PARAGLIDING , 14TH MAY , 2009.
You want to fly? Why do you want to fly hundreds of meters above the ground, over looking hills, fields and rivers? It is a challenge, a dream, an intimacy with nature and the beauty of the open blue sky, the clouds, the birds and the wind blowing into your face, which is difficult to explain.
This is why some take to Para gliding.
My son Ravindra is a trained para glider. For quite some time, I have been asking him to take me for the gliding. At last we made it on Thursday the 14th May, 2009. We traveled to a place called Karla about 100 kms. from our place on the Mumbai- Pune road (just beyond Lonavala, a hill station). The para gliding club has an office cum residential accommodation there. We had lunch and waited for some time as the day was very windy for gliding. Around 3pm we left from there and traveled about 15 kms on a gravel road to reach the foothills. Since the road is bad, we traveled in a SUV. There is a plain ground at that point which is used for landing as well as for training recruits in ground handling of the glider. We climbed up from there to a hill top about 100 M high, which is reasonably plain for take off. We used local boys for carrying the equipment up and down the hill. First I wanted to try. A harness was put on me and I was clamped to the instructor who was behind me. The instructor first makes the glider float and suddenly turns and we start running for a small distance and then we take off. We went to about 350m height and flew for about half an hour. He did a few acrobatics after confirming that I am not scared or suffer from vertigo or other problems. It was a little scary, but was thrilling. We tried to land at the same point from where we took off, but because of high velocity winds and shortage of space there, we could not land. After some more flying we landed in the plain below. Over all it was a great experience. Then my grand daughter Rhea, all of 6 years age, wanted to try. The harness was put on her. Ravi checked with her whether she is comfortable. She seemed to be amused by the whole thing and said she is fine. Then they took off. We could see that she was really enjoying the flight. She was waving her hands to us from that height. We saw that the instructor was doing acrobatics. I was a little bit worried. After about half an hour flight they landed in the plain where we were waiting. We could see the thrill on her face. The instructor told us that she asked him to do the acrobatics. When he started coming down to land, it seems she told the instructor that she felt that the flight should never end. She also told him that she will come back and learn to fly solo soon. These flights normally last for 10 minutes, but because of Ravi's association with the school, both my self and Rhea flew for more than half an hour each. The training school is run by two instructors. One of the instructors competes at national level competitions.
You want to fly? Why do you want to fly hundreds of meters above the ground, over looking hills, fields and rivers? It is a challenge, a dream, an intimacy with nature and the beauty of the open blue sky, the clouds, the birds and the wind blowing into your face, which is difficult to explain.
This is why some take to Para gliding.
My son Ravindra is a trained para glider. For quite some time, I have been asking him to take me for the gliding. At last we made it on Thursday the 14th May, 2009. We traveled to a place called Karla about 100 kms. from our place on the Mumbai- Pune road (just beyond Lonavala, a hill station). The para gliding club has an office cum residential accommodation there. We had lunch and waited for some time as the day was very windy for gliding. Around 3pm we left from there and traveled about 15 kms on a gravel road to reach the foothills. Since the road is bad, we traveled in a SUV. There is a plain ground at that point which is used for landing as well as for training recruits in ground handling of the glider. We climbed up from there to a hill top about 100 M high, which is reasonably plain for take off. We used local boys for carrying the equipment up and down the hill. First I wanted to try. A harness was put on me and I was clamped to the instructor who was behind me. The instructor first makes the glider float and suddenly turns and we start running for a small distance and then we take off. We went to about 350m height and flew for about half an hour. He did a few acrobatics after confirming that I am not scared or suffer from vertigo or other problems. It was a little scary, but was thrilling. We tried to land at the same point from where we took off, but because of high velocity winds and shortage of space there, we could not land. After some more flying we landed in the plain below. Over all it was a great experience. Then my grand daughter Rhea, all of 6 years age, wanted to try. The harness was put on her. Ravi checked with her whether she is comfortable. She seemed to be amused by the whole thing and said she is fine. Then they took off. We could see that she was really enjoying the flight. She was waving her hands to us from that height. We saw that the instructor was doing acrobatics. I was a little bit worried. After about half an hour flight they landed in the plain where we were waiting. We could see the thrill on her face. The instructor told us that she asked him to do the acrobatics. When he started coming down to land, it seems she told the instructor that she felt that the flight should never end. She also told him that she will come back and learn to fly solo soon. These flights normally last for 10 minutes, but because of Ravi's association with the school, both my self and Rhea flew for more than half an hour each. The training school is run by two instructors. One of the instructors competes at national level competitions.
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