It was sometime in the summer of 1980 when as a Flying Officer, I was on an operational detachment at Srinagar. The Air Chief decided to come visiting the station – and when the Chief comes calling, the young make themselves scarce! The traditional evening Officers’ Mess function saw the young ones cloistered in the bar, away from the ante room where the main reception was going on. The Chief doesn’t come to the bar, and we were ‘safe’,– so we thought, till in walked Air Chief Marshal Idris Latif and a very radiant Mrs Bilkees Latif and startled us ‘elbow benders.’ The couple stayed for around ten minutes but that was the remembrance of a lifetime! Down to earth, the couple put us, awestruck youngsters, at ease with their relaxed talk and down to earth demeanour.
Then Sqn Ldr Idris Latif as CO No.4 Squadron with other pilots at Air Force Station, Poona.
The ‘friendly, no-airs’ attitude of the Latif couple, despite their position in society and the IAF hierarchy, is what stands out in the numerous testimonials that form the book ‘Idris&BilkeesLatif: The Fragrance Lingers On,’ edited by UshiKak. The couple enriched the lives of so many, from Shri Hamid Ansari of the Foreign Service who met him as the Chief of Protocol (and who rose to be India’s Vice President) to a Flt Lt’s wife who was invited for a cup of coffee “…to the last house down the road” by a stranger “… who had the serenity of a glowing full moon on a calm night”, the young lass least realising that she was the wife of Air Commodore Latif, the Air Officer Commanding, who had dropped-in to say hello to the youngest bride at Air Force Station Poona !
As Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Latif with Air Marshal ‘Timky’ Brar
Air Chief Marshal Latif was a man who wore many hats in his lifetime, as so did BilkeesLatif. The book is accordingly divided in six segments, each dealing with a particular facet of the couple’s life. So, from accounts and remembrances about their life in the Air Force (more about this a little later) the book moves to the years spent by the Chief as the Governor of Maharashtra where the couple involved themselves with the common man. The Chief, as Mr Julio Ribeiro, the then Commissioner of Mumbai police puts it, was deeply involved in the rehabilitation of riot victims and the re-building of communities. Mrs Latif was not far behind and formed SHED – ‘Society for Human and Environmental Development’ : to serve the youth and women living in the slums, especially in Dharavi. She put her position of the first lady of Maharashtra to noble effect by interacting with different government ministries and organisations to advance programmes for health and hygiene and detection, prevention of cancer as also for communal harmony amongst communities. Her work in Dharavi earned her a Padma Shrifrom the President of India.
Air Chief Marshal Latif with then President of India, NeelamSanjiva Reddy.
The Latif’s took their charm and experience to Paris when the Air Chief was later appointed as Ambassador to France, perhaps the only instance till date of a retired service chief being sent as the head of a diplomatic mission of a major nation. But all this was a culmination of his scintillating career in the IAF right from his young days. As Air Chief Marshal AY Tipnis recounts in his tribute, he heard the name ‘Latif’ when he was just 10 years old – his elder brother was a cadet in the Joint Services Wing who waxed eloquent about a Sqn Ldr Latif every time he came on leave – his close interaction with the cadets, his motivational talks and above all, his vision of an emerging India.
Air Chief Marshal Krishnaswamy remembers Air Chief Latif’s modesty when he truthfully admitted in a briefing that he needed to be ‘educated’ on the specialist equipment his squadron was using –he calls it “an expression of trust.”
From flying in the Burma campaign in World War II to being in pivotal positions of command, Air Chief Latif had seen it all, but it was the modernisation that he brought into the IAF that makes him stand out. He was instrumental in inducting the Jaguar and preparing the way for induction of the Mirage2000, aircraft that are the mainstays of the IAF even now.
Air Chief Marshal Latif with the King of Bhutan while on a State visit
Air Marshal BD Jayal narrates Air Chief Latif’s forward thinking as he writes that “His professionalism, planning foresight, humility, and most of all, his ability to make every member of the team feel special made his leadership style unique.” AVM KapilKak reminisces how he witnessed first-hand at Poona, “…..his unique alchemy: the pinnacle of professionalism, unimpeachable integrity, unfailing pursuit of excellence, …..and most of all empathy, particularly towards personnel below officers rank and civilian.”
And a steadfast partner in the life of a no-nonsense Air Chief Marshal Latif was Bilkees, the social activist, a personification of Indian graciousness and charm and a wife wedded to the IAF. The embodiment of humility, charisma and professionalism in the Latif couple is brought out vividly in Ushi Kak’s collection of reminiscences by people, from diverse walks of life and social strata, whose lives were enriched by them – old black and white photographs of their early life, some in sepia, add to the aura of the couple.
‘Idris & Bilkees Latif: The Fragrance Lingers On,’ is delightful reading for aficionados of the Indian Air Force and for those who wonder whether there can be a melange of the grace of royalty and commitment of a social worker, an amalgam of power and humility and a blend of these two in these times.
Air Vice Marshal ManmohanBahadur VM (retd).
Published by : KW Publishers Pvt Ltd
New Delhi
198 pages
Rs 1980.00
www.kwpub.com