Opinion The Deccan Challenger

At the very beginning Captain Gopi,as he is widely known,writes,“this is not a how-to book”. But the story of Air Deccan,as described in the book’s 13 chapters,contain many practical life lessons for aspiring Indian entrepreneurs.

Where else could you find in such candid,gritty detail the story of a milk seller-turned-poultry farmer,silk worm rearer,motor cycle dealer,Udupi hotel owner,stock broker,irrigation equipment consultant,agriculture consultant,politician and low-cost aviation pioneer all rolled into one?

New India is buzzing with entrepreneurial energy. For every entrepreneur who makes it,there are hundreds who fail. From Captain Gopi’s story,the young and dreamy-eyed could discover a thing or two about persevering in the face of repeated failure.

The story is endearing in several places. As a young boy,Captain Gopi arrives for his admission interview for the military training school interview,wearing a new pair of shorts and a pair of earrings (at his mother’s insistence),but unshod feet.

As Captain Gopi recalls in a later newspaper interview,who could ever have imagined that a young man who rode in a bullock cart down dusty village paths could have his planes zigzag India’s cities and towns,helping milk vendors,barbers and vegetable sellers take to the skies — and not just in their imagination?

Gopi conducts that interview from his new bungalow on Bangalore’s tony Vittal Mallya Road,next-door to the snazzy ancestral mansion of rival-turned-partner billionaire Vijay Mallya. In the book,the episode where the awestruck son of a poor village teacher arrives at Mallya’s mansion for business negotiations is both humorous and insightful.

In his autobiography,culled from hundreds of hours of tape recordings,he describes his own near-demented passion as he embarks upon adventure after new adventure. A chance encounter with a village washerman convinces Gopi,by now fatigued chasing an electricity connection for his water pump,that rearing donkeys might be a brilliant alternative.

As inspiration strikes,Gopi ruminates,“why not employ donkeys to fetch water from the stream?” Instead of hiring expensive workers to physically carry pitchers to water his coconut saplings,he figures acquiring donkeys will dramatically bring down costs. And so it comes to pass that he owns eight donkeys. Several hilarious and frustrating encounters later he realises that the stubborn animals are challenging his own ingenuity. He finally gives up on taming the donkeys and sends them away.

The book chronicles in great detail the run-ins with politicians,ministers and bureaucrats as he goes about setting up a helicopter charter company and then a low-cost airline. To invite an important VVIP,such as a union minister or a chief minister,for a launch is to ensure that pre-launch preparations and permissions get smoothed out.

While hard work and fortitude are essentials in a formula for success,so also are luck and the power of networks. Gopi recounts how he repeatedly tapped his buddy network from his army days and his friends’ connections to get the wheels moving in Delhi as he rushes against time to clear the maiden flight of his airline.

The book talks of the creativity with which Air Deccan tackled challenges such as eliminating travel agents and allowing customers to directly book a flight ticket by stopping by a post office or a gas station. Innovative ideas abound. The airline paid commissions to its flight staff for food sold on flights. The “Rupee One” fares were market disruptors. Instead of spending millions of rupees on expensive advertising campaigns,Captain Gopi perfects the art of staying in the news. The media lapped up the story,he says repeatedly.

There is elation in small victories like putting together an inventive financial deal or working towards creating an alternative to the well-established,proprietary online reservation software systems which are expensive. The intriguing art of business negotiation is portrayed through parleys with Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya,conferring over a possible purchase of a stake in Air Deccan.

Gopi concedes that he was,at times,arrogant,dogmatic,argumentative,selfish and short-tempered. He regretfully says he sacrificed friendships and put his family through unnecessary hardships in his dogged pursuit of goals for Air Deccan. Writing the book was cathartic,he says.

Post the sale of his airline to Vijay Mallya,which to his later dismay caused the popular Air Deccan brand to vanish,Captain Gopi has turned entrepreneur again with his logistics venture Deccan 360. Going by this serial entrepreneur’s fondness for new exploits,Simply Fly may just be the first part of his life story.

saritha.rai@expressindia.com