Anand Basrur is among those few radio officers who got a chance to fly with the pioneer of Indian aviation, JRD Tata, over 60 years ago. Those were the days of the Dakota aircraft, and there were radio officers instead of co-pilots sitting next to pilots and keeping in touch with ground control with the help of Morse code to help navigate the aircraft.
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.
27/02/11 Ranjani Raghavan/Indian Express
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