On a wing and a dare

New Delhi: NAG President Girish Kaushik was in the pilot’s seat in last week’s face-off against the Jet Airways’ management.
Captains Sam Thomas and D Balaram were the focus of all eyes during the unprecedented five-day “sick-out” by Jet Airways pilots last week. They had been dismissed in July for allegedly playing an active role in the formation of the 650-member National Aviators’ Guild (NAG), so their colleagues took mass sick leave in protest from September 8.
But the real mover and shaker behind the development that grounded India’s largest airline remained mostly out of the public eye. That was 63-year-old NAG President Captain Girish Kaushik who was doing the heavy lifting in Delhi and Mumbai.
Kaushik is satisfied with the outcome. Many pilots in the union said they always expected this from him.
This is no small victory for a man who said he became a pilot because he was attracted to the uniform and the thrill of saying “Roger”, the standard acknowledgment for aviators around the world.
His ascent, however, was not easy. Training from Madras Flying Club, he failed to clear the test for his pilots’ licence the first time. Kaushik joined Indian Airlines as a pilot in October 1978 and joined Jet Airways in October 1997 — four years after Jet started its operations.
NAG is only part of Kaushik’s interests. He is also proud of his achievements as a painter. The invitation to a recent exhibition of his paintings in Bangalore read thus: “Capt Girish Kaushik comes from an artistic family that include Girish Karnad and Dinkar Kowshik of Shantiniketan. Totally self taught, he has managed to juggle his passion for flying (Jet Air) with his passion for painting which gives him plenty to do during days his feet are planted firmly on the ground.”
Kaushik also tries his hand at interior design — he claims to have designed the drawing room of his house in Mumbai. He is also a black belt in Judo and ran a training club called Madras Judo Club in 1975, where he said he trained some police officers of that time.
Clearly, Kaushik is well versed in the art of confrontation.
18/09/09 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

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Categories: Jet Airways Sep 2009