A Unique Flight Pattern

Not all autobiographies written by famous men and women necessarily have literary merit and I dont mean just style of writing...

Not all autobiographies written by famous men and women necessarily have literary merit and I dont mean just style of writing but also content,never mind their very real achievements. In the case of successful business people,such books often limit themselves to a how to treatise. Captain G.R. Gopinaths autobiography escapes these pitfalls,not because he is a brilliant writer,but because he has a fascinating story to tell. Those looking for steps to run a successful business will be sorely disappointed with the contents of this book written by the man who pioneered low-cost air travel in India,but those interested in an engaging story of adventure some bits seem stranger than even fiction and enterprise will enjoy the pacy read that Simply Fly is.

If anything,the title is a trifle misleading,because it suggests the book is simply about Gopinaths creation of Air Deccan. While Air Deccan may be his most celebrated business venture,its story isnt what constitutes the heart of this book. Thats because,unlike the majority of entrepreneurs in India who tend to start a venture and then stick by it for the length of their careers,Gopinath is very much in the mould of a serial entrepreneur,setting up a series of different and often unrelated businesses,inevitably leaving the old one before starting the new.

Interestingly,nothing in the first 30 years of Gopinaths life indicated such a prolific career in business. The book begins with his early life and education at a Sainik School in rural Karnataka. It moves on to his days in the National Defence Academy and the Indian Military Academy,clearly an important period in terms of building discipline (he also got the captain prefix in his brief army career) and acquiring lifelong friendships (that would later become business partnerships). The bit on his army career,particularly fighting the Bangladesh war,isnt the best part of the book.

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His story,like his life,gathers pace after his decision to quit the army following eight years of service. At that point,Gopinath had to turn to the only thing he knew other than the military farming. The 1980s was spent building a booming farming business,notably in sericulture. He also found the time to own a motorbike showroom,an Udupi hotel and run an agricultural consultancy business in Hassan (his home district).

His fame and success in the microcosm of Hassan prompted his first venture into politics in the early 1990s his second venture in 2009 doesnt really feature in the book when he fought,without success,for an MLA seat on a BJP ticket. Like through much of the book,Gopinath is candid about his failure. In politics,he says,he ended up becoming too much like other politicians,touring temples and seeking astrologers.

Probably just as well that his political venture failed because as the economy liberalised in the early 1990s,Gopinath chanced upon the idea of starting a business in running charter helicopters. He gambled on the fact that there would be a huge market as business grew out of licence raj and he was right. In starting his helicopter business,he got help from old friends from the army. Curiously enough,by the time the seeds of a low-cost airline were planted in his head by a friend,the helicopter business had found big business in politicians on various campaign trails.

Nobody gave low-cost carriers in India a chance. A former Ryanair executive hired by Gopinath,argued that with low Internet penetration and the absence of secondary airports,budget airlines were a non-starter in India. But Gopinath saw an opportunity in linking Tier II and Tier III towns that had no connectivity (he had observed many unused airstrips while running Deccan Aviation) and he did. Suddenly,Hubli,Vijayawada and Dehradun were on the aviation map.

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Of course,expansion of the airline required funds. And heres where Vijay Mallya enters the story. Gopinath writes in some detail about the fascinating exchanges (partnerships and differences) over time between the two men,with Mallya first edging out Anil Ambani to get a foot in Deccan,and then eventually outmanoeuvring Gopinath,disbanding the Deccan brand and leading Gopinath to leave the partnership altogether.

Another businessman may have retired with the money earned from the sellout to Mallya. But Gopinath,the serial entrepreneur,moved to start an end-to-end logistics company Deccan 360. At 58,he isnt anywhere near the end of his entrepreneurial journey. Who knows,he may even get a second book out of where he goes from here. At any rate,the journey so far is a brilliant tale.