‘World more laid back, not afraid to laugh’: Air India’s 1960s booklets are pure gems

Long before there was internet on planes, there were airline-published in-flight booklets, which were a far cry even from the in-flight magazine many airlines have today. Air India’s famous and quirky in-flight reading material was called Foolishly Yours. Taking a walk down memory lane, aviation veteran Sanjiv Kapoor, who recently stepped down from the role of the Chief Executive Officer of Jet Airways, took to social media to marvel at the good old days. 

Sharing snippets from Foolishly Yours, Sanjiv Kapoor said, “Aviation humour in the JRD Tata / Bobby Kooka era of the 1960s. The world was a lot more laid back then, not afraid to have a laugh. This was a period when AI was govt-owned, incidentally. However, JRD remained Chairman and ran the airline with a free hand. What an era that was!”

One of the snippets shared by Kapoor says: “No man is a hero to his wife. This applies to our pilots and us. If asked to describe our skippers, we’d say, a cross between Gaugin and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Incidentally, this flying business is a hobby with them, their real income being all on the side. In flight our Captains have to spend a few minutes chatting to passengers. It’s considered good for public relations. But a word of warning. When you see our Captain making a bee-line for you, transfer your wife and wallet to the other side.” 

The Foolishly Yours booklets appeared in Air India flights in the 1960s. The content was written by SK Kooka, who was the former Chairman of Air India Charters. By his own admission, some of the cartoons in the booklets were not taken very well.

A snippet, that Kapoor also shared in his tweet, said: “True to the traditions of Eastern hospitality, thy Hostesses will embrace thee at destination. It helps your ego…and us…to cut our losses. Whilst you’re thanking Providence for the Heaven in your arms, she’s recovering our cutlery from your pockets.”

Kooka, in an interview with Vir Sanghvi from 1977 to India Today, had said that this cartoon created a big uproar and a lot of questions were asked about it. “Our inflight booklet ‘Foolishly Yours’ had a cartoon showing a hostess embracing a passenger and recovering stolen cutlery from his pockets. Unfortunately, the passenger wore a Gandhi cap. Once again there was a big uproar, questions were asked and the cartoon was altered so that the fellow wore a bowler hat and our guardians of morality rested satisfied,” he said. 

Kooka also spoke about how the Maharajah that became the icon of hospitality was created. He said it was necessary to create a distinct Indian identity in order to compete with the likes of Air France and Trans World Airlines. “So we expanded the Maharaja image to include "the magic carpet service" and tried to create a distinctive Indian identity for ourselves. The idea was that when you thought of Air India, you thought of the image and the Maharaja's hospitality rather than the small number of planes we had,” he said, adding that Air India was the only airline that did not have to mention its name in the ads, and the Maharajah was enough to make it clear.  

Also read: Ode to Air India mascot: Delhi's Taj Mahal Hotel launches 'The Maharaja Suite'