Chronicle of a dream

Bangalore: Sitting on the sunny poolside deck of Captain GR Gopinath’s bungalow in the heart of the city — lovingly refurbished after he bought it in a hopelessly run down condition from the previous owners — it is a little tough to imagine him once living for months in a tent in the middle of his farm or using a bullock cart to ferry his would-be bride and her family to inspect his living arrangements.
That’s exactly the reason why Captain Gopinath equates his story with that of a New India — an India where a poor school teacher’s son from a village in Karnataka can launch one of the most capital-intensive businesses and, through it, change everything about a sector once thought of as elite and exclusive.
While Gopinath’s textbook rags-to-riches story has often been quoted as an example of what a compulsive Indian entrepreneur with more ideas than he knows what to do with can achieve, his book 'Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey' helps the reader fill in the outlines with colour.
“Too many people suggested that I write this book for me to think about it seriously,” says Gopinath while clarifying that while hewouldn’t strictly call the book an autobiography, it isn’t just the story of his launching Air Deccan, as seems to be the general assumption. “Nor is it a how-to book on entrepreneurial success,” he says. Instead, the book provides detailed glimpses into Gopinath’s early life, his years in the army, the decade he spent as a farmer and his subsequent foray into aviation. There are few literary flourishes, yet it is obvious that when Gopinath gets down to telling a story, he tells a cracking good one with characteristic single-mindedness.
14/01/10 Shrabonti Bagchi/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Deccan 360 Jan 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jan 2010, Low Cost General Jan 2010