Numb!!!!!!!

I had done rafting, rappelling, trekking but I yearned for more.My hunger for more adventure lead me to a sport called paragliding.It was the winter of 2007. Thinking that it will be a fun outing, and a chance to experiment with my canon, I was grossly mistaken. What followed in the next few days was gruelling in terms of the physical rigour required. We had to learn the technique of hopping over slopes, the right way of communication on the radio, the basics of aerodynamics(Bernoulli’s principle being the most important(being an engineer surely helped)) and the art of controlling your glider before we could actually fly solo.It was awful, I kept committing mistakes, fell down, got entangled in my glider, but never gave up. Till the time I perfected the right hopping technique I kept mushrooming my glider and carried it to the heights from where I could run and be in air for about 30 seconds.

My First Solo Flight

Much has been written about the first solo flight of a pilot. Many say that they are completely awestruck ; others say that it is difficult to put the feeling in words. People have researched that paragliding is the closest a man has come to feeling like a bird. My experience is slightly different. I don’t recollect being happy or being sad on my first solo flight.
We reached our camp. My instructor asked me to climb up the mountain.It was not a big hill (250 ft) and I managed to climb all the way up in about 30 minutes. I got myself harnessed, checked my radio and put on my helmet. I checked the wind direction and just when I was about to run for my take off tragedy struck....My instructor’s assistant came running all the way up the mountain with my cell phone and said that my father was on the line and it was an emergency.
With huge reluctance i took the phone and put it next to my ear. My father's voice was sombre. I knew something bad was coming. He told me that my grandfather was critically ill and I should come back home as soon as possible. I knew it was worse; he was hiding something from me. I tried to confirm the state of my grandfather’s health. He did not want to tell me directly that he had already died. But I knew (I can’t explain why, but there are certain things that you get to know without there being any communication)

Harnessed up, with a glider on my back in a remote village in Maharashtra, I was stranded in no man’s land. I was more than 2000 kms away from my home in Delhi.
I have always loved my grandparents as much as my parents if not more. They shielded me from my parents even after my countless mischiefs as a child, taught me the importance of respecting others and most importantly the importance of standing on one's own feet. They made me feel like the most important person on the earth as a child. No harm could come to me in their company, I was the KING. I can claim to have had 4 parents instead of 2. When they grew old and vulnerable and as I became conscious of life I tried to give my utmost love and care back to them.

I was numb. The only thought in my mind was to reach flat land as quickly as possible and rush back to the airport in Pune and the board the first flight to Delhi.I could reach flat land either by walking down the mountain which could have taken me 30 mins or or by going through with my first solo flight and touching ground in about 10 minutes. Without more thought I ran towards the edge of the mountain into the wind and was airborne. I had no feelings while in air. There was only one goal and that was to reach the landing area and rush to the airport.

I opened the gate of my house. Around 50 people were gathered there. The mood was sombre. There was an eerie silence. As if the time had stood still. The darkness of the night made the mood of the place gloomier.Intuitively I entered the room I was supposed to enter and I saw the dead body of my grandfather lying on ice.I saw my grandmother close to the body. Tears rolled down from my eyes. I moved forward, hugged my grandmother and cried.It was a long and tiring journey for me, but I volunteered to look after the dead body, to check if the ice was not melting and the holy fire was burning properly before we cremated his body in the morning

After the cremation of my grandfather, my aunt (grandfather’s daughter) came up to me and told me in my ears that before they took my grandfather to the hospital, my grandfather called her in his private room and said – “I am praying to god that please allow me to live a few more days more so that I can die after seeing my grandson”

Tears Rolled Down...............

Rising from the ashes

I had never been that close to death before that fateful day when I found myself falling from a 1000 ft mountain.

This was not the first time I was paragliding (most people who have not actually flown before think that paragliding is a sport of only excitement, adventure and thrill. I would want to tell you that it is as much a sport of patience (there are days when you will trek for hours and hours (with a load of 25kgs on your back) but you will not get favourable conditions to fly. The sport also teaches you how to react in difficult conditions and to respect nature. People say that this is the closest to feeling like a bird)

I had flown from a 300 ft hill before , but that was a year ago , and the winds were not that strong.The monster that I was facing on this day is known as the Tower Hill. It stands at about 1000 ft in a town called Kamshet, 40 kms from Pune.I had 5 other pilots with me, most of them sharing similar flying experience and we were guided by the paragliding school - XXXX.

XXX - my instructor showed me the landing area - a 100 m stretch in a farm about a km away. There were electric lines at both sides of that stretch and it was pertinent for us to avoid them to avoid being electrocuted. We discussed the flight plan (the regular 8 turns to gain height, keeping away from rotors (high speed areas on the leeward side of the mountain) and the approach to landing).I cleared the lines of my glider , put on my harness , checked my radio, adjusted myself according to the wind direction and ran full steam towards the edge of the mountain.

I got into my seat and got an instruction on the radio to keep away from the hill and the pilots flying directly above me. But the conversation did not last long. 15 seconds into my flight my radio went off. It was as if i had been thrown into the cage of a monster (the mountain) handcuffed (no radio instructions).I went numb , the winds were strong , taking me towards the mountain.I was blank; I did not know what was happening. I forgot the entire flight plan. I shouted at my radio for a few minutes and then lost hope.I realised how close I was to death.

I had to remain calm; I had to regain control of my senses. It was just not my life but the life of two other pilots which was at stake . A mid air collision at 1000ft would have meant certain death.Just as I was about to bump into the imposing mountain a sudden sense of strength and vision got into me. I began to think clearer. I pulled my right brake down and started to move away from the mountain .I had made a decision to just go for landing without doing the regular 8 turns(which would have certainly meant mid -air collision). But that decision would not be without risk .It would mean that i would not have sufficient height (which could mean crashing onto the rocks of the mountain or a tree on its slope).

The ground started to come closer and closer and the landing area was still far away. It felt as if the slope of the mountain was opening its mouth to engulf me. Sweat dripped from my forehead. It was now or never !!
I caught some wind by moving my glider towards the right and ascended a bit. I was now nearer to flat ground. In all this commotion I had forgotten about the electric lines. Before I could realize I was heading straight towards them. I had to pull the brakes immediately .But that would mean landing on a big flat rock with thorny bushes. The decision was made .Brakes – The full gung ho!!.I landed on one foot, fell on the rock, but miraculously balanced my body with my hands .My glider fell on the thorny bushes.

WHOA - I had made it to ground - with just a few scratches on my leg. I was the happiest and the angriest person on this earth.I was angry at the Paragliding School - How could they keep faulty equipment with them in an adventure sport?

But before I could think much , tragedy struck .One of my co - pilots (a senior executive with Vodafone) who took off after me collided into the mountain .It was ridiculous , the instructor should have stopped the flights after knowing what had happened with my radio even though I scrapped through without any injury .

It was not the radio malfunction that led to this accident - just the panic and numbness at that height that led to the pilot not following the instructions on the radio and crashing into the mountain. The son of that pilot (just 14 yrs old) was with me near the landing area when this ghastly incident happened.

All of us feared for his life.We could see the red glider about 800ft on the hill, with no movement of the pilot. I decided to climb the hill to save his life. I was tired, bruised, angry, and blank. But I could not help myself from climbing that Monster. It was pure adrenaline that carried me through.

On hindsight I can say that climbing that hill without a rope / harness was even tougher than managing to land my glider moments earlier. There were no pathways, the hill was steep and we did not know the exact location of the injured pilot. Most importantly - we did not have water. The bushes of wild mountain were very thorny and itchy. Half way up the mountain I was shouting and pumping myself to climb further. I was panting and was badly bruised. My legs were hurting. The itch was worse. It was one of the worst feelings that I have ever had.

Finally after 2 hours of frantic search we managed to locate the injured pilot (who was holding his leg and crying in pain). His leg was broken and his right thigh had been ruptured. We comforted him, put stems around his leg and tied it with a cloth. Help arrived soon in the form of 4 other localites, fellow pilots and an ambulance.

I removed my shirt, poured water all over my bruises and went onto the area from where I had jumped .I was not angry anymore. I was calm; I had never thought that I could do what I had done today. I was happy with myself. Not only was I alive, so were the two other pilots that were flying when I took off from the mountain and the pilot who had crashed into the mountain. It was a time of reflection.
One of the thoughts that came to my mind when I was sitting there alone was to share the experience that i had had today with the world , and what better place to do so than the WOLVERINES DEN