The loss of a friend in adulthood has many meanings. It is the loss of someone with whom you had shared your life, thoughts and activities. We often have friends of our student days whom we hardly meet or speak for years.

 In 2017, I had met Guruprasad Mohapatra nearly thirty-five years after we had parted ways. We had been together in our college years; he had then gone to Delhi and then joined the administrative services.

I had got snippets of his good work when visiting Gujarat, like the Sabarmati riverfront and the Kankaria lakefront and heritage promotion. Perhaps his best achievement was during his stint as the Municipal Commissioner of Surat, where he was credited for converting the city into one of the models of urban governance.Our common friend Deboo Patnaik had told me that Guru was now the Chairman of the Airport Authority of India, and that he could help in getting Bijubabu’s old Dakota from the Kolkata Airport.

Not wanting to let the chance go, both of us went to see him on his next home visit and met him at his house in Sahidnagar. I was meeting him after so many years; but we picked up a conversation as if it had just ended a few months before. Like with many other friends, we shared common memories and experiences.

I still remember him cycling down to my place from his house, taking the small path near the railway lines. He was enthused by the idea of getting the aircraft to Bhubaneswar and immediately  rang up the authorities at the Netaji Subash Bose  International Airport and told them that I would be visiting to inspect the plane and that all help should be rendered.

  I was in Kolkata at the first instance, having informed him earlier of my trip. When I got down from the aircraft, I was surprised to see two AAI officials near the step ladder who identified themselves and told me that a jeep was ready to take me to the isolation bay where the craft was parked.  When we reached the spot, I found that the old Dakota was amidst a thick pool of water, with a lot of vegetation all around and it was difficult to reach it.

I took a good three hours to clear a path to the craft. In the next six months, Guru made sincere efforts to get the Dakota to Bhubaneswar. He repeatedly wrote letters to the Government of Odisha asking them to take the plane.

He was willing to waive all charges and had also agreed to allot a special place in front of the Biju Patnaik International Airport at Bhubaneswar. In fact he had told me that the AAI would also bear the cost of transporting the craft to Bhubaneswar if need be.

He was quite disappointed when no proper response came from the powers that be at Bhubaneswar. In fact, just a few weeks before his term as the Chairman of the AAI was to be over, he told me that the aircraft would soon be scrapped.   

Another instance that I recollect which is an indicator of his high level of administrative  acumen is when I complained to him about the high rates being charged by the vendors for tea, coffee and snacks inside the airports. I told him that a cup of tea or coffee was Rs 100 and even the snacks were overpriced.  He explained that the high rentals charged by the AAI forced the vendors to keep the prices high.

I explained to him that the vendors would certainly sell many more cups if the prices were decent. He told me to write to him and drop suggestions in the various suggestions boxes kept in the airports. 

For the next few months, whenever I would take a flight, I would fill up the suggestion form and made many others do so too. I also sent many mails. One fine day, he rang me up and told me that the AAI was setting up stalls in 15 of the airports managed by them where tea and coffee would be served for Rs 20 and Rs 30 respectively.

A few weeks later I found such a stall at the Pune airport and in later days in many other airports. I took photos and sent it to him, thanking him for his good work.

 I think it will be fitting tribute to him if the Dakota is got from the Kolkata Airport and placed at the Biju Patnaik International at Bhubaneswar. Is the Odisha Chief Minister listening?

(Guruprasad Mohapatra, a Gujarat-cadre IAS officer from Odisha, passed away on June 19)