Thread by @j_bindra

My friend and erstwhile colleague @GovindSankar reminded me of this.
In 1994, I was elated at being accepted by the super-prestigious Tata Administrative Service, #TAS right after my #MBA . I was even more thrilled when I was chosen to be a part of the Tata Singapore Airlines JV

...to start a world class airline in India - perhaps the most exciting thing happening in Indian aviation, if not Indian industry, at that time. Very few people know that the original inspiration for Singapore Airlines was JRD Tata’s @airindiain -

– then amongst the best airlines in the world. The bureaucrats from #Singapore came to learn from him and his company on how to build a world-class airline out of Singapore.

JRD, with his magnificent generosity, shared his mantras of service, humility and operational excellence with them, and @SingaporeAir was born. Soon, it became the best airline in the world, bar none, and has kept its crown almost every year since then

In 1994, they came back to build an airline with @TataCompanies – in a sense, repaying the debt they owed to its legendary founder. The largest and most respected industrial house in India was going to join hands with the best airline in the world & create Tata Singapore Airlines

No wonder everyone, including me, was giddy with excitement. I still remember my first project job, 25 years back, as if it was almost yesterday. I flew around the country 19 cities in 14 days with two hugely experienced SIA pilots. Once they overcame their initial astonishment

...and disappointment that I was not a #Pilot , in fact could not even fly a kite, they adopted me as their own as we went around the country surveying #airports , #airfields and technical gear.

Their flying experience, the knowledge they had about aircraft, their assessments of pilots and #Dopplers and other #radars was a learning experience. Their attention to detail was terrifying -

– I spent days find out costs and specs of #wheelchairs which we would need to buy for differently-abled passengers. Along with the entire nation, I was convinced that we were building something special and expectantly looking forward to it

All of us, except two men – the then Aviation Minister, and a certain Mr. Naresh Goyal. It was an open secret that the founder of fledgling @jetairways saw Tata-SIA to be a mortal threat to his company, and that he did everything possible to stop it. Rules were changed,

...permissions were withdrawn, words taken back, as the Aviation Minister, his puppet, brazened it out.

The Tatas could not stoop to retaliate to this form of competition, they did not and would not ‘manage the environment. SIA went back to Singapore to continue building the best airline in the world, and @jetairways spread its wings and became the leading airline in the country.

Many of us, I remember, refused to fly @jetairways for years afterwards.

Now, 25 years later, the shoe is on the other foot – in fact, the first foot has ceased to exist. As Jet goes through its death throes, and Mr. Goyal licks his wounds in obscurity, their single biggest hope has been the Tata Group!

And, as @jetairways withdraws from its prized slots and premium routes, one of the airlines working overtime to fill those is @airvistara – a JV between the @TataCompanies and @SingaporeAir . Tata Singapore Airlines Version 2.0.

Time is not linear, explained our ancient sages, it is a circle. The core concept of Karma is that what goes around comes around. The axe forgets, but the tree remembers…