which was reserved for Chairman AICL.  As a humorous aside, I should mention that at the end of my tenure, I had three parking spots - Dy. MD, CD and Chairman AICL.

The only time Mr. Kooka spent on the Company’s affairs was when he chaired the Annual Meeting held in his office.  I have personally attended some of these half day sessions as the representative of the parent Company - Air-India.

In my capacity as Chairman of AICL for 2 years (1978-1980), the only time I spent on its affairs was when I chaired its Annual Meeting, which took one afternoon.

So, to brazenly state that Mr. Kooka had been evicted from the building was to deliberately cast the then Top Management in a poor light.  

Sad that some so-called professional journalists have to stoop to sensationalism to get their columns read.

Summers in Florida are long, hot and humid.  I get a little light headed if I am under the sun for any length of time.  Because of this, I do not play Croquet during the summer and limit my golf to 9 holes.  This results in boredom and while I do read books, newspapers (both U.S. and Indian) and magazines, I still have a lot of time on my hands.  I am trying to find some activity which will keep me occupied.  One of them is Jig Saw Puzzles and The Activities Department has opened its library to me and so, I have been able to use up some of my spare time.

The latest news about my alma mater is alarming.  It has not paid Oil Companies in India for over 6 months and owes about Rs. 5,000 crores.  This has resulted in it being shut out from refueling at 6 domestic airports.  Newspaper reports also indicate that the Management has sent an SOS to Government requesting an immediate infusion of Rs. 2,500 crores to pay half the same owed to the Oil Companies.

What happened to the so-called “turnaround specialist” that the Government appointed to head the airline?  So far, he has nothing to show for this title.  Air-India’s debt is now Rs. 58,000 crores and mounting.  

This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time that AI has reached this very critical stage of insufficient funds for day to day activities.

And yet, the Management has the audacity to state that but for the “inherited debt”, the airline would be making operating profits.  Let’s examine at this very bold statement very carefully.

The first question that comes to my mind is has the airline paid back part of this debt.  From all indications, the answer is a resounding “NO”.  The debt has been increasing each year and the cumulative losses rising at an alarming rate.

The next question is, have all bills been accounted for and paid.  A Company can only show an operating profit if its gross revenues exceed gross expenses.  We have seen that fuel bills are not being paid.  This major item of expenditure has not been shown in the gross expenses.   

What about the non payment of salary dues to staff.  I understand that high category employees - pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers and cabin crew are being paid 25% less every month for more than five years now. The arrears amount is quite a significant sum.

In addition, we have the case of 19 aircraft sitting idle dues to lack of spares.  No monies have been spent to get these aircraft in the air and in response to another SOS from the Management, Government has released another Rs. 350 crores to remedy the situation.

If we add all of this “debts” to the total expenses, there is a massive operating loss.

 And this so-called “turnaround” expert has the temerity to state that but for the debt, the airline is making operating profits.  Who is the CMD trying to hoodwink?

If I may be allowed to go further and presume that Government will accede to the SOS and give Rs, 2,500 crores to AI, what about the balance due to the Oil Companies?  It is another Rs. 2,500 and will the Management attempt to push it under the carpet till the Oil Companies once again demand payment?  What will happen - another SOS to the Government!!!

Why take half measures.  Let the airline ask for and let Government pay off the entire amount due to the Oil Companies and the airline starts from a clean slate.  Here I am assuming it has funds to pay the fuel bills which will become due in the future.

In my last Post, I had mentioned that Shiv Kapuria had been hospitalized after having suffered a stroke. I am glad to report that he is feeling better and in fact, called me last week.  He is still very weak and will need some time to recover.  Meanwhile, we are now exchanging e-mails which is a very good sign.

On the Political side of my world, our President seems to be getting into more and more diplomatic messes.  During his meeting with the Pakistan Prime Minister, he stated that Mr. Modi had requested him to mediate in the Kashmir dispute.  Just proves that he is delusional.  Then, he gets into a diplomatic quarrel with Denmark by wanting to buy Greenland and calling the Denmark PM’s response as being “nasty”.

He is now in France for the G7 summit and the news media is predicting some “fireworks”.  Has anyone any suggestion in reining him in?

Our oldest grandson has gone to college.  He has entered Lehigh University which is the alma mater of both his father and his Chacha.  By the way, the latter (Sarat) is on the Board of Governors of this University and has been a Trustee for over 15 years.  Soon, the other children will be headed in a similar direction and I hope and pray that I will still be around to attend the graduation ceremonies of all of them.

I have just made reservations to fly to New York in October.  This is our semi-annual visit to be with the children; the first one being in June.  One of the attractions of the forthcoming trip is the annual 3G dinner which is a celebration of the birthdays of our older granddaughter, Aanya (8th Oct), Manju (12th Oct) and our older son, Akhil (19th Oct). Really looking forward to spending some quality time with the family.