There is a saying that in life, you are a passenger or a pilot and Pradeep Naik chose to be a fighter pilot—flying high in the air, while his wife Madhubala Naik chose to be his co-pilot for life. The Indian Air Force has been a part of both of their lives for over forty years, which they say is a big chunk they can never get over it. As far as sharing of responsibilities is concerned, Naik proudly says that his wife looked after everything, while he looked after flying—her support he says allowed him to devote maximum attention to his profession. In a candid talk with Corporate Citizen, Madhubala and Pradeep, talk about the Indian Air Force and about their capacity and their strengths, the adjustments they made, and the lessons they learnt together
Madhubala: Ours is sort of a love-cum-arranged marriage. It all started when I had gone to my cousin’s daughter’s marriage to Sharad Apte, an Air Force officer, who happened to be a good friend of Pradeep. Sharad saw me first and thought I would be a good match for his friend. Later when he asked my father, my father directly refused. Our family was from a civil background and had nobody in the armed forces, so my father was a little bit reluctant. On continuous insistence of Sharad, my father decided to go and meet Pradeep at Bidar, in Karnataka, where he was posted at that time. Pradeep’s family at that time were residing in Pune. When we went to Bidar, Pradeep kept us waiting for two days, before he met us. I complained that I didn’t want to marry such a shy guy, but Sharad assured me our meeting would happen on the third day.
I had done my BSc Home Science from LAD College at the Seminary Hills campus in Nagpur. And right beside our campus was the Indian Air Force Maintenance Command. I would see Air Force officers in their smart uniforms and once had told my friend that I would love to marry an Air Force officer.
Pradeep: We had our first meeting at home along with others. But, as there were a lot of people around, we could not even talk to each other. So the next day I asked Sharad if we could meet again. We met again and decided to get married. My parents didn’t know, so from Bidar, Madhu and her dad went to Pune to meet my parents. I couldn’t accompany them because I was not getting leave. A few days later, I took leave from duty, and we got married in Pune.
Madhubala: After retirement also he has not come to the reality that he is now on earth; he is still up in the air. I came from a civil background, where there were no late nights, no parties and my father was very strict. But after marriage in the Air Force, there was complete freedom. The first thing I learnt after marriage was…normally when any guest enters our house, we ladies stand up to welcome them—but in Air Force, Pradeep told me not to do so. I was surprised—he said that except for the President of India, ladies don’t stand up for anyone else. It took me time to get accustomed to these new manners and etiquettes. The other change was parties, which were proper sit-down dinners and I was not used to eating using fork and knife. It was very hard for me to learn, but Pradeep taught me how to do that. Though I was convent educated, I learnt to speak English fluently and confidently only after joining the Air Force crowd. As time went by, I did get accustomed to the Air Force life. One thing I taught myself was to keep my eyes and ears open, and observe—that’s how I learnt new things. There was never a time when I felt lost in Air Force. The Air Force people are very close knit, living like a joint family. Pradeep would not be there for two three months at home, but we still felt safe and cared for. There was always someone to help you.
Pradeep: In the corporate world, ladies don’t have much to do with each other, after office hour. But in Air Force, when I am a commanding officer and she is my wife, her job is to look after rest of the ladies—not only officers’ wives but there are 300-400 airmen, their wives, their welfare, their children, how the things are run. If you are the Station Commander, then your wife has that much more responsibility.
Madhubala: We had a big welfare organisation called Air Force Wives Welfare Association (AFWWA). It was a non-government organisation, which brought all women together. A lot of Airmen wives were mostly from rural areas and less educated. Some of the airmen would not even bring their wives to the Air Force base, saying she had to take care of her in-laws. Then we senior officers’ wives would encourage the airmen to bring their wives to the base.
Through AFWWA we started skilling these airmen wives in tailoring, weaving, painting and so on. With these skills, they could work and earn at home. In every Air Force station, the big problem for every women was finding a tailor. Income is needed, so whatever the ladies would make, we started selling. We took a small room and opened an outlet. This way we started generating income. Then we were permitted to bring products from other states. For example, if good sarees were available in Pune, we would bring them to our outlet, this way we started our thrift shop. The money thus collected, we started spending on women’s welfare at the Base. When we started falling short of funds for certain welfare activities, we started getting grants. Wherever, Pradeep went as Chief of the Air staff, I would also go as president of AFWWA. I would look into the schools, the local sick Quarters and even Military hospitals. For example, in Delhi we started an underprivileged school for servants’ children in some vacant buildings and even today these schools are running successfully.
“Earlier days at the base, we women would calculate how many planes took off and how many landed. If both matched, it would give us a big relief. If there was a missing number, we would assume something was wrong and if a helicopter took off, we were sure that there was some mishap. This kind of dedication of wife towards her husband kept us going ”
- Madhubala Naik
Madhubala: While living as a civilian before marriage I had lived a very strict life. But coming to the Air Force, I would say I got total freedom. When Pradeep would get his salary, he would keep it in my hand. I never had any kind of restrictions.
Pradeep: Every two years we had to change place, as I would get transferred to another Base in India. We had to pack the whole house and leave. Our children had to change their school every two years. Our neighbours would change every two years. You get used to adjust to new surroundings and new people—it takes a long time initially, but then you learn how to adjust fast. Even our children learnt how to adjust; they would study in Central School (Kendriya Vidhyalay). What supports you through this is the Air Force family. Wherever you go, somebody or the other calls you for dinner initially, somebody helps you settle down somewhere. The lady’s role keeps increasing as her husband’s rank keeps increasing. In a station, the first lady let’s say she is my wife, she is totally in charge of schooling and she has a lot of say as far as medical facilities are concerned. She has a lot of say as far as ladies complaints and welfare is concerned. So, it’s a parallel organisation, without the official ranks which we wear, and they don’t.
Madhubala: Air Force officer’s flying hours are erratic and there are no fixed timings. As a young newly married wife, I have had many such cultural shocks. For example, Pradeep would suddenly say he is leaving early morning at 5 am, when we have just returned from a party the night before at around 2 am. And then he insisted that I prepare breakfast for him and he wanted Parathas-took a lot of getting used to.
For example, while in Bidar once, I was expecting my first child and I asked Pradeep to take me, to the doctor for check-up. He told me to go on my own. I insisted that he had to be there with me at the hospital and would call him after the time was fixed. When I made the call from our neighbour’s landline phone in the afternoon, someone informed me that Pradeep was flying. I told the person to inform Pradeep that there was an emergency and I had to go to the hospital urgently. He was messaged immediately on R/T, “Land immediately, your wife is not well.” He immediately landed, came home on his noisy scooter. When I opened the door, he asked me what happened. I told him that we have to go to the hospital—he said alright we will go in the evening. Immediately he walked to his scooter and drove back to work. That is when I knew that for him flying always came first.
Pradeep: There is one thing—whenever I was airborne, she would get nervous and stressed out. She would never tell us. There was a time when I was in active fighter flying and my elder son was also in active fighter flying, she would be very nervous. I think all ladies have to go through that, which is a major part of their growing up.
“I was totally involved with my flying. Because of her support, I could devote my time to the job. I call myself lucky that I got a supporting and an adjusting wife, that is the great strength of a wife ”
- PV Naik
Madhubala: You have to be very patient and learn to be totally independent. When we decided to get married and I came to Pune, my mother-inlaw asked me three questions - Do you know driving? My answer was no and she told me to learn. Do you know banking? I said I do it sometimes. Do you know cooking? I said I am an expert in cooking. She advised me to know all these three to be independent. When I went to Bidar for the first time after marriage, it was a shock for me to know that now onwards I had to do everything and he will not be there anywhere. How to adjust depends on you—what you can do and what you cannot do, what is your capability, and how strong you are. We actually managed on our own.
Pradeep: To be frank, my role as a parent was very little. I was totally involved with my flying. She has attended all the parents-teachers meetings at our children’s schools. I would say that is the great strength of a wife. Because of her support, I could devote my time to the job. I call myself lucky that I got a supporting and an adjusting wife.
Madhubala: Air Force is part of my life, it can’t get out of me at all. I can’t ditch Air Force…No! Never! I have been 40 years with Air Force and 40 years is a large chunk of anybody’s life.
Pradeep: Sharing of responsibilities—she looked after everything else and I looked after flying.
Madhubala: We would always have an open discussion with our children on everything. In earlier days when our children were growing up, we had to live on a limited budget. My children never went to tuitions, they would in fact say that if we cannot afford why do we need tuition, we can do well without tuitions. I am happy that both my sons have done very well in their life.
Madhubala: When our elder son once while flying, had ejected. He was a fighter pilot and his engine caught fire and he had to punch out, before the aircraft crashed. He got out luckily and safely landed, somewhere in Ambala in Haryana, lying there waiting for help. One car passed by and seeing him they stopped. They helped him call home, we were staying in Delhi that time. He had totally blanked out due to the landing impact and could remember only the house number. When he rang at home, I picked up the phone. My in-laws were with us and my daughter-in-law, she was expecting her first child. He directly told me that he had ejected and he was lying in some location. I couldn’t believe and told him it is not the time to joke. He said that he is really in that situation—I went numb and didn’t know what to do. He told me to just inform his father, who would know what to do. For so many years, married to a fighter pilot, I have seen so many such incidents of others and never felt so much hurt. For the first time I realised what that feeling of pain was. Pradeep at that time was attending a conference. Somehow, I managed to pass on the message to him. He called me and told me not to worry as Ambala was not far from Delhi. This has been the most vivid memory of life, for both of us.
Earlier days at the base, we women would calculate how many planes took off and how many landed. If both matched, it would give us a big relief. If there was a missing number, we would assume something was wrong and if a helicopter took off, we were sure that there was some mishap. This kind of dedication of wife towards her husband kept us going, there were many really dramatic experiences for us.
Pradeep: I was calm when I heard about my elder son’s ejecting incidence, because I knew that when he has spoken means everything is alright. I got a chopper and went to the location. By then he was in the Military hospital. Luckily, he was safe, but he couldn’t fly fighter planes after that incidence. Because, due to ejection, sometimes the spine gets damaged, so you cannot fly fighter planes. He now flies transport aircraft. The fun part was, he was lying on the ground after ejection and this car stopped and those people helped him calling home on their mobile phone. When they asked him if he wanted any other help—he asked them if they could fetch him a cigarette to smoke. Surprisingly, they brought a cigarette for him and he smoked. One of the guys also clicked a photo of him, smoking the cigarette, lying with the parachute around and that picture went viral on the net. He had promised his wife that he had given up smoking, and he had to take a lot of flak when he returned home.
“Air Force is part of my life, it can’t get out of me at all. I can’t ditch Air Force... No! Never! I have been 40 years with Air Force and it is a large chunk of anybody’s life”
- Madhubala Naik
Madhubala: Though Pradeep has never taken us on a travel holiday as such, but his service took us all over India. Pradeep is not an outdoor person. But after he became Vice Chief and Chief of Air Force, we got to travel all over the world.
Pradeep: We are staying in Pune for six years now, after my retirement in July 2011. Pune has beautiful weather and all the advantages of a big city.
“In the corporate world lack of decisionmaking or bad decision leads to loss of profit and organisation suffers. In military bad decision making leads to death. So, the trick is to make good decision all the time. How does that happen? It comes from professional knowledge and out of experience”
Leadership qualities have to be established in you right from the word go, says Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik (Veteran), who has served as the 22nd Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. During his 42 years of service, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. After retirement also he has not come to the reality that he is now on earth, he says he is still up in the air. In an exclusive interview with Corporate Citizen, Air Chief Naik, talks about his love for flying and his journey from being a Pilot Officer to Chief of the Air Staff. His progress in service and how his zone of influence and responsibilities kept expanding
My uncle was here in Pune as a Municipal Commissioner and we had come to visit him—I must have been about 6-7 years old. We had visited the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla, which was just getting built. I fell in love with the swimming pool over there and I told my father that I must join NDA. As a result I was put into the Sainik School, in Satara—thanks to my dad. After my schooling at Sainik School, I joined NDA and after that Air Force. My schooling—till 8th standard I was in Parle Tilak Vidhyalaya, in Vile Parle, Mumbai. From 9th standard I went to Sainik School and thereafter it was an automatic process of going to NDA and then joining Air Force. During my school days itself I had developed a love for flying, so I decided to join the Indian Air Force. So, first was the swimming at NDA, then I went to Sainik School, and I was in love with flying—that’s how I joined Air Force.
I was born in Nagpur, in a place called Bijli Nagar. My father at that time was working in Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) We are two brothers—my brother who is three years younger to me, stays at present in Toronto, Canada. We spent three years in Nagpur and thereafter we kept moving around all over India, including Mumbai for some period. No one in my family was in armed forces, except one of my uncles, who was not a flyer but an engineer.
My first flying experience was in NDA, where we used to fly gliders. A glider doesn’t have an engine, it is attached to a winch with a cable. The winch pulls the glider and gives it speed to get airborne. With its wing form it used to generate lift and if you got an upward spiral—piece of thermal wind going up-it would give a gain in height for the glider, otherwise it kept descending through till it landed. That was my first experience of flying. It was enjoyable and we would look forward to it—there were two things in NDA we would look forward to, one was riding and the other was gliding.
I joined the Air Force as a Pilot Officer in June 1969, after that they have abolished that rank. We were commissioned at Yelahanka, a suburb in Bangalore. A Pilot Officer is equivalent to the Second Lieutenant of the Army and Sub Lieutenant of the Navy—all these three ranks are abolished now. They start with Flying Officer, or Lieutenant. So, on 21st June 1969 I got commissioned and the first 3-4 years was all about learning how to fly. In those years we flew the Vampire aircraft and the Hunter aircraft. Vampire aircraft was from end of Second World War period. Hunter was a famous aircraft—in the Battle of Longewala, which was one of the first major engagements in the western sector during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Hunter aircraft had done lot of damage to the Pakistani tanks. I along with six others were the first people to come on to MiG-21, the supersonic jet fighter. In 5-6 years, we had established ourselves and had considerable amount of experience. In 1975, I joined the flying instructor course, to learn how to teach, at Tambaram near Chennai, where they have a Flying Instructor’s School (FIS). After that, I got posted to the Air Force base at Bidar, in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state.
I have a very long association with Bidar. I went there as a cadet, then I came there again as an instructor. I got married in Bidar. Later my son was posted as an Air Force cadet in Bidar. Then I took over as Air Officer Commanding, at Air Force Station, Bidar, when I became Air Commodore. In 1977, we got married and our first child was born when we were in Bidar. So, once you get married, your responsibility increases—scooter, wife, then child.
I flew a lot and we moved from one place to another in India. People ask me what was your vision—as a pilot officer, you don’t have a vision, your vision is restricted to flying. Then when you become senior, you become a Flight Commander for a squadron, means you are a number two man. So, more and more responsibility, more span of control, more things of management, more leadership, came to me. As a Flight Commander you think of what the Squadron does. When you become really senior, like an Air Marshal, then you have responsibilities like what should the Air Force do, what should the country do and so on. As you progress in service, your zone of influence keeps expanding. I commanded a fighter squadron in Pathankot, 26 Squadron, had an emblem of a warrior with a shield—my squadron was known as a Warrior Squadron and I was known as Warrior One. I got about two thousand hours of flying with this squadron.
Then I went to Defence Service Staff College in Wellington, Coonoor, in Tamil Nadu, for an academic course, where they teach higher management, leadership and strategy. After that we went to Jamnagar—I had done a course called Fighter Combat Leader (FCL), a very tough combat course on the lines of Top Gun in USAF. I then got posted as a staff at the Tactical Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE), in Jamnagar. After that I took over a squadron at Pathankot. Then came to Srinagar, as an Air Commodore. Our second child was also born, three years after the first one and that time we were in Jodhpur. Being in the air force you get to see the whole country, except your own state—they never post you in your own state.
After Srinagar, we did a course at National Defence College (NDC), which is the highest course for the service officers. And then I went and took over Bidar, as an Air Commodore. After that I became Air Vice Marshal (AVM), and then Air Marshal. As an Air Marshal, first I was in Western Air Command, in Delhi—looking after the entire west and north-west of the country. WAC—was a huge command. I was the the Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO)—the number two man. Then I went and took over Central Air Command, in Allahabad as AOC-in-C. Then I came to Delhi as Vice Chief of Air Staff and then became Chief of Air Staff, in July 2009 till 2011.
“In these modern days, what you need is a scholar warrior and not a guy who only thinks on limited channels. He has to know history, he has to know humanities, know theory of management”
Leadership qualities have to be established in you right from the word go— because men are under you and you are never alone. You are looking after ten people, which then goes to hundred and then over thousand. Then you develop a lot of managerial skills, then you start thinking of strategy and tactics. And you make policies sometimes, when you are responsible for lot of changes. When you are at the top, you are responsible for the whole thing. You are responsible for the mission—mission of the Air Force is to guard the country against threats, arising through the medium of air and space. That is the chief responsibility.
These core values are applicable in any field. In the Air Force, I was the one who set out these three core values. The mission is your task and achieving excellence in your mission—what the government has given you, what they want you to do. Standard and sub-standard performance is not acceptable— you should always strive for excellence. These core values are emphasised here not at the cost of integrity. Keep the integrity intact—no corruption, no back-stabbing, and no shortcuts—that is what integrity means. Integrity means practising what you preach. Achieve your mission through hard work, professional knowledge and leadership qualities, but not at the cost of integrity. Integrity is mandatory in achieving your goals.
Professional knowledge: The basic quality that a leader must have is professional knowledge. In any field, you cannot do without professional knowledge. You have to be top in professional knowledge.
Decision-making: In the corporate world lack of decision-making or bad decision leads to loss of profit and organisation suffers. In military bad decision-making leads to death. So, the trick is to make good decision all the time. How does that happen? It comes from professional knowledge and out of experience. There is no substitute for experience. A young person cannot have the same grasp as an experienced person.
Time management: It has to do with delegation of duties also, because bad time management leads to bad decision making and it leads to stress. And lot of stress means your value is zero. Plus people end up in a syndrome called ‘Zero Error Syndrome’, which means you are so scared that you don’t trust anybody and end up doing everything yourself. This is why everything suffers—you should avoid getting into Zero Error Syndrome.
Courage: It is very important in the military. You have physical courage and you have moral courage. Physical courage, you don’t know whether you have it or not. For example if you are travelling in a bus and you see four boys harassing a girl, and they are strong and are armed. Do you have the courage to tell them to not to do what they are doing, whatever the consequences may be. You know the consequences are going to be bad. That is where you need physical courage to do that. The other is moral—means the courage of your conviction. The courage to stand by what you think is right. And Moral courage can be taught and learnt. Moral courage is more important as a top leader.
Delegation: Is another mandatory quality for a leader, which is also very tricky at times. When you delegate, you must not forget that responsibility is still yours. So, here you have a typical case of our bureaucracy—authority without responsibility. They have been delegated some job, they establish their authority and they exercise their authority, but responsibility is on citizens.
Then there are many other leadership qualities like discipline, tact, honesty, integrity, sense of humour and loyalty. Tact means, diffusing of situation— when to say what and to whom and when not to say anything at all. Sense of Humour—if a leader has sense of humour, half of his job is done. By honesty I don’t mean only money, there are many other things like honest advice and honest opinion.
Great leader, Field Marshal Manekshaw, was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He would give talks on leadership to various forums and he would describe his own experiences of the 1971 war and how he stood up against Indira Gandhi, how he took time to develop all his approaches, before he actually committed the country to war. He used to always insist that in the 21st century leadership will remain the same, qualities remain the same, only thing you need is to adapt yourself to the 21st century.
My opinion is slightly different, I feel that in the 21st century, there are certain major changes that have happened, which need to be catered for by a leader. Firstly, talking about military leadership, the nature of warfare has changed. Fair and honest war, that is all gone now. Preferably you would like to stab the enemy from the back, when he is not looking, so that there is maximum damage. Even later, as far as Second World War is concerned, the war aims used to be clear, we used to fight for borders, capture territory and all such things.
Nowadays, aims are not that clear, it is grey and not black and white. There are hardly any border wars, hardly any capture of territory, because world opinion comes in and stops those wars. The enemy in the olden days use to be well defined, but nowadays you don’t know who the enemy is. He may be sitting next to you in the Naxal region, in the North-East India or in Kashmir. Then how to fight these wars? The military is trained for maximum damage—one bullet-one enemy. In these situations, maximum force is not to be applied, in fact, principle of minimum force is required in terms of these wars, which are less than war situation. So, the nature of war has changed and nature of enemy has changed.
Military, by and large is used to an hierarchical structure—you have platoon, battalion, brigade, division, corps, and you have an army and accordingly Major General, followed by General. Now these enemies of yours, have a flat organisation and not a hierarchal structure. In the hierarchal structure decisions take time. With the enemy, decision are taken on mobile phones, the leader is of a group of 12-13 people, between him and other there are other small groups. He can approach his top leader at the press of a button. They do not use long supply chain, they use commercially off-the-shelf material. So, your leader in the army today has to be aware of these things, he has to be aware of the social geography. Like, what is the social influence in that region? What is the geographical distribution of the social influence? Whether you are in Kashmir or North-East or Naxal areas, there is a difference in treating them.
Power of the social media, technology these are somethings old time leaders don’t know that it has overtaken so many things. So, a leader must be able to adapt to technology and must ensure that his people also adapt. We are all used to reporting to work on time—if you are delayed by a minute, then you are late. Now with the technological advance, you can work from home—flexible time is used by all corporates today. So, a leader must know all these things and therefore leadership qualities need to change as per time.
India has the dubious distinction of being the largest importer of defence items in the world. With our population, the amount of manpower and trade, technological skills, we should be able to manufacture most of these things here in India. This ‘Make in India’ concept is something I believe in. But, it has to be followed up with a lot of effort because over 50 years we have done nothing. We spent money on this DRDO, which in my opinion is a defunct organisation. Except for the missiles, where we have been very successful, we have not been able to produce anything for defence. Because of the licence raj and other reasons, the private sector has also not played the ball. They are afraid to put the money, because they don’t have a firm commitment from the Government, but I am told it is changing slowly. With our size, with our population, with our economy, we should be able to produce defence items. We haven’t been able to produce a gun, and army has not had artillery guns for such a long time. Now slowly things are improving, but like I always say, “India is like a bell-jar, wherein you pour 90ml of water, you will see nothing. Only after you pour one litre, it will be somewhat visible. So, that is India.” With this diversity and being a democracy, everyone has to have their say—it is very difficult to make decision in a country like ours. We should be proud that we live in a country which is so diverse—it is a wonder to know how we survived for so long.
It is good that they have starting recruiting women in armed forces, especially Air Force. We must observe them as to how they cope. Women in combat in army and navy are different from women as fighter pilots in Air Force. Country like the US, had women as fighter pilots for long time. Now they are reaching a conclusion that they have to rethink about it. We don’t want to do that, we want to give them full chance and check if they are able to cope with everything. People feel that going alone, they may not be able to cope with extreme stress. They are already in a multiple crew environment. So, we want to see how these girls cope and if it is good then why not. But the other question is, when you cross the border—fighter planes are expected to cross the border—if one of them ejects and lands in enemy territory, then what will happen to her. We have to think of that also—our culture is different. That is a question you have to handle. There is a hesitation, whether they will be able to cope in combat roles. In other branches, in Air Force, at present there are over 800 women and some are married to air force pilots. There are women helicopter pilots, transport pilots, engineers, there are ATC controllers. So, they are all over in the Air Force.
“Leadership qualities have to be established in you right from the word go—because men are under you and you are never alone. When you are at the top, you are responsible for the whole thing”
In these modern days, what you need is a scholar warrior and not a guy who only thinks on limited channels. He has to know history, he has to know humanities, know theory of management. Definitely all round education is very important, not only after retirement but during the career itself.
By Rajesh Rao
