The man who was ‘key’ in HAL’s birth

The man who was ‘key’ in HAL’s birth


In a dilapidated building in Sampangiram Nagar, off Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road, is a frail old man poring over pictures of gods and goddesses set in reverse painting on glass. The man Mysore Shankarappa Gurappa, has been at it for decades now. He may have not produced a magnum opus yet but for Bangalore this man is ‘key’ in forming what Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is now. As an intermediate student, Gurappa was a typist and typed the vital agreement between HAL's founder Seth Walchand Hirachand, His American partners and the Mysore state. My initials ‘MSG’ will be on every sheet of this document, he says. He remembers typing some 60 conditions or clauses that went on to establish an aerodrome in Bangalore that is on the verge of becoming redundant for civil aviation. The promoters of HAL were so happy that they offered him a job. Though Gurappa took it up, he quit after a few days saying the office was far off and he couldn't make it there on bicycle.
Transport was a big problem. Either he had to travel by a cart or go on cycle. It was then that HAL arranged transport for him by pooling him in a company car. Gurappa decided to continue and he was the first person HAL appointed in 1940. Recalling his first few days at HAL,Gurappa says HAL was not at the place where it is today. “We functioned from a house in Cunningham Road for a few months before shifting to Eventide Bungalow in Konena Agrahara.” He recalls working under his first boss Air Marshal Sir John Higgins.
He says the days when ‘white men’ used to tease his colleagues about the dress they wore, calling them parachutes.
Life was going smooth during his time. HAL was rapidly being built up with new aircraft being designed and made. On October 22, 1946 he had to leave as times were changing fast and HAL was hit by the World War-II woes. One fine day, he got a letter stating “services no longer required”. HAL had become redundant then.
Since then Gurappa has been glued to his first love, reverse painting on glass.