In the small village of Gorur, located in the interiors of Karnataka, the headmaster asked a bunch of

school kids if they were interested to write a competitive administration exam for a novel military
training school called Sainik School. An 11 year old boy raised his hand, even though he did not know
the real meaning of ‘military’, or had any idea of what he would be doing there. He only had a dream
of stepping out to the unknown. It was this adventurous trait that would go on to define him in the
future. The boy was G.R.Gopinath, the father of low cost airlines in India. Simply Fly is a remarkable
story of a village boy’s journey through life, the challenges he faced, the ups and downs he
experienced and the unbridled optimism with which he approached every event of his life.
The early parts of the book talk about his childhood, the time he spent in his native village of Gorur,
his move to the Sainik School in Bijapur and finally his experiences in the National Defence Academy
(NDA) (some of them are quite humorous!). Further, he describes his stint in the Indian Army, where
he fought the Bangladesh liberation war. After the war he was posted to some challenging locations,
one among them a picket called 4752, where the maximum summer temperature hovered around
minus two degree Celsius!
Though Army life had been wonderful for him, it was, in his own words, “too regimented and
predictable” for his liking. He was not enjoying his stint in the Army and thus one fine day he quit and
came back to his village.
Though Gopinath quit the Army, he had no idea what he would do for a living. At the same time the
government was building a dam on the Hemavathy river which would submerge his ancestral land. As
compensation, the government had provided 10 acres of land each to his father and his three
brothers. The land was largely barren, with patches of jungle and scrub forest and without any proper
access route. That is why when the Captain declared that he would start living there and set up his
farm, his father could only utter two words, “Ningenu Huccha?” (Are you mad?) Almost everybody
tried to dissuade him from taking to farming, but the Captain was adamant. He had a vision for the
farm and he would not stop until he achieved it.
His struggles to set up the farm are some of the most inspirational parts of the book (along with his
setting up of Deccan Aviation). To begin with, he only had Rs 6000 with him and needed capital to
set up the farm. But the bankers to whom he approached for loan were rude, apathetic and
indifferent. On top of that he also had to face the hostility of the nearby villagers who were not too
happy with his arrival as they were using the land earlier for grazing their cattle. There were
innumerable other roadblocks like lack of electricity, floods and drought But Captain Gopinath,
through sheer grit and determination and single minded focus on the goal, was able to cross each
one of these hurdles and went on to set up the farm successfully. He was eventually awarded the
Rolex award for Enterprise for employing eco-friendly ways of farming. Along with the farm he also
dabbled in other businesses like motorcycle dealership, opening a hotel business, working as a stock
broker and setting up an Agricultural consultancy!
Soon thereafter, Captain Gopinath took a plunge in politics and stood for elections on the ticket of
BJP. His “can-do” spirit is further evident here as he faced a lot of challenges on account of him being
a first-timer and also because BJP was pretty much unknown in the state at that time. Particularly
interesting is his duel with Deve Gowda, one of the strongest leaders of the state, where Gowda had
to eventually retreat! Though he lost the elections, it did not sadden him. As he writes, “Yes, there
was disappointment, but there was also a curios sense of exultation. I had discovered a strange
power within me”.
Gopinath soon shifted to Bangalore where he began socializing with his old Army friends. One of
them was Captain K.J Samuel. He was a freelance pilot, flying helicopters all over India. One day he
suggested to Captain Gopinath, “Why can’t we do something with the helicopters?” The seed of
Deccan aviation was planted on this day. Sometime later, with Samuel’s words in his mind and
inspired by the newspaper report of a Vietnamese girl who flew investors and aid workers in a
helicopter over Vietnam as the infrastructure in the country was totally devastated due to the war,
Gopinath thought, “If helicopters can work in Vietnam, so can they in India, where the infrastructure
is as bad!”. He decided that he will start a helicopter company and Deccan Aviation was born.
As Captain has mentioned in the book, setting up the new venture was similar to setting up his farm;
only that this was at a much bigger scale and the challenges much tougher. His ordeals with the
bureaucracy and his successful way past the labyrinth makes for a very inspiring read. Like the
instance where just to get a NOC from the government for the new company, he had to toil hard for
two long years! Gopinath’s experiences convince you that if you have the will, have decided in your
mind that no matter what, the goal has to be achieved, then no one can stop you from achieving it.
After years of relentless pursuit, hard work and sacrifices the helicopter business was firmly
established. It’s a tribute to his vision and courage that starting off with such meager resources, he
was able to establish the business in a capital intensive industry like aviation.
Upon the success of Deccan Aviation, Gopinath decided to enter the airline industry – by starting a
low cost airline, Air Deccan. If anything, this was a much bigger risk. For all its challenges, one thing
in his favor when he started Deccan Aviation was that there was very little competition; but here
there were established players and the sector was notorious for its cut throat competition. There
were also suggestions that the low cost model will not work in India. But the Captain had complete
conviction in his business model and had a novel dream – to make the common man fly. The airline
experienced exponential growth and within a very short time it even overtook the national carrier.
However, new challenges emerged which throttled the growth of Air Deccan. The challenges, among
others, included poaching of its pilots and engineers by the rival airlines and the collapse of its IT
system. Gopinath had no choice but to seek external funding, even if it meant ceding control of his
say in day-to-day running of the company. Eventually the company had to be merged to Kingfisher
airlines. The last chapter talks about his new venture – Deccan360 – which he funded by mortgaging
everything he had, his house, his shares and his stocks. He started all over again!
A couple of the things that stand out from the book are Captain Gopinath’s unflinching optimism and
his courage to follow his dreams, even though they may look implausible and impractical at first.
Couple of years ago, I read the popular book The Alchemist. If I call Simply Fly the non-fictional
counterpart of The Alchemist, it would not be wrong.