The Gopinath you didn’t know

As a young army man, budget airline guru Capt Gopinath was in love with a pretty Muslim girl, but her parents flew down from Kuwait and broke up the romance

The Gopinath you didn't know

As a young army man, budget airline guru Capt Gopinath was in love with a pretty Muslim girl, but her parents flew down from Kuwait and broke up the romance

He narrates the story in his autobiography Simply Fly, scheduled to hit the stores on October 21, proofs of which MiD DAY got to see.

The love blossomed in Thiruvananthapuram, where he was posted as an army officer. The girl had two friends whom Gopi's friends were seeing.

Gopi didn't want to marry her, but often went out on dates with her.

Maine bhi pyar kiya: Gopinath at his house on Vittal Mallya Road pic\Vinod Kumar T

Kuwait link

Her parents, away in Kuwait, flew down when they heard about the love. They locked her up. She called Gopi and pleaded with him to get her out.

Gopi and his friends helped her escape in the middle of the night, and sent her to Bangalore to stay with one of his friends.

When her parents landed at his door with the police the next morning, he meekly revealed his girlfriend's whereabouts.
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"We were young," Gopi recalled. "I realise I was so immature."

Before merger

The title of his book was the tagline of Air Deccan, the low-cost airline he founded and ran, before it merged with Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Airlines.

"The proofs are being read," said Gopinath. "If all goes well, you will be reading my story in the third week of October." Harper Collins is the publisher.

M K Shankar, freelance journalist, is editing the book, and Vishweshwar Bhat, editor of the daily Vijaya Karnataka, is translating it into Kannada.

"I want to inspire the new generation," said Gopinath. "That's the reason I set out to write my story."

He said he offered no formula to make money, but did have some tips on how to overcome hurdles in the way of entrepreneurship.

It took a year and a half for him to complete 500 pages, and he believes the length will come down to 450 after editing.

Recorded first

He spoke on a dictaphone and an assistant transcribed it all for editing.

"I used to spend three hours a day on the dictaphone," he said. "And I did it regularly."

The story spans his childhood in picturesque Gorur, a village immortalised by the novelist Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar, and the launch of Air Deccan in March 2003.

He also describes his stints in the army, and as a farmer and aspiring politician.

"It was a nice experience to edit it," said Shankar. " It is a unique book that has lessons about business, politics and the Indian psyche."

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