In 1967, Air India commissioned Salvador Dalí to design an ashtray for its first-class cabin. His fee wasn't money. He demanded a baby elephant — and Air India flew one from Bangalore to Spain.
That's the kind of airline this was.
It started with one man. JRD Tata — holder of India's first commercial pilot license — launched Tata Airlines in 1932, personally piloting the inaugural flight from Karachi to Bombay in a single-engine Puss Moth. By 1960, Air India became the first Asian airline to fly a jet aircraft: a Boeing 707 named Gauri Shankar.
But the machines weren't what made it legendary.
First-class cabins were called Maharaja Lounges — "Your Palace in the Sky."
Window panels were hand-painted with frescoes from the Ajanta Caves.
Food came from the Taj Hotels. Served on silverware.
Air hostesses wore silk sarees. In the 1950s, Americans and Europeans chose Air India's Magic Carpet service over faster competitors on the New York–London route — not for speed, but for the sheer indulgence of the experience.
JRD Tata's obsession was pathological. He checked the wording on hoardings. He monitored the pour level in a wine glass. He was once found cleaning a dirty aircraft toilet himself.
A man who cleaned toilets with his own hands built an airline that commissioned Dalí.
The government took Air India from the Tatas in 1953. JRD stayed on as chairman, but bureaucracy replaced obsession. The Maharaja Lounges disappeared. The silverware vanished. For 69 years, the airline drifted.
Then, in January 2022, the Tata Group bought Air India back. In 2023, they placed an order for 540 new aircraft — the largest in commercial aviation history.
JRD cleaned toilets to protect a standard. His successors just ordered half a thousand planes to rebuild one.
The question isn't whether the Maharaja can fly again. It's whether anyone will dare to set the bar where JRD left it.