Waterlogged trip to Lucknow during the monsoons

That was a trip to HAL Lucknow that I will never forget. It was during the monsoon season and a colleague was accompanying me. When we boarded the Kushinagar Express at Nashik Road, we did not know what the future had in store for us. The trouble began shortly after the train left Bhopal. The train came to a standstill and no one knew the reason for the sudden holdup.

After an hour or so, the train began to roll but it was not picking up speed – it was moving as if it was doing so with reluctance. By that time we realized that the route of the train was being diverted because of waterlogging of the tracks. There had been heavy rainfall in the surrounding regions and, hence, the train would crawl to its destination.
Well – the pantry car put u its hands. There was no food, not even tea and snacks. The wayside stations were no solutions and we had to just keep waiting till a big station came up – and, when it finally came, it was Lucknow.
The scheduled time of arrival of Kushinagar Express at Lucknow was 4am, we had arrived at 8pm. Once the train stopped, my colleague and I made a beeline for the refreshment room, ordered a cup of strong tea and then a plate of bread-butter sandwich and omelet. Realizing that we would not get dinner at the Guest House, we ordered a second round of sandwich-omelet. After that, we took a cycle rickshaw to the Guest House. (to be continued …)

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Landing up at Lucknow railway station at 4am

As I have already mentioned earlier, I had to keep moving out on official duties to different places. When I was I customer services department, I had to go to Indian Air Force bases because they were our customers. Later, when I set up my own department, I had to liaise with sister divisions of HAL. These sister divisions were in Lucknow, Korwa and Hyderabad. They were a part of the accessories complex and were entrusted with the responsibility of supplying new accessories of MiG-27 aircraft and also, servicing and repairing them.
Therefore, since the MiG-27 aircraft would arrive at Nashik for overhaul, we had to remove the accessories and send them to the respective divisions for overhauling and return back to Nashik. Subsequently, these would be fitted on the aircraft during overhaul and handed back to the IAF.
My responsibility was to keep track of dispatch and receipt of these individual units and maintain a continuous follow-up with the respective divisions. And, in order to do this efficiently, I had arranged to develop a computerized system.

For this and other such development activities on computers, I was fortunate to have with me a trainee engineer who happened to be the son of one of my colleagues. The kid was smart and could anticipate my requirements and, accordingly, introduce suitable changes in the system.
Anyway, one morning, I received a phone call from my boss. The time was around 10am – and, when I entered his office, I saw him browsing through a file. He motioned to me to take a seat and, pushing aside the file, looked me in the eye and said – Ghose, you have to make a trip to Lucknow.
When? – I asked him.
Today, he said. Go to the cash section, collect some advance and take the first available train. I want you to get the updated supply status of Lucknow and fax it to me. I also want you to create a man-to-man rapport with your counterparts in Lucknow.
Yes Sir, I said and left.
I went home, told my wife about the sudden development and got a suitcase ready. Then after dinner, I left for the railway station. I did not have any reservation and, therefore, boarded the Punjab Mail. It left at 9pm and reached Jhansi by midnight. Fortunately, there was another train from Jhansi to Lucknow waiting at another platform and I boarded it. By the time I reached Lucknow, it was 4am and I was famished. I took a cycle rickshaw from the station to HAL Guest House and found it in total darkness. Somehow I woke up the guard and walked into a new world. (to be continued …)

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A whirlwind tour to AF Station Kanpur where MiG-21s were stored

It was a whirlwind tour to AF Station Kanpur where MiG-21 aircrafts used to be stored and, coming back to Kanpur was a sort of homecoming for me – I had worked here for two years.
The reason for my coming was because the Commanding Officer was facing difficulties. He had approached Air Headquarters in New Delhi and, from there, a phone call had come to our General Manger. He was a Punjabi and a bit overweight – but, still, he managed to climb the steep flight of stairs to the upper floor office in the hangar to meet my Boss.
My boss was the Wing Commander who wore a wig. He had just reached his office when the General Manager walked in. He told my boss to send someone immediately to Kanpur because a high-level Air Force delegation was supposed to come down to Nashik and the problems of MiG-21 storage aircraft in Kanpur would be in their agenda for discussion.
The General Manager wanted his rep to be in Kanpur before the team landed up in Nashik and my boss decided that the rep would be yours truly.

This was the first time that I had to move out on short notice. I managed to wrangle a reservation in the Punjab Mail through a travel agent. I was supposed to be in Kanpur for three days and, on arriving at Kanpur I booked a return journey ticket in First Class. I was No 1 in the Waiting List. Then I took a cycle rickshaw and went to the Air Force Mess.
It was a much changed Kanpur – I had left it in 1966 and had returned to it after 20-years. Obviously many of the landmarks of Chakeri and Lal Bungalow were missing.
In between my interactions with the Commanding Officer of the storage depot, I managed to contact a couple of my old friends and met them to revive a few memories.
When I came to the railway station for my journey back to Nashik, I was in for a surprise – my Wait List number was still No 1!! Therefore, I had to plead with the TTE to allow me to remain in the First Class compartment. I assured him that I would sit on my suitcase in a corner of the corridor and would not be a hindrance to other passengers.
He had pity on me and agreed. When I landed back in Nashik, I was suffering from loss of voice. The words were just not forming. I had an infection in my throat. Therefore, after reaching home I had to run to the hospital and the duty doctor prescribed a course of SP or Strepto-Penicillin. (to be continued ..)


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Temporary Duty at Bareilly Air Force Station

The bus journey from ISBT to Bareilly was a memorable one. For those not in the know, ISBT was the short firm of Inter State Bus Terminus and it was a massive affair – the time was December 1982 and the route passed through forests and dangerous terrain. There was an armed guard inside the bus and, along the route, there were policemen on horses. It was assuring because the region was notorious for dacoits. Anyway, we reached Bareilly early morning and my colleague took me to his house. Both of us were tired and fell asleep and when we woke up it was quite late. We finished a hurried breakfast – and, here also, there were chapatis with curd and pickles. It was similar to the combination that I had in Delhi – curd and pickles for breakfast even in winter is something that the north Indians relish.

Breakfast over, both of us came to the Air Force mess where I kept my suitcase. Then we went to the office of the Service Engineer. It was a single room assigned to the Service Engineers of HAL Nashik Division and HAL Koraput Division. The engineer of Koraput Division had to give coverage for the engines. He was a Bengali and my colleague introduced me to him and left to finish some unfinished work. And, the two of us spent the rest of the day taking stock of the inventory of various papers, drawings, documents that were being held in the custody of my colleague. However, my colleague did not turn up for the rest of the day. Neither did he come to office next morning. Therefore, in consultation with the Koraput service engineer, we decided to complete the handing-over taking-over formalities. He signed as ‘handed-over’ and I signed as ‘taken-over’. Then I had my lunch and took a cycle rickshaw to Bareilly railway station. I had to now proceed to Tejpur to take over that inventory as well. And, for my journey to Tejpur, I had to first reach Kolkata and from there take a flight to Tejpur. (to be continued ..)


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