Captain Gopinath speaking

Last week I had the privilege to hear Capt Gopinath of Air Deccan speak in person. Our organization had invited him to speak on innovation. I had seen couple of TV interviews earlier; I was impressed with his simplicity and analytical ability and was looking forward to hear him. The auditorium was overflowing with people.

Capt. Arrived 5 mins late, there were the inevitable jokes with comparison with Air Deccan. But once he started, people were captivated by him. He had a pretty good career in army but soon he quit his job to start of as a farmer on barren land with just Rs 6000/. He told us how he doggedly pursued to make his dream come true. He talked of his innovation in making the barren land start yielding organically when everybody was after the chemical fertilizers. How got the loan on the literally useless land. He went on to become a successful silk farmer. He was recognized by Rolex Company for it.

He then went on to start Deccan aviation a helicopter company a first in India. He started of from nothing again. He persuaded a Japanese company to provide him a helicopter to start of with. The Japanese had hesitated to sell him the helicopter because of political instability, but he exploited the instability and the subsequent elections to expand. He could also grab the opportunity because the chief ministers of states were competing for investments. He also did not forget to tell us that. He did not pay single paisa as bribe to get the license, but he did not get give up for 3 years. I missed the Air Deccan part.

Overall, the take away was, you can innovate in small and every thing you do. Be it farming, marketing or selling yourself or the big ideas, but most important thing was not to give up. He often quoted Einstein who said something like “I am no different from others, but only I stay on the problem longer than others do”.

One important think he told us was instead of complaining about politicians and doing nothing, take it as given and work around it. Most politicians are guys who have come up from the rough and tough world. People who do not have anything else (other profession) get into politics. They have come from the world of survival of fittest literally. So let us take it as reality and work with it. I personally felt it was a very relevant message. We literate people have become arm chair commentators bitching, whining and complaining but doing nothing.

Capt. Gopinath as a person is a likeable man common man of RK Laxman who also is his logo. He resembles him. He is simple, clever, a good analyst, a person who can express his views in a simple clear way others can easily relate to. He often related to the small innovations he did as went on. This reinforced the message very clearly.

What do you care what other people think? by Richard Feynman

Got to read Feynman after a very long time. This book is more of his love life and challenger shuttle disaster investigation. He is much older but the same inquisitiveness is there. He writes about his love. He married his love despite knowing that it was a matter of time she died. She did pass away soon. It nice to know he was a wonderful human.

One thing that stuck his the way his father taught him when he was young. The key was making him (Feynman) learn ‘why’ instead of just the description, names and mugging. I Guess it is never too young to start teaching.

Greater part of the book is about the investigation into Challenger shuttle crash, which killed 7 astronauts. Important thing that comes out is the systematic investigation. He also writes about the team balances within the investigating group. He has put the crash reason in a simple way for people to understand. It was because of rubber seals which failed at low temperatures. This problem was known but was not taken as risk. It was interpreted that if it had not failed previously, it could not fail again. It is a assumption most of make in like to see things move on. The shuttle flights were flown at very high odds of failure.

The book is a good read, but not as much fun as ‘Surely you must be joking’, but still an interesting read. There is quite a bit of technical jargon. The mature and older Feynman is reflected in the book.

Inhuman or Insensitive?

On the way back from Jog tour we saw a buffalo which had met with an accident and a few people gathered around it. It probably was dead, it wasn’t moving, its head was at an odd angle and eyes open, this was in the rural part of Karnataka.

Contrast, we took the ring road from Tumkur road, soon we saw another accident, a truck had run over a bike, the bike was under the front wheel of the truck and a person was lying on the road almost at the center. Hundreds of vehicles were passing by. Not a single vehicle stopped by INCLUDING us. After we passed we were discussing whether we should have stopped. We thought after all he was dead and there was no point in stopping. We came up with reasons why we shouldn’t. Response of police, we may have to spend time running around.

Well I realized we were justifying ourselves with lame reasons for not stopping.

I could not answer 2 questions to myself.

1. How did I know he was dead? If he was not, am I not guilty of letting a person die?

2. Assuming he was dead, what if he were a known person?

Inhuman or Insensitive? Probably both and more.

Time to change and quickly.

Shivanasamudra trip

Planned the trip at 7:30 Am and started at 9 AM. Started off in 3 cars maruthi 800 cars. One of the cars broke down 7 kms from Ramanagara, we spent about 2 1/2 hours getting the mechanics to examine, finally decided we get it towed to Bangalore. Later we found it was a blown engine due to blocked engine oil. There are no Maruthi service stations on Sundays from Bangalore to Mysore. The help desk was not sure if there any authorized service centers in the stretch. Smell a business opportunity.

Had lunch and finally reached Shivanasamudra at 4:30 PM 125 kms took 6 ½ hrs including breakdown, lunch and 5 kms of no road.

The trip was actually worth it. Cauvery was full and the falls at Gaganachukki and Barachukki was absolutely gorgeous. When I had gone with friends about 8-9 years back, there was hardly any water we had gone to the top of the falls. Ramu and I had taken a nude bath on top of the falls. There were no people.

This time it was filled with thousands of people. There was hardly any place to stand and watch the falls from the front. Spent about an hour and started back. On the way back, the other car broke down and did not start. The mechanic at maddur did not have anybody. I used my car to tow the other car for 5-6 kms. By the time I finished towing my car had a flat tire. We found the other car had a electric short circuit. When it rains it pours. We had dosas at Maddur tiffany’s and returned home at 11 PM.

It was a trip to remember because of break downs and partially for the beautiful falls.