It was a bright Sunday morning. My bro and I left for one of his friends place quite early in the morning. Met up with his friend and had a stroll to a common spot where we met up with a few other friends of theirs. Got together with a good chunk and then head towards a nearby breakfast
point. :)
point. :)
After a quick healthy breakfast, we decided to flag off the journey; journey to the Hoskote Lake bed…Our final destination! It is situated about 30 kms from Bangalore city. We were a group of eleven adventure seeking souls. We had 3 vehicles fueling this journey of ours…
After a lot of fun-filled tussle finding the way to our destination, we finally made it! It took us over an hour to reach Hoskote Lake.
I wasn’t really sure what paragliding exactly was until I came here. We had our slot booked, thereby making the experience over that span, all ours. Parasailing (read paragliding) is an excellent option at this place as the lake is bone-dry and the open land makes for some moderate wind speeds; which apparently is very essential for a good flight with the chute!
So there we were, one by one, gearing up to take off…But my eyes were busy admiring one of the parachutes. Well, there were 2 parachutes for us. One that was bright and multi-colored…It was beautiful!! On the other hand, the other one was dull, shabby and not so colorfully beautiful.
I learnt that the pretty one was only for the heavy folks, though I still wonder what their definition of heavy was. :( I was busy talking to the organizers, requesting them to let me sail with the pretty parachute. I had almost succeeded in convincing them, when the main organizer came into the frame and shattered all my efforts with his words of experience. “For those who are light, it is the other one. We cannot take any sort of risks!”…And for them, I was horribly light so there were no second thoughts about me gliding with the heavier one…And they smiled…Poor me!! :P
Though I bore a sad face for a bit, I couldn’t really carry on that way as I was actually having fun anyway. ;) We had a body harness that was to be connected to the parachute and at the other end was a 350 feet long rope that was connected to the gypsy (Indian jeep). It was lovely watching our friends go one by one. I was desperately waiting for my turn…:D
Though it was just about 5-10 mins in air, our excitement was elevated even before we actually were. Fair enough!!! We don’t get to fly every other day, do we?!! ;) Once my harness was all connected to the parachute and the rope; I was all geared up to take off. The jeep went against the wind and I had to just take a couple of steps before getting airborne.
Wow!! It was mesmerizing!! Though this sport is not really fear-inducing, it is great fun and is the simplest way to get in the air.
Well, I gotta agree to the fact that even this parachute is pretty in its own way! Like my brother quotes “Little did my sis realize that this is prettier indeed!!”
The entire experience was fabulous except for the dry morning heat that played its part and wore us down quickly.
This entire parasailing trip was organized by Thrillophilia, an adventure travel company along with their local partner “Horizon Adventures”.
That's our gang along with the organizers.
As always, flying, to me, is surely the feel of ultimatum!
Ahi :)
Girlie turns into a birdie!!!
ReplyDeleteAhila,u going places - no actually FLYING places!
Amazing!
N yes ur chute's dull the colorful one is real cute :P
There was one thing which I was looking in your otherwise well written blog.. I am trying to understand how that gypsy and the rope that was tied to it helped you to fly.. I didnt do this before, so didnt knew..so if you could add the technical details, it would help out some people like me to understand it better....!
ReplyDeleteAnd your parachute was good only.. if the photographer had taken the photo in the right angle, it would have looked way better..:-)
Swapnil - Heyaa chora..thanks a bunch!! Tat was so damn cuuuute..Girlie turns into a birdie!! Hehe :D :P
ReplyDeleteAnd yes thanks for the comment about my parachute as well..! :(
Arvind - It was great to learn the interest you have in knowing the technicality!! :P Well pretty simple stuff u c..The rope as i had mentioned, was tied to the gypsy and the parachute was harnessed to the rope and to me. Now as the gypsy moves in a direction opposite to the wind, the parachute starts flying due to the wind pressure. The funda is to move the gypsy in a direction opposite to the wind and there you go up flying, with the parachute. :):)
ReplyDeleteHope that helped boy!! :P
Too good to have such an adventure........... would definitely want to go along wid u next time ............. :P
ReplyDeletesuperb..!! i wanted to try this too.... hoskote is qutie nearby only ..il also give a try sometime :)
ReplyDeletebtw i went on a n adventure ride ..!! blore to Goa on bike :) it was superb..!!!!!
Shruti - Heya thanks a bunch sweetie!! :) I will definitely take you along when I go somewhere. :)))
ReplyDeleteTony - Hey Tony...Wassup? Thanks a bunch ya!! :P Yea Hoskote wouldn't be that far from your place. Wooow!! Your adventure ride surely would have been awesome..Blore to Goa on bike, gotta be great!! :) Share the pics with me.