Flying high

Since then,he has seen the Indian aviation scene change and grow. Basrur,87,was with the Indian Airlines flight dispatch section till 1982; and till last week,he was actively associated with the industry as the chairperson of the all-India retired employees’ association. “As a radio officer,I was able to fly to every part of the country and many places abroad. My first international flight was to Lagos,which took around 15 days to reach,” he says.

As India celebrates its centenary year of aviation this year,one of his fondest collections is a commendation letter that JRD handed to him for his participation in the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India. “This was when the palace of Hari Singh was surrounded by invaders. The then home minister,Sardar Patel,had asked all private airlines to pitch in with the transportation of men and material,” he says.

The letter,now framed,finds a pride of place at the Basrur residence now. It takes note of the “conspicuously efficient manner in which you and your colleagues acquitted yourself in the difficult and hazardous task of conveying personnel and materials to and from Kashmir. The devotion to duty shown by you in this undertaking,under conditions that which were both arduous and dangerous,has been a source of gratification and pride to us.”

Basrur says JRD was a person who loved people. “He knew them by their first names,was always punctual… He was ahead of our times. As early as 1949,he told us radio officers to train in other verticals like navigation or as pilots as he thought our skills would become obsolete though it took another 20 years for those jobs to phase out.”

In comparison to the optimism then,Basrur feels a lot needs to be done. “The Indian aviation scene has a lot of potential,but it is yet to get there. We have the advantage of an excellent geographical location; we have english-speaking controllers and pilots; we have good weather all year round,but our infrastructure — especially at airports — needs to be developed further… These days,it is disappointing to see that even the pilots’ salaries are getting delayed; it did not happen in our days.”