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Idris & Bilkees Latif "The Fragrance Lingers On" Editor Ushi Kak KW Publishers Pvt Ltd., New Delhi ISBN : 978-93-87324-85-5
It was sometime in the summer of 1980 when as a Flying Officer, I was on an operational detachment at Srinagar. The Air Chief decided to come visiting the station - and when the Chief comes calling, the young make themselves scarce! The traditional evening Officers' Mess function saw the young ones cloistered in the bar, away from the ante room where the main reception was going on. The Chiefdoesn't come to the bar, and we were 'safe', - so we thought, till in walked Air Chief Marshal Idris Latif and a very radiant Mrs Bilkees Latif and startled us 'elbow benders.' The couple stayed for around ten minutes but that was the remembrance ofa lifetime! Down to earth, the couple put us, awestruck youngsters, at ease with their relaxed talk and down to earth demeanour.
The 'friendly, no-airs' attitude of the Latif couple, despite their position in society and the IAF hierarchy, is what stands out in the numerous testimonials that form the book 'Idris & Bilkees Latif: The Fragrance Lingers On, ' edited by Ushi Kak. The couple enriched the lives of so many, from Shri Hamid Ansari of the Foreign Service who met him as the Chief of Protocol (and who rose to be India's Vice President) to a Flt Lt's wife who was invited...