“Never Give Up” and “Nothing’s Impossible” are what you are left with in your mind after every chapter you read of Captain Gopinath’s autobiography – “Simply Fly – a Deccan Odyssey“.

Written like an adventure journey chronicle but packed with information across various subjects, it’s a thriller of a life story that can also be called many other things – a book on entrepreneurship development, a management book, a compendium of selected historical events in India, autobiography of an Indian businessman, a rags-to-riches story & more. Above all it’s a book of hope and triumph, across all the 369 pages! 

In brings with it, insights into village life in Gorur, in Hassan district in the Indian state of Karnataka and gives some unique glimpses into the life of an NDA cadet & army personnel. As Captain Gopi, decides to get into farming it gets even more interesting, and from there on you start exploring along with Captain what all it means to be a farmer.

You will get drawn into the roller coaster ride of starting a venture… and then another. The journey was the reward for Captain Gopi and likewise so for the reader. His dabble in politics gives you interesting insights into the political landscape and dramatis personae of the early 1990s.

His helicopter venture and then Deccan Airlines has important learnings on doing business with other countries as well as with the bureaucratic government machinery in India. The book, of course, offers fantastic insights into the airlines business.

As Captain Gopinath says, his “exhilaration” lied “in building and creating”. An adventure always beckoned him.

The book is rich with quotes from Peter Drucker, Mintzberg, Einstein, Levis Thomas, Tagore, P.G. Wodehouse, Robert Frost, Bertrand Russell and others. Snippets from books of Leo Tolstoy, David Ogilvy and others helps create nice interludes and builds context to the Captain’s own stories.  

The 2020 Amazon Prime Video Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (‘Praise the brave’) was partly inspired by events from this book ‘Simply Fly’. I hear the movie is nowhere even close to the book.

Captain Gopinath is well read and that gets reflected in his engaging writing style. Like his dreams, he doesn’t let his reader go off & meander. Go & get a copy!

© Sanchayan Paul

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p.s. The book clicked here with my son Shubhayan’s helicopter and my reading pens