During my walk this morning, I remembered an incident which occurred during my early days with Kuwait Airways and which I would like to share and mention in this Post.

It appeared that rats had been discovered in an aircraft earmarked for a VVIP flight for Indira Gandhi, the then P. M.  The aircraft was being readied for one of her trips and on inspection, some wires appeared to have been chewed through.  Instructions came down from the powers that be in Delhi and Raghu Raj decided to terminate the services of both the Director of Engineering and his Deputy.

I got a call from Mr. Appusamy who was then on deputation with Air Jamaica.  He asked if I could speak with the Chairman of Kuwait Airways and find openings for both these gentlemen.  I managed to get KU to offer the Deputy D.E. a job, but they did not agree to hire the D.E. because of his advanced age.

Getting back to the transition period before leaving Kuwait Airways, I received an unexpected call from a gentleman named Ananda Jaisingh who was calling from India and introduced himself as the new Publisher of Air-India’s Inflight magazine NAMASKAAR.

Ananda said that he got my name from the original publisher of the magazine - KK Uberoi - who had told him the I had been the force behind the origin of the magazine.  The purpose of his call was to request me to get him advertisements from Companies based in the USA.  

Since I was, at that time, still on Kuwait Airways’ payroll, I had to decline his request.  However, he persisted and as a compromise, we agreed that Manju would act as his U.S. representative.  And so, we established Sethi Associates, Inc. with Manju Sethi as its President.

Manju was very enthusiastic and met with a number of Advertising Companies who, while expressing interest, were not quite convinced about the purchasing power of the Indians who represented the majority of Air-India’ traveling public. However, she persisted and spoke directly with the Advertising personnel of many U.S. companies and during this first year of her new assignment, did manage to convince a few companies to advertise.  Her coup was a double page spread from American Express for which, if memory serves me right, AMEX paid $15,000.

Manju’s commission was 10% of all gross revenues, and this ad alone netted her $1,500.  An amusing anecdote to this coup was the request of the AMEX staff member to meet and have lunch with Manju.  She almost panicked but settled with one condition - she would be accompanied by her husband.  Her “excuse” was  that she was unable to drive to Manhattan on her own.  It was an interesting and entertaining lunch and the net result was that AMEX continued to take a double page spread every year.

Manju’s income from this venture was very valuable in reducing our deficit financing and made our sleepless nights a little less sleepless.

Kamal Dandona who was associated with the Overseas Indian National Congress, called me and stated that the Indian Civil Aviation Minister was in town and had expressed an interest in meeting me.  Kamal confessed that he had initiated the matter as he knew that I was at a loose end.

I agreed to meet the Minister who stated that he was aware of my service in Air-India and asked if I would be interested in returning to the airline, as its CEO.  I gave him the reasons why I had resigned and also indicated that our two sons were studying in the USA and that living on an Indian salary would hardly pay the tuition cost, leave alone, board and lodging.

The Minister stated that such expenses could be “taken care of” if I showed an interest in the offer. I asked him point blank if I would have complete authority or would the same interference from Delhi take place.  He could or would not give me such an assurance and hence, I thanked him for the offer and left his hotel room.

I also got a call from Lenny Menezes of the Taj Hotel group who said that the current head of Tata Sons, USA was retiring and I may consider speaking with Mr. JRD Tata who happened to be in town.  I called Mr. Tata and mentioned to him that my tenure with Kuwait Airways was coming to an end and I was looking for suitable employment.  I informed him that Lenny had mentioned to me that an opening at Tata Sons, Inc. may be in the offing and that was the reason for my call.

Mr. Tata said he would call me back which he did upon his return to Bombay.  Mr. Tata asked if I could visit India and meet Rusi Modi, the Head of Tata Steel, who had the task of recruiting a replacement.  I agreed and met Rusi Modi in his apartment in Calcutta.  Mr. Modi explained that Tata Sons had been considering for a long time to downgrade the U.S. office and, at the same time, strengthen to U.K. office.

He asked if I would consider moving to the U.K.  It was a very tempting offer, but the thought of leaving our sons in the USA made me regret my inability to accept.  Interestingly, the job was, in a couple of years filled by C.L. Sharma, whose aspireations for the MDs post in Air-India had been upset firstly by Capt. Druba Bose, whose Bengali connections with Pranab Mukherjee paid dividends, and later by the political appointment of Rajan Jetley.

Here, I must confess that CL’s loss did not give me much dissatisfaction, as he had for quite some time, been surreptitiously under-cutting me during my tenure at the airline.

So, we were back to square one and by then, it was the end of May 1986 and it was fast nearing time for me to leave Kuwait Airways and move to our new home.

We had absolutely no furniture and our first task was to go look at Estate Sales and Wholesale Furniture Stores.  We picked up bed frames which I put together - my initial steps in become adept with my hands.  Some of the attempts of “going cheap” led to acquisition of poorly assembled products which had soon to be replaced, resulting in the final cost being well beyond our budgeted amounts.  A great lesson for the future.

I had returned the Kuwait Airways Buick and we were left with Manju’s Honda Civic.  We had decided that we would not go for a second car until we had steady income from other sources.

In December of 1985, I had a meeting with an Aviation Consulting company whose management showed interest in my joining them, but asked that I bring with me an assignment to conduct research and studies for an airline.  I went to India and met the then Managing Director of Indian Airlines whom I had known from my days with AI.  Indian Airlines was then looking at both Boeing and Airbus for wide body aircraft and I suggested to their M.D. that this Aviation Consulting Company conduct a Systems Analysis for them with a view to suggesting the ideal aircraft for their particular needs.

He was interested in having such a study done, but told me quite frankly that under the then regime in India, the decision of aircraft purchase had been already been taken by the Prime Minister’s office and that he had been directed to purchase aircraft from Airbus. He also advised me confidentially that he had been directed to produce a back dated study recommending such a decision.

An interesting offer came from a very influential and well established Indian company.  It appeared that Hindujas had a relationship with Pan American World Airways going back to the days when the Hindujas were deeply entrenched in Iran.  They wanted to represent Panam in many areas of the world starting with the USA and I was approached if I would be interested in heading their new venture.

Having nothing better “on the horizon”, I went to London and met with the two senior brothers.  They called the then Chairman of PanAm and set up a meeting in New York sometime in January 1986.  We met with the Chairman and the Managing Director, after which I presented a proposal to their Marketing & Sales Division.  Unfortunately, it was turned down primarily because their U.S. Sales Division did not want to change their policy of selling India only through their established Consolidators.  We were, however, offered Canada, but I told the Hindujas that the potential revenues would not cover our expenses.

I was intrigued, however, when at a dinner at their Manhattan residence, one of the Hinduja brothers stated that he had met the local AI Regional Head and had mentioned to him that they were speaking to PanAm to represent them and that if they were successful, the project would be headed by me.  He told me that the R.D. said that Inder Sethi was the wrong person for the job as he had no experience in Marketing & Sales since his entire career in Air India had been in the Planning Division.

Fortunately for me, the Hindujas had already checked my background with Air-India and knew that the last 8 years on my career were devoted to Marketing & Sales, in addition to the fact that I held the position of Commercial Director at the time of resigning.  The same brother told me that he had informed the AI Regional Head that not only did he not believe him, but that he would inform me that he (the R.D.) was spreading false information about me.

It was indeed disappointing to hear this falsehood particularly since I had helped this particular person in hanging on to his job.  I have, in an earlier Post, spoken of the time when the Managing Director wanted to sack this staff member because of misuse of AI Publicity funds, , but I had managed to convince him to change his mind.  Just goes to show that I had seriously misjudged this person’s character.

Interestingly, our paths did cross a couple of years later and as fate would have it, his career in Air-India did come to a sad end.  Karma played its role.

By now, we were in February of 1986 and the date of June 30 was drawing closer.  I called Mr. Nari Dastur who was then the Regional Director - Europe for Air Mauritius and asked if he had any suggestions.  Mr. Dastur told me that he was leaving for Mauritius the next day to attend the annual Sales Conference and that he would speak with Sir Harry Tiruvengadam, who was the CMD of Air Mauritius.

A week later, Mr. Dastur called me to say that Harry showed some interest and that it would be best if I spoke with him directly.  I called Harry who said that North America was not a market which Air Mauritius (MK) was keen on developing as the costs were too high but he would be open to a meeting with me.  He invited me to visit Mauritius and to speak with him and Suresh Seegobin, his Commercial Head.  Let me pause here to give a little background.

When AI inaugurated its flights to Mauritius, we had hired Suresh Seegobin as one of our Sales staff and he moved to MK when it started its own operations.  Additionally, when MK was incorporated, Nari Dastur convinced Air-India’s Board to purchase 8% of the shares and get a seat for Air-India on MK’s Board.  Mr. Dastur was AI’s first representative and I took over from him when he took early retirement.

So, I was no stranger to both Harry and Suresh and as such, I was quite optimistic when Manju and I left for Mauritius.  At the same time, I was aware that opening a full time office in New York would entail substantial expenses for MK, which may not be palatable to them.

As such, my proposal would be the appointment as a Resident Sales Representative and that I would operate from my house until such time that we generated sufficient revenue to justify opening a full time office.

Our (Manju and I) visit to Mauritius got off to an interesting start.  I called Ravi Misra who was then the MK Manager in London and he confirmed that he had received instructions from his Chairman for tickets for us.  When I went to the MK ticket counter at Heathrow airport, First Class tickets were waiting for us.  On boarding the flight, we were greeted by a very familiar face; Jeroo Dastur, and I asked her what was she doing in MK.

Her response was “Mr. Sethi, don’t tell me you have forgotten - your sent me to MK on deputation to train their air hostesses”. You can imagine my embarrassment.

On arrival at Mauritius airport, I found that no one among the MK staff was aware of our visit.  We cleared Immigration and Customs and I requested their Duty Manager to call the Chairman’s office.  Soon thereafter, we were placed in a taxi and sent off to MK’s Head office, where we were met by a red faced Chairman’s Secretary, who ushered me into his office.  Talk about miscommunication!!

Harry and Suresh showed interest in my proposal and we agreed that, as an experiment, I would work with MK initially on a part time basis, effective July 1, 1986.  My title would be General Manager - USA & Canada and MK would pay me a stipend of $1,000 monthly, plus expenses for travel, telephone, stationery etc., etc.  A review would be conducted at the end of one year to see where we go from there.

On my return to NYC, I arranged with a Pakistani Travel Agency to use their address to receive mail. 

At that time, Iberia was planning to start operations to India and with the help of Pablo Olmeda, AI’s Sales Manager - Spain, I got an introduction to their USA Regional head to whom I proposed a Consultancy agreement.  Unfortunately, this did not come through.  My other efforts to find other sources of income also did not find success.

The KU termination date of June 30, 1986 was coming close and not only did I see no other source of income on the horizon, but Manju and I also had to find a suitable house and furnish it and here, I took the ultimate gamble of my life.

Our older son, Akhil was going to his final year at Lehigh University in September 1986 and we had to come up with funds for tuition, board and lodging, plus his other expenses, such as running of his car.

At the same time, our younger son, Sarat was studying at Tenafly High School and hence, we needed to find a house in that town itself for him to continue to be a student in that school.

We did locate a suitable house and with the savings that I had accumulated during my tenure with KU, we were able to raise the down payment and furnish the entire house.  Interest rates at that time, were extremely high and our annual mortgage came to $35,000.  Added to that were Akhil’s college expenses of around $28,000 plus our own day to day living expenses, and we estimated that our liabilities for the first year would be around $75,000.

On the assets side, income from MK would be $12,000 and so, we were looking at deficit financing of about $63,000 for the first year.  We looked at our savings and realized that indeed, we are taking quite a gamble, but courage and confidence made us go through with our decision to stay on in the USA and not throw in the towel and go back home to India.

NEXT POST - How did our decision work out?

In one of my Posts earlier this year, I had remarked that some of the Kuwait Airways Sales Managers in offline stations had godfathers back in Kuwait.  These relationships created some problems in discipline and when I raised the issue with the Commercial Director, I was informed that this was peculiar to the culture of the airline and it would be best if I accepted the situation or as was explained to me “turned a blind eye to it”.

I was, however, concerned about some instances that did take place involving Bob Sensi, the Sales Manager in Washington, and on one of my visits to that city, I asked him point blank if he was actually an undercover operative of the CIA.  He denied the association and I kept quiet.  However, my fears were confirmed when Sensi called me one day and asked if he could come to NYC to discuss a matter which he could not speak of on the phone.

Sensi wanted a favor involving the Israeli airline El Al and started off the meeting with a question - do you know David Schneider, the then General Manager - USA of El Al?  The question took me aback and here I feel that I must give some background.

I first met David Schneider when I came to NYC in February 1960 to file a Tariff with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board, preparatory to Air India’s operations to the USA.  David was, at that time, working in the U.S. Tariffs Division of British Overseas Airways Corporation, now BA.  We needed the expertise of this Division and I worked quite closely with their staff.  In the process, I became friendly with David and on occasion, had dinner at his house in the Bronx.

We kept in touch and met whenever I visited NYC.  I lost touch with him in the late 1970s when I moved to Marketing & Sales.  However, when I took over as head of the US operations of Kuwait Airways, I did meet him at a cocktail party and we promised to meet often; a promise that we did keep on a couple of occasions.

Hence, I was perturbed by the question posed by Bob Sensi and I asked him how on earth, was my association with David Schneider of interest to anyone in the USA?  After detailed questioning, he stated that any “relationship” between a staff member of an Arab airline and a staff member of the Israeli airline was of “interest to the FBI and CIA” and that our meetings had been “noted”.  Sensi also confessed that he was associated with the CIA in some form and that this was with the approval of top management of Kuwait Airways. 

Because of the Official Secrecy Act, I am constrained from divulging details of what transpired at the meeting and the events that followed.  However, some time after the conclusion of this matter, Sensi called and asked if I could meet with one of the main personalities involved who wanted to personally thank me for my assistance.  We agreed on a date which unfortunately, we could not keep and the meeting actually took place after I had left KU and was working with Air Mauritius.

Imagine my surprise and utter delight when Sensi walked into my office accompanied by Muhammed Ali, the famous boxing legend.  Muhammed Ali profusely thanked me for my assistance.  Later, he sent me a photograph of both of us at that meeting.  He had written the words “To Inder Sethi from your friend - Muhammed Ali - 9-3-88”.

I still have this prized possession in my desk.

As an aside to this story, Bob Sensi continued to be associated with the CIA and this landed him in hot water in the late 1980s. At that time, he again came to me for help when he was prosecuted for his part in what I believe was the Iran arms scandal.  Here again, I cannot divulge the facts, except to state that I was subpoenaed by a court in Washington, DC and had to appear before a Judge in his chambers.  The net result was while Sensi’s was sentenced, my evidence helped in his having to serve a lesser amount of time behind bars.

I was, at that time, consulting with PanAm World Airways and I thought that this was the end of my association with Bob Sensi.   I was, therefore,  surprised by a visit from an attorney who said that he was working for Kuwait Airways and was trying to unravel a mystery.  He raised the subject of the Bank account opened by KU in Washington, DC and showed me copies of two telexes exchanged between KU’s Head Office and their Accounts Manager in NYC.  In an earlier Post, I had mentioned that as per the airline’s rules and procedures, KU had opened one Bank at each offline Sales location into which all monies and checks were deposited.

The lawyer asked if I had seen these telexes and I confirmed that indeed, I had because they had raised considerable interest at that time.  KU’s H.O. had asked the Bank in WAS to advise the balance in the account and the Bank had replied giving the amounts held in TWO accounts.  This raised a Flag at H.O. and they asked the Accounts Manager in NYC (with copy to me as the Regional Head) to explain how there were two accounts when only one was authorized.

I recalled that the Accounts Manager had told me that he had spoken with the bank and the mystery had been resolved.  He also confirmed that he had sent a reply to H.O.  When I mentioned this to the lawyer, he stated that I had been misinformed by the Accounts Manager and there were in fact, two accounts.

His investigations had revealed the following:

1. At some point of time in the late 1970s, the WAS Sales office surreptitiously opened a second account under the authority of a very highly placed Kuwaiti who was visiting the city at that time.  When he gave me the name of this gentleman, I realized that not only was he a senior member of the Kuwaiti Government, but also served on the Board of the airline.  According to the terms of this account, it could only be operated by him and Bob Sensi, who was the local Sales Manager.
2. The NYC Accounts office was routinely invoicing the Embassy in WAS for tickets issued to the large number of students studying in the USA and the Embassy was making periodic payments by check to the local KU office.  These were collected personally by the Sales Manager who deposited some of them in the 2nd account.
3. At this juncture of my discussions with the lawyer, it dawned upon me that this was the reason why the local Accounts staff could never reconcile Invoices with receipts vis-a-vis the Embassy - my earlier Post mentions this issue.  It further clarified why Head Office would not agree to computerize the accounts - top management deliberately wanted to keep the entire issue a secret.
4. The amounts placed in the 2nd account were extremely large and were used to defray expenses authorized by the “very highly placed Kuwaiti” and sent to a country in the Middle East.  And, as we all know, “sticky fingers” came into play.  It appeared the local SM was using some funds for his own benefits.  Interestingly, a check for $50,000 was also issued in the name of the SM - Chicago.  
5. The lawyer asked me if I had personally seen the telex which contained the reply from the Accounts Manager to H.O. regarding the 2nd account and while I remember stating in the negative, I informed him that a copy must be in the office.  KU had a policy to keep a duplicate roll of all telexes - inbound and outbound - and that such rolls were kept in the basement of the ticket office on Park Avenue.  I asked the lawyer to go and check for himself.
6. The lawyer came back next morning with the news that there were no rolls and that this policy had been discontinued by my successor, soon after I had left KU.  All rolls were destroyed after 3 months.
7. At this point, I told the lawyer that I could not be of any further help.

I later learnt that the “very highly placed Kuwaiti” had passed away and that Sensi had been apprehended in London and was behind bars in that city.  It was at that juncture that I received the subpoena to appear before the Judge in WAS.

After my appearance before the Judge, my office received a few calls from KU’s Head Office, asking for me and they were always told that I was out of station.  I had consulted an attorney who advised me to avoid any association with the airline. I had occasion to see some of the airline’s top management at IATA AGM’s which I attended on behalf of Air Mauritius, but very carefully avoided them. Eventually, they gave up trying to contact me.

Meanwhile, Nani Mital took over as the R.D. for North America from Hari Kaul and I enjoyed a good relationship with him.  We met regularly for lunch and he invited me to join a golfing group of Indians who lived in the tri-state area.  In addition, he and P.P. Singh invited me to join them in their annual Golf Outing for Cargo Agents and I was extremely pleased to get to know young PP who, at that time, was AI’s Cargo Manager at JFK.

It was during Nani’s tenure in North America that his office sent over a request to Kuwait Airways asking for free tickets for the wife of the AI Chairman - Mrs. Raghu Raj and two “dependent children”, for travel Delhi/New York/Delhi.  The Manager - USA authorized the tickets and the family traveled to New York and visited Disney World on the west coast.  Nani Mital accompanied them to the west coast and mentioned this visit during one of our lunches.  

My interest was raised because I knew that Mr. Raghu Raj had grown up children and one of his daughters was, in fact, married to the son of one of my first cousins.  At that point of time, it was this couple who had “dependent children”.  So, AI had erred in asking for free tickets for the grand children of their Chairman. When I mentioned this to Nani over an airline luncheon, he requested that I turn a blind eye.

I then asked him if AI had also “looked after” their expenses in the USA; at which point, Nani excused himself from our lunch and later called me to request that our meeting and talk “never took place”. 

Nani Mital’s stint as R.D. came to an end just about the time when Kuwait Airways and I parted company.  I was informed by the then Commercial Director of KU that they had adopted a policy under which all Regional Heads would henceforth be Kuwaiti nationals.  In a couple of my visits to Kuwait, I felt an undercurrent in the Head Office which told me that the young Kuwaitis were getting anxious to take over important assignments from expatriates like myself and it was just a matter of time, when the change would take place.

I was offered a transfer back to Kuwait as Commercial Adviser which I turned down for a number of reasons, of which primarily:

1. Both of our sons were now in American educational institutions and we did not wish to be away from them in their formative years.
2. Our previous experience of living in Kuwait was not a happy one, particularly because of their attitude towards Indians and also towards women.

I was, therefore, surprised when I received a call offering me the post of Regional Manager - Asia.  It was surprising because of their new policy of posting only Kuwaitis as Regional Heads.  Nonetheless, after considerable thought and discussion with Manju, I turned it down as we had now decided to make the USA our home.

KU gave me 8 months time before the termination of my employment and I started looking for alternative job offers.  My target date was June 31, 1986.

I will speak of this next phase of my working career in my next Post.