Page 58 - Seniors Today - January Issue
P. 58
‘We call him a Maharajah for want of a better decision. I would bet that he would stay.
description. But his blood isn’t blue. He may On the other hand, many will argue that he
look like royalty, but he isn’t royal’ is what is outdated and may not represent the 21st
SK ‘Bobby’ Kooka the Commercial Director century.
of Air-India is once known to have said. But I think that if Air-India has to
Famous for having conceived the Maharaja transform itself from a cactus to a rose,
along with Umesh Rao of JWT in 1946, the the Maharajah will help to make that
Maharajah is one of the oldest mascots in the transformation possible. Time was when
world. Kooka was later Chairman of JWT every middle-class home in India proudly
(then Hindustan Thomspon Associates) and displayed a little toy Air-India Maharajah
could watch the Maharajah and Air India in their living room cupboards along with
advertising grow in stature and popularity. other curios.
Giving up the Maharajah is an emotional Long live the King!
58
