I woke up very early and went to the nearby monastery. Spent a peaceful couple of hours here and got back to the resort for a wonderful homemade breakfast. A couple of hours later, our pickup came and off we went.
In the car, everyone introduced themselves and we were pleasantly surprised to know that the two young guns in the Van were going to be our ‘Pilots’.
Billing, a half hour ride uphill from Bir is where the Paragliding cliff is situated and the higher we got, the more nervous I became at the thought of the impending jump off a cliff!!
The two pilots did everything they could to reassure me - including the claim that the two of them were among the Top 5 pilots in the country - but hey… what good is that information going to do when one is possibly plunging her way to a horrific death…
Once we reached the top of the cliff, we went across to the spot from where we would be jumping off literally and I froze!!! The thing is, every adventure sport that I have tried has been like this. I get cold feet at the nth minute and this time around I had to admit to myself that I do have a fear of heights! It’s latent and thankfully not the overwhelming types - proof being that I have always managed to see through the adventure sport I embark on - but I suffer from a huge starting problem.
Plus in this case, your life is in somebody else’s hands. No matter how accomplished they are ( and for a sport like this, they better be!), the overriding fear is what if something goes wrong? Jyoti, my designated pilot was an amazing source of support and encouragement.. Clearly.. he has been through his share of manic women with nth minute hysterics :D
Anyway we ended up waiting for quite a long while on the cliff, since the wind conditions weren’t ideal.. still not sure if all the wait was doing me good or bad.
And then… it was time..
The routine was, for you to strap yourself in, the pilot who is strapped in behind you does whatever he does – and then you take off. The biggest hurdle in paragliding is that the Initiative lies totally with you for the first few seconds( what seems like an eternity when you are in the middle of it).
You are the one who needs to run like the wind (pun intended) and when you reach the edge – Fly.. Then the instructor takes over.
Sounds so bloody simple when I’m writing it, but boy were those the most terrifying moments of my life! In those few minutes before I started running, I remember questioning everything about my life, more specifically why I felt the urge to do things like these and why I couldn’t happy with the mundane etc etc …. And then my mind went blank.
Bottomline – I did run, run like my life depended on it ( no exaggeration there). Next thing I know I’m airborne and screaming my lungs out. And only after a few seconds, I dared to look around. We are high HIGH up in the air. Looking down on the tallest mountain ranges in the neighbourhood. Experience what is like to be a bird. Floating. Floating. Complete and utter silence.
I could go on and on. This was the best adventure sport I have tried so far. Period.
After about an hour of waving at birds ( er, truth be told- there were none – the birds were wisely keeping a safe distance from the mad humans) we land in a terraced field.. Have a cup of congratulatory chai and bonded with the instructors further and then it was back to the hotel. Awesome!!
Time to pack our bags and head back to Palampur and then to Mcleod –our temporary home away from home. We reach Mcleod around 8 in the evening and head out for some much needed celebratory beers, talking about the day and reliving the excitement.
A perfect day that started at Billing, Bir and ended with being billed for beers. Cheesy as hell but couldn’t resist that. Haha! .
Looking back I think It was one of the best birthdays I have ever had!
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