Somebody, stop me Going Down, Down....:). Review on Paragliding

It was almost 3 years back, while at Bombay,...ooops,,,Mumbai...that I got this virus which infects people with an overdose of adrenaline to look skywards and wonder what it would be like, to go up there and look down...(contrary to what Newton, or the apple, did...depending on who/which is dearer to you!!).

The nearest place where I could, in my thoughts at that time, "experience suicidal tendencies" was a place beyond Virar, which itself is almost beyond what any Mumbai-kar would ever have seen!

Thats how I landed into what the world calls 'Paragliding',which I too claim patronage to.

The club was called Western India Paragliding Association, and it had at its head, an unassuming and impish Sydney,,replete with flowing, unruly beard and a stub of a cigarette between his teeth and all of 5 feet tall.

I shall cut the preparatory crap, and get to the action, or, what a novice like me thought was action, then!

I was suspended in mid-air, even without the wind...cos I was on the rod stuck on the door frame, from where the harness was suspended, for trying it on and adjusting it, so that you dont find all buckles open in Real Mid-air(no relative of Real Madrid!)and yourself believing firmly in Gravity!

That then was my first 'suspension' experience!

Things got tougher thereafter, whenwe were taken to a field (walking, with all the weight of the glider-in-rucksack, helmet and other contraptions slung on our poor midriffs). This particular field grew crops in decent climes and became a glider-land in summer. It was as near as one could get to the rail track, barring of course, human posteriors who go still closer (at Mumbai), for daily ablutions!

I was stuck to this huge glider, which took me an eternity to undress...oops...unravel...and the, I was told to face the wind. Unlike what you saw on the the Titanic bows, thats when I felt I would actually be better off with the wind up my back, rather than into my nostrils, if only to ease out my arms which had come to resemble a mini-Atlas, which just couldnt shrug! And, misery ahead...I had to run into the wind holding the glider up behind and above me, trying to imitate an eagle taking off with an Airbus' wings!

I did consider the fact that this was good for my biceps at least, but then the scrawny figures around didnt exactly look like the Governor of California!

I shared this 'discovery'with my new club mates at the end of the day, and was guided to the 'gospel truth' that ...the more you practise on land, the less you fall from air!! (which isnt comfortable too, in case you were wondering!)

And so it went, till I mastered the art of holding the glider vertically above me (I did graduate from a smaller sized practice-model to a larger one, in due course of 3 days..though it did my ego little pride to realize that what I struggled with on Day 1 was the "kid size"! I could even turn around and do a little Waltz, or Tango, if you like...cos they are both the same to me, me with my two little (10 sized) left feet!

Then came the day when I actually had my maiden flight. Having lugged all that weight up a cliff, and watching the aces floating above for hours, I was set for at least an hour of flight on my maiden venture.

But, despite the lightness generated by my hopes and the frantic waving of signals by Sydney down there on the ground, I came down in 4 minutes flat, (surviving a tree which came to hit me while I was landing!!!), though a little slower than the Sensex in the last month. If you ask me about my experience of the 'first time', I would act like an an adolescent, and say ..."OOOH!! It was over sooo fast!"

A few moreflights later(I prefer to call my top-downs that, to boost my falling ego, bhai!), I was behind Jeevdani temple, on the hill, facing my first "examination".I surprised myself and the others when I got 25 minutes in the air, which I think qualifies me as an ace-pilot (!!), competent to impart these words of wisdom to you mortals who aint dunnit yet!! AAAW!!

Cut to the present,let me just say...Paragliding isnt for the weak minded. (Hope Magesh, Samit, Celin and my other 'senior pros' at the Club arent on MS...for fear of their comments on this review!), nor is it for heart patients. The wind is the force, which can make you or break you, and quite literally.I have seen old hands falling like pins, trying top landings (landing at the top of the hill from where they take off, which is dicey!).

But, if you have been in an aeroplane and seen the earth down below, and wondered what it would be like to be at the same place without the closed environs of the aircraft, its for you.Once you are comfortable in the air, the pleasure, thrill and adrenaline rush it gives you makes you literally "look down on others"...A Must Do for those in the genre above, cos of the adventure, low cost( takes only less than 10K to get trained and have your fill of flying, for about 2-3 weeks, and about 2000 bucks a month thereafter, if you intend to keep flying), inherent risks and the flying experience sans aircraft!

But, zaraa si saavdhaani..zindagi bhar....

Happy Flying