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Feel
the fear and do it anyway!
 It
was 5.15am and i had a queasy stomach - which was strange,
because i am never up at that hour to notice how my stomach
is doing! that morning however, we were getting ready to take
off with paragliders from Tower Hill, height 750 ft, winds
permitting. as beginners, our previous take-offs had been at
Shelar, off a 270ft hill. just numbers apart, looking down
from the Shelar hill we had our hearts popping out of our mouths
at the prospect of taking off. multiply that effect three times,
and that was my situation that morning.
Of all the means one could use for personal flight, paragliding
is said to be the most accessible. one can be up and away in
less than half an hour of reaching the take-off site. hang
gliding, a close competitor, requires setup of about 1-1.5
hours before one can consider a take off. microlights and other
powered methods demand signficantly higher budgets, resources,
and place several constraints on the landing/take-off areas.
Paragliding is also the closest one can get to being an eagle
soaring miles overhead on a sunny day. well, you wouldnt
be able to plunge like an arrow towards the earth, but that
aspect i guess most of us would rather give a lot to avoid.
three of us, sameer, mitra, and myself had taken up the paragliding
course for a mix of reasons, mainly comprising of a thirst
for adventure and a desire to fly. just fly.
The three of
us who were picked up by our instructor Avi, and reached
the hill top at about 7.45 am. Avi was pleased with the wind
conditions at the top - good bearing, steady, and just right
for flying. (I decided not to think too much about the tiny
squares far down below which were supposed to be full size
huts with full-sized people inside. ) To start off, Avi explained
the flight path we should take when we decided to land. it
was comfortable enough, marked off by two huts about a kilometer
or two apart.
Sameer and myself had to take-off that morning. mitra had
joined the course a
little late, and was waiting anxiously for his first flight.
Since Sameer had taken a break last weekend, I was to take-off
first that morning, followed by sameer, and if the conditions
were conducive, mitra.
 The seriousness of preflight checks and urgency in catching
the wind while it was good for takeoff served to numb my
fears. a few minutes, and i found myself standing with
the glider attached, ready for take-off, waiting for a
signal. At the signal, a heave of my arms, an anchored
bend forward to steady myself against the pull of the glider,
minor orrections for wind direction and the glider was
up and centered above me. now was the most exciting and
potentially dangerous part - the take-off. being quite
close to the edge of the hill, the wind was just right
to lift me off after just a few forced steps along the
slope. a few more seconds of adjustment to clear the ridge
safely and gain some altitude, and i was AIRBORNE! the
small huts below, the tiny farm patches, layers of grey
smoke suspended far down below in the clean morning air,
a highway and the mountain ranges in the distance... how
could something beautiful invoke fear?!
Supported by the wind and Avi's instructions on the radio,
i started making figure 8 turns and gaining height. a few minutes
later, i see sameer take-off from what was now several feet
below me. we get into a rhythm, making figure 8 turns. the
only thing more beautiful while flying has to be the gentle,
bouyant movement of another paraglider. but hey, down at the
take-off point people were happily munching! pah. but im flying.
hunger is lost on me. we flew for about an hour each that day,
culminated by cushion soft landings. what more could one hope
for, to start a day?
mitra unfortunately did not have his first solo flight that
day, and was just about desperate enough to jump off without
a glider. nothing like desperation to remove fear! but his
first solo flight came from the same hill the day after, much
to everyone's delight (and relief!)..
- Siddharth Srivastava
Veritas Software India Pvt. Ltd.,
+91-20-4059470
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