Re Kanishka Crash

The day is etched in my memory even after 35 years
I was incharge of the Baggage Services unit at IGI airport
My first foreign posting to Muscat Oman as Airport Manager had just been announced
The AI staff college had organized a 5 day orientation program at Mumbai ,at that time called Bombay
I was to travel to Mumbai for the same on that fateful day by Indian airlines flight at 5 pm
I reached the airport at 3.30pm n sent up to my office on the mezzanine floor leading to the Chefair Restaurant
AN Sharma who was on shift duty in Baggage service or  the LL unit met me
His face was from as he told me that 184 had crashed
My first thought and reaction was that it was the  Indian Airlines domestic flight between Delhi n Mumbai as IC operated with that flight no also
The second thought was that my flight to BOM was cancelled because of this
Not even in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that it was  our very own AI 184
Being  a Sunday,it was  a split shift in Traffic with NO duty officer
In those days there were NO flights in the afternoon on Sundays and the first flight was AI 102 arriving just around midnight
I rang up Mr. B S Phool( now deceased) and apprised him if the situation
His instructions were to cancel my visit to Mumbai n take over the shift
A make shift desk for Passengers queries was set up at the airport
Airport authority of India requested to beef up security and passenger manifest were printed n copies made from the incoming telexes
By then it was 9.30 pm
Gradually the word spread about the tragedy n there wasx a pall of gloom all over
The first relatives of the passengers on the ill fated flight entered the airport around 9.40 pm
I was standing behind the enquiry counter
The TV teams were all there
He caught ke by my collar n literally lifted my off the ground
His first words were .in Hindi were ...you mo..... fuck....,why do u operate if you don't know how to operate flights
Then he broke down
Security n other staff helped him with water n he sat down with his head in his hands, crestfallen,trying to adjust to the reality that his beloved family members were no more
After that there was a steady stream of passenger relatives coming in,asking us to confirm n reconfirm of their relatives were on the I'll fated flights
Finally as the hectic activity gradually ebbed away around 3 am,the shock sank in n the whole body just convulsed n i also broke down as if sharing the grief of the relatives
In the thick of things n activity at the airport I did not even inform my family that I was no longer going to Mumbai
My niece saw the direct coverage on TV and saw me being abused n hauled up by the relatives
She rang up my wife n told her what had happened
I finally returned home in the wee hours of the morning,shaken n mentally,emotionally bruised with the entire incident