1. Please tell us a bit about you.

I tend to accentuate the positive and gloss over irritants. It helps me to be a happy-go-lucky type of guy. Most times I am optimistic of where our society and country is going, despite the harsh ground realities. If you cannot dream of good times ahead, then there is very little to aspire.

I enjoy the creative aspects of utilizing technology to come up with solutions. In professional life, I am a go-getter. Will do whatever it takes (legally and morally) to deliver on time, with quality and within budget. In personal life, I enjoy travel, dinner-dance parties and movies, preferably with family in tow.

2. How & when did you decide to join the Indian Air Force? Where did you get trained?

In my third year at College of Engineering, TVM, I got selected to the Navy, but declined as I was not sure of a military career. During my final year, I met a college senior who came to the hostel in his Army uniform. I think I fell in love with the uniform. The first ad I saw in the newspaper after that was for the IAF and applied for it. My dad had wanted me to go to US for MBA. So when the letter came from the Service Selection Board, he threw it into the waste bin. Fortunately, my mother told me about it and I could retrieve the crumbled letter from the yard before it was burnt.

Mysore based Service Selection Board was staffed with some great officers and men, smart and inspiring. The fact that less than 10% of each batch cleared this round triggered my fighting skills (we are evaluated for aptitude, officer calibre, leadership, physical fitness, psychological strength, team spirit, communication skills, etc) and I was selected. In Jan 1979, as an Engineering graduate, I reported at the Air Force Technical College, Bangalore, in the rank and pay of a Pilot Officer, for one and a half years of training, mainly in Avionics, AF Law, Administration, Weapons and Officer / Leadership training apart from the Social etiquette followed in the military.

3. How thrilling was life in the Indian Air Force? Could you share any interesting anecdote with us, please?

My first posting was to a Mig 21 fighter squadron. After 3 years, I moved to state-of-the-art Automated Air Defence Systems dealing with Integrated Computers and Radars. In 20 years, I have had some 12 postings and worked in places ranging from Jammu to TVM and Shillong to Jodhpur. Never a dull moment. Enough interesting anecdotes to fill a book. Let me list out a few.

As a young officer, it is a heady experience to be a leader to 100 plus Warrant Officers, SNCOs and men as the Engineering Officer of a fighter squadron. Your men-management skills ramp us very fast, when you realize that they will put their lives on the line for you, if you put their interests ahead of yours. An Engineering Officer has a lot of power and responsibility in a fighter squadron, especially as the majority of the pilots are more involved with improving their flying and combat skills and have very little administrative role. Flying in a fighter-trainer aircraft and experiencing 7.5 G during the maneuvers in a 1 vs 1 combat sortie was exhilarating and educative. Up above, with the aircraft doing steep dives and climbs and rolls, all you see are clouds and blue sky. You need to look at the instrument panel to know whether the earth is down or up. After this, I made it a rule in my squadron that aircrafts flown by young / rookie pilots will need to have all instruments working, although there was leeway in declaring aircrafts as serviceable even when some instruments (which give duplicate information) are unserviceable.

On another occasion, my squadron was entrusted with the task of testing the latest Air-to-Air missiles that was integrated with Mig-21, during an Air Range deployment. When successive launches failed, I was called in by the CO to give it a last shot. I read through the manuals late into the night to identify what it was that the experienced Armament officers had missed. I tried a new approach and it worked.

Once during a near war situation, being on duty in a Command and Control Center was electrifying when we picked up enemy aircrafts crossing the border. It turned out to be a false alarm / ruse.

My experience with the Air Defence Environment involved integrating the ruggedized computer with mobile radars and networking it with the rest of the Air Defence Systems in the region and handing over the entire system to the Air Force unit after testing. This job was challenging in every aspect - technology, transportation by road / rail, end-customer handling skills, fatigue / exhaustion of the men, long periods of separation from the family, minimal resources at border locations, etc. As Detachment Commander, you tend to lay down the law - Courts of Inquiry, Charge Trials and meting out punishment, etc. Sometimes luck helps - like the time when the driver of a tractor trailer, with a vital piece of Air Defence equipment, failed to put wheel blocks when taking a break on a mountain road. He decided that Parking and Hand brake would suffice. The vehicle jumped the hand break and rolled to the edge of the road where fortunately it got stuck in the mud. On another occasion, I had to personally ensure that a Governor's car convoy did not cross a narrow bridge till my costly and sensitive Antenna vehicle had crossed it, despite the local police escort threats.

On the personal side, I must have pulled rank a few times. First time, when a Kerala University clerk took his time in giving the degree certificate which had to be presented to the AF during the training period. Walked into the VC's office, proudly announced that I was a Pilot Officer and got the bemused VC to get the certificate expedited. On another occasion, a Delhi trader cheated my wife in a purchase and when we went to return the item, he got the local thugs to threaten us. Pulled the cool fauji act of coming back later with my men to get him to rectify the deficiency. It worked. During the Mandal agitation in UP, I got news that one of my trucks was blocked by the agitators. Going by the rule, as the Officiating Station Security Officer, I went with an armed platoon and got the truck back. Did a flag march in the area to ensure we were not troubled in future. I like to drive, so most of my posting movements were done by car. I have driven the length and breadth of the country, at times doing more than 600 kilometers in one day on the mostly pot-filled highways of two decades ago. On a drive from Kharagpur to Jodhpur with my family, we were stopped by armed Naxalites. The truck driver in front of us was being thrashed by them. I rolled down the window, smiled cheerfully and said that I was a fauji. They looked at my wife, 2 young kids at the back seat of my Maruti van, consulted among themselves and then waved us through. Whew! that was close.

4. When did you decide upon migrating to the US?

Early on, despite my love for the military way of life, I had decided to take pre-mature retirement (PR). The initial enthusiasm for the uniform had waned. The military was steadily losing out in status as compared to bureaucrats and police. Our promotions were slow and highly pyramidical. Then again within the IAF, the Engineers had a glass ceiling for most command positions and a hard ceiling in the top ranks of the hierarchy. Pilots dominated most positions even where flying was not involved. On the family front, the children were growing and good schools in remote areas were virtually non-existent.

But I had benefited from 2 aspects of the military. The facility to buy a flat at a reasonable price through the Air Force Naval Housing Board and a shot at attending an IIT for MTech (a tough exam followed by an interview by the Professors). This gave me the confidence of doing well in a life after PR. My experience with computers in the IAF gave me a deep knowledge of systems and firmware. My MTech was in Systems Engineering with a highly challenging project developing a Networking Protocol specification language compiler. I had done my MBA (IGNOU) also during this time with a focus on starting an Internet commerce portal. Once I left the AF, I realized that I did not have the risk taking appetite for starting my own venture (wife without a job and kids going to a costly school), so I joined a Software company. After a year, I was head hunted to be the CTO of a start up at a very high salary and the challenging task of building a team; designing, developing and deploying a travel portal. The portal started transactions in a few months. Working late evenings, I was also able to roll out the WAP enabled version of the portal - one of the first sites to go mobile in the country.

During this time, I had seen a small ad in the local newspaper about a US based company looking for consultants. What attracted me was the address. It was based in a town where my brother-in-law was living. As a joke, I had replied to it, when my wife also said that it would be nice to visit them. They interviewed me over the phone and hired me on the spot. Since I was getting paid well and had a good life in Bangalore with my sons going to an International School, I was in a dilemma. But this turn of events brought out the explorer in me. Why not? A tenure abroad would not hurt. What I enjoyed most was getting rid of the stuff that we had accumulated over the years and starting life all over again with 8 suitcases.

5. After weighing all pros and cons, does civilian life excite you as much as life in the armed forces?

Unlike the Army, Air Force folks are used to a less regimental life. You deal with your men as colleagues mostly, as IAF is a technology intensive organization and you have highly educated and skilled subordinates. IAF Officers mostly have civilians as orderlies or use the family living in the servant quarters to do your domestic chores as a quid pro quo. So transition to civil life is fairly easy. On the professional front, overall there is greater satisfaction in civil life due to the opportunity to work with the latest technology and different domains.

But it is in the social life aspects where armed forces have an edge. While in service, evenings are taken up with games, parties and club / mess life. Living in secluded stations, virtually cut off from civil life, you develop close bonding with other families living there. The ladies and children have their own social activities and you come to depend on each other. This leads to great camaraderie and support systems with people who may be from other states / cultures.

After having been a civilian now for the past 13+ years (of which almost 12 has been in USA), I am still not sure which is the better life. Maybe, if the service disparities were reduced, I might have continued with the IAF. But then I look at the opportunities that living abroad had given my children and even allowed my wife to develop a career of her own, and I think I got the best of both worlds.

6. What activities keep you occupied in your leisure time?

Unlike India, the opportunities for recreation in US are wide and varied. Since work is hectic, almost everyone looks forward to weekends. With skilled labour cost and service charges high, most home improvements and modification has to be done by you. NRI's are clannish and great party throwers, so there is always something going on most Fridays and Saturdays (Mallu group, Bollywood dance group, Church group, College alumni, Close friends, Neighbours, etc.). USA has great roads and natural beauty, so travel to tourist spots over long weekends is common. Americans tend to be religious about work-life balance and slowly you also get to imbibe it. Holiday travel within US and abroad is high up on my list of leisure activities. Despite the yearly trip to India (and quaffing beer at the Army Club / RSI), we manage to visit other countries (20+ at last count). This year we have already done India and Sri Lanka. Next week, we are heading out to Canada for trekking in the Rocky Mountains and attending the wedding of an Air Force colleague's son. In September, I am trekking up Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) along with a school friend. I am also a Board Member of the Indo American Association of Delaware and we organize IndiaFest every year with cultural events, bazaar, food mela, etc. With kids having grown up, we find there is more time (and money) to start new hobbies. Last month, I had attended a couple of movie / documentary production workshops by Shyam Benegal and Preeya Nair. Golf and Tennis are some games related activities.

7. Would you like to convey a message to our readers?

We came to US at a time (Oct 2000) when the tech bubble had burst. I was blissfully unaware of the seriousness of the situation until I finished my first project in about 5 months. I had trouble getting another project and was on the bench for a month. Fortunately, another company hired me but again lack of funds led to a second lay off. For a military guy, the concept of losing a job was alien. This is where family support and strong spiritual ties come into play. The faith based optimism of the wife and the delayed results of an earlier interview helped now. Within a month, I joined a Fortune 100 company, which gave me the stability required to settle down in a foreign land.

It is easy to give up when catastrophe strikes you one after another. Remember you are just another person with a similar problem and are not singled out by fate. Strive harder on such occasions. Humour helps, especially, if you can learn to laugh at yourself. When you do well, it is important to give back to the community. Take time off to work in a charitable cause or group. You may not get a direct return, but what goes around comes around. As Nipun Mehta, founder of ServiceSpace.org said,” In a world moving beyond the speed of thought, remember the importance of traveling at the speed of thoughtfulness."

Life is to be lived. Whenever you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you will dance.

Source - NRI Matters