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.