BY DR. PANKAJ JINDAL, MPFC MEMBER, SON OF LATE SHRI RAM MOHAN AGRAWAL
(PIONEER MEMBER)
Dr. Pankaj Jindal
(The author is the son of Late Dr. Ram Mohan Agarwal, the founding father of the Madhya Bharat Flying Club, Indore)
Way back in late forties of the last century, the world was just emerging from the ravages of the second world war. Dr. Ram Mohan who was born on 5th July 1927 in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, was still a medical graduate. He was surrounded by English movies depicting the stories revolving around the war. The book shops too were inundated with magazines which chronicled war related issues.
In Mhow, Dr. Ram Mohan was a regular visitor to One Tree Hill – a place where war planes landed and took off. The existence of this airstrip is mentioned in the Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Hoshangabad.
In addition to an eclectic interest in war movies, war journals and airplanes, Dr. Ram Mohan became a passionate and ardent admirer of seeing and observing aircrafts from a close quarter as it was possible to visit aircraft hangars in those days.
Shortly thereafter, Dr. Ram Mohan had to visit Calcutta for a personal reason. On his way ,he purchased a magazine, Defense Science Journal at the railway book stall of Wheelers & Co. which carried an article on Capt. Biren Roy, who was not only the President of the Calcutta Flying Club but also a very prominent industrialist and an international figure.
Dr. Ram Mohan foresaw an opportunity of a future alliance and decided to meet Capt. Roy at his residence. When he expressed his desire to start a flying club in Indore, Capt. Roy showed him encouragement and readily explained to him the way to go about doing so. Besides the financial considerations, Capt. Roy was kind enough to detail the role of various government agencies which were involved in sanctioning the facilities.He also estimated an amount of Rupees 3,000 which would be needed towards the personnel expenses related to the pilot, instructor, chief engineer besides junior staff.
Around the same time, there was an air rally in Cawnpore. Raja Saheb Bhadri, a great aviator, and a man of great influence, was the key person at this rally. He had direct access to the then prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and Govind Vallabh Pant. Dr. Ram Mohan took the initiative to visit the Cawnpore air rally and met Raja Saheb. Mutual respect flourished leading to several meetings between the two regarding his dream project – a flying club in Indore! During one such meeting, Raja Saheb invited Dr. Ram Mohan to stay at his house at 5, Shah Najaf Road, Lucknow. Once Raja Saheb was convinced of Dr. Ram Mohan’s vision, he called up the then aviation minister, Shri Raj Bahadur, who was also a member of Parliament from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, and conveyed Doctor Saheb’s desire to start a flying club in Indore.
These efforts bore fruit, when a telegram from Raja Saheb Bhadri arrived, asking Dr. Ram Mohan to proceed to Delhi to meet the aviation minister on a specified date and time. The aviation minister finallyapproved Dr. Ram Mohan’s idea to start a flying club in Indore with an official letter. This was an important milestone in the journey of starting the flying club.
The next task involved getting a group of people to come together to start the flying club.Dr. Radha Mohan Agrawal, a doctor of great clinical acumen in Mhow, father of Dr. Ram Mohan owned a Morris 25HP car which was serviced by Mr. Noshirwan Godrej at Indore. Dr. Ram Mohan decided to approach Mr. Noshirwan Godrej, who in turn, introduced him to Dr. G.S. Wagle and Mr. Bhawar Singh Bhandari in the Rotary club. This way, five gentlemen came together to become the Directors – Dr. Ram Mohan Agarwal, Dr. G.S. Wagle, Mr. Bhawar Singh Bhandari, Mr. Noshirwan Godrej and a gentleman from Nancy &Co, Mr. Suman T Shah.
With these five directors on board, Dr. Ram Mohan had the Madhya Bharat Flying Club registered at Moti Bungalow, (a white building near the Indore district court, opposite Ramapurawala building). The registration was at a sum of Rupees 150-250 which was paid by Doctor Saheb. The bylaws were broadly those laid down by Uttar Pradesh Flying Club, Lucknow. These were provided by Raja Saheb Bhadri, who was instrumental in the flying club seeing the light of the day. The second milestone had thus been reached.
Next, Dr. Ram Mohan met Group Captain Harjinder Singh, who was the chief engineer at Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd. at Cawnpore and was closely associated with Raja Saheb Bhadri.
The first aircraft was a Piper. It was flown in by Capt.V. K Verma and was received on the tarmac at the Bijasan Aerodrome by Dr. Ram Mohan. Now the club had an aircraft, Piper Cub VT-DGJ, Capt. V.K.Verma, and an engineer, Mr. Motilal Sharma.
This first aircraft , Piper. was wet leased by the U.P. Government i.e. the aircraft, an engineer, an instructor and their salary were provided by the courtesy of the U.P. Government. With the arrival of an aircraft, the citizens of Indore had another reason to look up to the sky! The airport in those days was known as the Bijasan Aerodrome. Membership to the flying club was offered to the citizens and the best way to do so was by dropping fliers from the aircraft across the city!All the logistics were gradually but steadily being taken care of. Captain V.K.Verma was in command and stayed at Dr. Ram Mohan’s home. Mrs. Ram Mohan played the perfect hostess. This arrangement not only saved the lodging and boarding expenses for the pilot but also offered him utmost respect and comfort of a home. Dr. Ram Mohan’s clinic served as the office of the Madhya Bharat Flying Club, further helping in additional savings for a rented office space. Dr. Ram Mohan daily drove the pilot to the airport in his own car to save on hiring a driver.
These little steps went a long way in Dr. Ram Mohan’s dream of getting the project off the ground, with no external financial help. He was not only investing his personal resources, time and money into this project but was almost living and breathing it.
Fliers dropped from the aircraft brought in members and students. Their medical checkup was carriedout by Dr. Ram Mohan without any charge. In a short span of seven months between 30th August 1955 and 31st March 1956, 110 members were enrolled at the Madhya Bharat Flying Club.
Eventually, a second aircraft joined the fleet. This was Aeronca11A C Chief. There is an interesting story about this aircraft which readers may like to know. Bombay is known for many things, but Bombay flying club at Juhu aerodrome is definitely not the reason for its fame. On a visit to the hangar at Juhu aerodrome, Dr. Ram Mohan saw an unused Aeronca belonging to His Highness Badwani Maharaj. While he did not act upon his observation immediately, he made a mental note of it. He returned home after his visit. The Aeronca was thus out of sight but surely not out of his mind. One day, based on an intuition and for no apparent reason, Dr. Ram Mohan found himself travelling to Allahabad. He definitely did not go there to visit the Sangam! After spending the night at the railway station, he went to the hangar at the Allahabad Aerodrome. Lo and behold, he could not believe what his eyes were witnessing– there in front of him was the same Aeronca he had seen at Juhu earlier belonging to HH Badwani Maharaj!! Dr. Ram Mohan negotiated a deal with Badwani Maharaj for this aircraft for a sum of Rupees 5,000. It was flown in from Allahabad to the city of Indore by Capt. Bhojwani.
The third aircraft was a Tiger Moth which was gifted by the Bombay Flying Club President, Mr. Adi Wadia, who happened to be friend of Dr. Ram Mohan.
The fourth aircraft soon followed suit. It came from Government of India on the persuasion of Dr. Ram Mohan as it was lying unused at Begum Peth in Hyderabad. The DGCA asked Dr. Ram Mohan to collect it and use for training purpose.
While so much has been said about the contributions of Dr. Ram Mohan Agarwal, a praiseworthy mention is in order for Dr.G.S.Wagle. Doctor Saheb always acknowledged the moral support of Dr. Wagle without which he could not have achieved so much in such little time.
Though everything looked hunky dory, the finances were in red. The staff was under paid though they worked happily, fueled by the enthusiasm of their founder secretary, Dr. Ram Mohan. The typewriter and the office furniture were hired on a rent of Rupees 20 per month, but petrol had to be purchased. Most of the time, Dr. Ram Mohan spared his own car but on other occasions, the Buick car of his father was also put to use. The day to day expenses was borne by Dr. Ram Mohan. If this was not enough, he borrowed additional money from his father. While petrol, travel and such day to day expenses were personally being borne by Dr. Ram Mohan, it was much later that a paltry sum of Rs.300 per month was sanctioned by the Directors to meet the out of pocket expenses.
Running a flying club was not an easy task; it needed all kinds of resources – especially money and time. Dr. Ram Mohan’s medical practice had to suffer as he had club related commitments. He wanted it to be called a flying school but followed the convention of calling it the Madhya Bharat Flying Club. The circumstances were not always favorable, but on a positive note, a new chapter in the history of aviation of Madhya Pradesh was being written and ushered in almost single handedly by the efforts of Dr. Ram Mohan Agarwal.
To lend further credibility to the flying club, Dr. Ram Mohan approached Mr. Kailash Nath Katju – a prominent politician, holding key portfolios in the central government, one time or the other, including home, defense and law, including chief minister ship of Madhya Bharat. He requested Mr. Katju to become patron of the club, which he readily accepted.
Besides Shri Katju, the other patrons were Shri Raja Bajrang Bahadur Singh of Bhadri, His Highness Shri Tukoji Rao Holkar of Indore and His Highness Shri Lokendra Singhji Bahadur of Ratlam.
On 12th September 1955, the first flying club of Madhya Bharat was inaugurated by the then chief minister Shri Takhatmalji Jain.
Clockwise from L-R
Dr. Ram Mohan approached the chief minister for financial help, who agreed to his proposal and the club was given an annual grant of Rupees 40,000. In addition, the club also got two L.S. ambulances in working condition. Further donation came from His Highness Tukojirao Holkar in the form of a Chevrolet car and a sum of Rupees 5,000. The Maharaj of Ratlam donated an additional Rupees. 2,000.
Now the flying club had 4 aircrafts but no hangar. There was however a huge hangar which was used exclusively for two L-5 aircrafts of the state government. With the persistence of Dr. Ram Mohan, these two L-5s were shifted to accommodate the additional four aircrafts of the club as well, namely VT-CGJ, VT-CMQ and two Tiger Moths!!
Dr. Ram Mohan’s efforts were being recognized far and wide. Mr. Vaish, who was secretary of MP Chamber of Commerce and Industry, wrote to Dr. Ram Mohan and sought his help in starting yet another flying club in Gwalior. Though, Mr. Vaish had never met Dr. Ram Mohan, he came to know of the latter’s zeal through Mr. Vasant Bochare who had been transferred to Gwalior then, but acknowledged his contributions to the field of aviation.
As one can see, beginning from his visit to Calcutta and meeting with Capt.Biren Roy to the formation of the club, required an unwavering faith and vision, utmost dedication, determination, time and money. This was all a culmination of four years of untiring, relentless efforts. Dr. Ram Mohan reached the airport everyday at 8A.M. and stayed there till 11 A.M. every day. His medical practice suffered and he also could not continue his medical post graduation but he had absolutely no regrets as he was invested in pursuing a project very close to his heart.
He started another flying club at Ahmedabad. Dr. Ram Mohan also regularly participated in the Oshkosh Air show in USA and in Farnborough International Airshow in the UK. His personal library has a rare and exquisite collection of books and magazines related to aviation particularly.
For a man like Dr. Ram Mohan – who was a young doctor with humble means, but with a passion that drove him to fulfill his love for flying and single handedly creating the first flying club in the state of Madhya Pradesh; it was an incredible journey riddled with obstacles. However, as we have read so far, nothing could stand in his way of realizing his dream – not for his own personal gain or pleasure but for the society at large.
Mr.Mahajan, Mr. Vasant Bochare, Mr. Sharad Sanghi, Mrs. RamMohan, Dr. Ram Mohan Agarwal, Mr.Pradeep Joshi at the felicitation ceremony on 14th January 2017 at Indore.
The Madhya Pradesh Flying Club recognized his undying service and contribution to their organization and felicitated him on 14th January 2017 with a Lifetime Achievement Award. It was as if destiny wanted Dr. Ram Mohan to be publicly acknowledged for his single handed contribution and advancement of flying in India because the man who made this all possible, suddenly fell silent and left for his heavenly abode on 26th January 2017, barely two weeks after the felicitation ceremony.
We salute and honor Dr. RamMohan’s legacy and hope that his story continues to inspire others to follow their hearts, realize their dreams and never give up in the face of adversity.
