Einstein said, “For an idea that first does not seem insane, there is no hope”. Most of the insane ideas get disregarded. The perceptions of people, especially of those in power is the biggest challenge for these ideas. These ideas get called as mad dreams. The people who work for it get called madmen.

A city in India makes 33% of the global vaccines. It also accounts for 50% of India's bulk drug exports. The city hosts some of the largest offices of Microsoft, Google & Amazon. A major reason for this is having a stellar airport in the city(Hyderabad). Wealth is disproportionately spread between the Tier1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 cities in India. If air connectivity stirred up Hyderabad's economy, what could have been the economic value created by bringing 500 towns access to air connectivity? It could have drastically reduced the geographical wealth distribution gaps in the Indian economy. Air Deccan (defunct airlines) In 2007 had a minority market share, yet provided 67 destinations in India. But yet the largest airline in India in 2020 has connected to only 63 domestic locations.

The founder of Air Deccan fought many stigmas with the business community and the regulators to start India's first no-frills airline. Coming from a poor village family, he was very emotionally attached to building an affordable airline for India. The economic advantage of air connectivity did not spread to multiple towns the way it could have. Because, after Air Deccan got acquired in 2007, The rest of the airlines prioritized larger cities. And hence it can be said that madmen are crucial in implementing insane ideas.

Wright brother's used bicycle equipment to build the flyer. They could not build the flyer with the theoretical data on air drag, so they developed their wind tunnel on their Wright Cycle company's second floor. Wright brother's turned the dream of aviation's into a reality.

In the pre-independent era of India. The Tata's had many dreams for India. JRD Tata wanted to have faster postal communication. He fell in love with aviation at a young age. He was inspired by his French neighbour who was the first to fly over the English channel in 1909. Against the British's advise on profitability JRD founded Tata Airlines which operated from a hut at the Juhu Air Strip in Bombay. Carrying mail, he personally flew the first flight from Karachi to Bombay on a single-engine aircraft. . When Singapore commenced Singapore Airlines to attract global tourists into the little island nation, it collaborated with Air India to learn world-class service standards. A little after India's independence, the Indian government took over the airline's ownership but requested JRD to continue as the director. He ran the Airline for another 25 years at a 1 rupee salary from the government. As the chairman of Tata Group, he had several businesses to build. Yet he always took special care of Air India and continued nurturing the airline to inspire several airlines. Would this be possible without a person like JRD showing strong love towards the dream? Post JRD the airline was purely run by the government, and it quickly lost its sheen and turned into losses.

Let's look at what went into building a Hyderabad's air connectivity. Naidu, the then chief minister of the state, was a hardcore lover of Hyderabad. He convinced Microsoft to start their first development centre outside the USA in Hyderabad and set up a pharma zone by 2000. To achieve scale in IT and Pharma sectors, the city needed global air connectivity and an international airport. Hence he convinced international airlines to fly directly to Hyderabad, but that hit a blocker from regulators. In September 2003, The aviation minister was not supportive of the 'open sky policy'. This also needed regulatory innovation by the Prime Minister, Finance ministry. And within three months in December 2003, India opened up its skies. This law helped Hyderabad get its international flights, and it helped many new airlines, including Air Deccan scale. Naidu was a regional leader who always hit above his weight. He led the coalition supporting the Prime minister, and he used that powers to influence national-level laws. The central government authorities were not ready to invest money to build the airport he dreamed. He influenced the prime minister to let allow a private player to develop and maintain the Airport. The tender to construct the airport was won by a sugar factory owner who had no construction experience. Considering the risk Naidu wanted to cancel the bid, but the bidder communicated his grit and convinced Naidu. And thus, GMR Hyderabad Airport kept other major metro airports in India to shame. Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi upgraded similarly in quick successions. GMR went on to take over Delhi Airport.

Elon Musk A mad lady, Gwynne Shotwell (President, SpaceX) manages the business relationships and manufacturing operations. SpaceX's Starship rocket could cut down space travel cost by 100+ times. When SpaceX was founded in 2002, they had the money to launch just three rockets. All three rockets failed. Yet they thrived.

Mad dreams get magically connected over time. Though Hyderabad was not an initial business route for Air Deccan, they decided to have their inaugural flight from Hyderabad. The first public-private airport happened in the city. The Tata's have set up manufacturing in Hyderabad with world's leaders in aerospace manufacturing such as Boeing, Lockheed, GE, Sikorsky, Airbus etc.

Madmen love deeply, they display a high degree of selflessness, they are internally motivated, their motivation is infectious. A handful of policymakers, engineers and business people could change an entire Industry. Today's word is an assembly of multiple ideas from the past. Those ideas were insane ideas at some point. And a mad man would have been behind it. Similarly, the madmen of the today are navigating the future. Could it be that The world is a mad man's dream?

None of the madmen were born with mad dreams. What have been your mad dreams?