BENGALURU: The Pink Floyd song Learning to Fly played in my head all through the weekend. It was about half past six on a cool Saturday morning and we were standing in an open field, next to Shinde Hill. The January sun wasn’t completely out yet. A gust of wind blew past, waking me up from my half sleepy state. I was surrounded by a dozen energetic, peppy, chirpy bunch of early morning enthusiasts, all excited about learning to fly.
Our group consisted of six 20 something boys from Nepal, a German lady who’s also a professional climber, two techies from Hyderabad and two guys from Mumbai. I believe in keeping my feet firmly on the ground (pun totally intended)- so I was there just to watch friends learn to take their first solo flights.. to cheer for them, give moral support, roll my eyes.. you know the usual. (I was wearing a t-shirt that read, ‘Fly you fools.’)
Sanjay Pendurkar, instructor at Indus Paragliding, held forth, “‘Ok guys…carry your gliders and start climbing the hill. We’ll be doing bunny hops today.” Pendurkar pointed towards a small hill with a tiny palm tree. Sanjay has trained over 800 students over the last decade, pioneering teaching and promoting Paragliding in India.
In addition to winning several national and international paragliding competitions, he has also been credited for the discovery of popular flying sites in Maharashtra around Pavna Lake and Shinde Hill. Sanjay, who started off as an avid mountaineer, soon realised that while climbing uphill is fun, he doesn’t really need to walk back downhill. Getting a glider meant a different kind of thrill and a great substitute for getting back to the base. Thus began his tryst with flying which eventually resulted in him starting Indus Paragliding school – a member of Paragliding Association of India.
Between carefully monitoring each learner’s take-off and landing and giving directions to the flyers on the radio, I caught Sanjay giving a wide smile when one of the learners yelped as his feet lifted from ground and he floated for a few minutes. “The first lift off is the most memorable one,” he said, looking proudly at his student.
So here are a few important tips and pointers. Keep them handy if you’d like to experience flying with Indus:
It takes great courage and some madness in you to agree to fly. Jumping off a cliff isn’t a normal thing to do. I watched so many girls and guys do it and I wondered why would they go to such lengths to experience a few minutes of thrill. But I think getting to fly like a bird high up in the sky is an experience one can understand only when one takes the plunge The smiles on the fliers’ faces when they’d land back was priceless to watch. Also addictive. So by the fourth day, even though I had planned to only watch and photograph, I took a tandem joyride myself. As we soared into the sky, we did crazy somersaults up in the air. It was like a very scary theme park ride, only several notches higher, both literally and figuratively. — Bharti Singh blogs at www.suitcaseofstories.wordpress.com