Day 8, 29 December 2012

                We got up early in excitement, got ourselves ready and had our breakfast. Manager was all awake with a smiley face. He gave us his card and said call me anytime during the day in case of help, since there are no frequent localities nearby and it could get difficult to call someone for help in these mountain regions. We took his card and thanked him for his humble gesture.

                We reached the paragliding spot by 7:30 AM and the person in charge was already there waiting for us. He welcomed us and said, our Para Gliders have not reached here yet. It gave us time to look around the valley and the hill spot. After 10 minutes two young men arrived on their Enfield and we knew they were our Para gliders. Since we were first to come there it was our turn to start the first session. By that time Maithili was a bit scared, since she has a fear of heights. She wanted to overcome her fears by doing this, but she had not made her mind by then. I motivated her and requested her to watch me and a few other tourists do the gliding and then she can do her session, to which she agreed. It was my turn now.

                Though I am not afraid of heights, this was going to be my first experience flying in open air and so there was a small tingling sensation inside me. The manager, Gliders and we both walked till on top of the hill. This was the spot from where the gliding starts. The landing is done at the cricket ground in the valley below. The excitement had reached to its peak. The Gliders instructed me on Do’s and Don’ts.  Frankly speaking there was nothing for me to do other than just hold on to safety hangers and sit comfortably. The entire flight was to be controlled by the Glider who is accompanying me. I got my GoPro camera ready, so that I can take a bird’s eye shots from sky. Maithili was a little afraid while watching me get ready with the Glider. The manager and other Glider helped my Glider arrange the shoot cloth in the wind direction. The Glider then flicked his ropes and the wind entered the glide cloth and n no time we were in air. We had to run a few steps downhill to get a certain speed. I must say, It was an amazing and everlasting experience that I had in my entire life. The Glider did all the acrobatic stuff like taking fast tilts and turns, doing a G-Force twister motion at high speed, etc. He once took us gliding parallel to a Hawk that was gliding there swiftly in search of food. While doing the landing one the cricket ground, it was fun to watch kids playing cricket and looking at us in the sky. The Glider’s assembly has a cushion at the bottom and so we were supposed to land on our bums. This flight was entirely a different experience altogether.

                After landing at the cricket ground I chatted with the both the Gliders. The manager and other Glider were already there with their car to get me back on the hill where Maithili was. Both the Gliders were Himachalis and they do this for their living. I was happy to see adventure loving guys, pursuing their passion and utilizing the same for earning. They too asked me about my motorcycling adventures and my upcoming Ladakh trip. By the time we reached back on hill, we were all good friends exchanging each other’s numbers.

                Then it was Maithili’s turn. I told her how fun it was and convinced her that this is something she would really regret in future if not done today. On which Maithili agreed instantly and took her flight immediately next. I was very much happy that Maithili too would see and experience what I had. When Maithili got back from her Gliding session, all her height fears were lost and she was like a new person altogether. We both thanked our Gliders and the manager for giving us an experience of lifetime.