It146;s All About Altitude

A Marwari industrialist setting off on a wild cat adventure at the ripe age of 49 is rare. But Vijaypat Singhania is hardly your run-of the ...

A Marwari industrialist setting off on a wild cat adventure at the ripe age of 49 is rare. But Vijaypat Singhania is hardly your run-of the mill sethji. He is not just an intrepid aviator and adventurer but has a racy, writing style spiked with humour. In 1988 Singhania pitted himself against the elements and the unknown in a bid to set a record in the grand traditions of the pioneers of the aviation industry, like his hero JRD Tata. This is an engrossing account of his flight in a fragile microlight aircraft across two continents.

Singhania is no cool cardboard hero, but all too human. When he fully comprehends the dangers of the quixotic challenge he is about to undertake, part of him wants desperately to back out. But a fear of ridicule and letting down the side holds him back.

During his 22-day journey across 5000 miles from England to India, Singhania sees his worst nightmares unfolding. His engine is untried, his fuel tank and avionic equipment problematic. His radio compass works only once during the entire journey. Flying over the Alps he is blinded by a rainstorm. In the Arabian desert there is zero visibility during a thick sandstorm. Though an experienced pilot, Singhania has a lifelong phobia of flying over water since he is petrified of being eaten by sharks. To his relief he makes it across the 400-mile stretch of the Mediterranean with just one minute of fuel to spare.

As Singhania races to meet his deadline he finds that he is often held up on the ground by red tape and by officials at obscure airports keen to relieve him of some of the cash he keeps stashed in his money belt. In Crete, a cussed official refuses to allow him to takeoff insisting that the rulebooks do not mention microlights. The upside is that he cools his heels at a nudist beach.

So how did this conservatively brought up 8212; he was married at the age of 12 8212; scion of one of India8217;s oldest business house turn out to be such a maverick? His love of flying was an escape from the reality of a broken home and an unhappy childhood. His father, who managed the world8217;s second largest private collection of jade, was too absorbed in his own life. His stepmother was bitter and vindictive. Flying offered a temporary escape from the constraints and conventions of the life he was expected to lead.

The Singhania family has two strains, according to the author. Those who work diligently at expanding the family business and playboys who live life in the fast lane. The Chairman Emeritus of the Raymond Group, who in the course of his colourful career founded and wound up an airline, Safari Airways, and a courageous and respected newspaper, The Indian Post, happily seems to have emerged as the complete man inheriting both characteristics. Which explains why at the age of 67, the indomitable Singhania will attempt to break the world8217;s high altitude record for a hot air balloon this November.