That night while dining with my friends, I was telling them about Tandem Paragliding in Khamshet, Pune. I was surprised to see two of my friends were interested to join me for paragliding. 

Since others were not interested, we decided that all of us could go on a day trip to South Mumbai. We were a gang of ten. We booked a temporary traveller from Pune to Mumbai. We started early in the morning to avoid traffic.

Off to Mumbai
The road tripping on Mumbai-Pune Expressway was awesome. It carved through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges with lots of passes and tunnels. One such pass is shown in the picture. We reached Mumbai around 10 am.

We started our Mumbai trip with“Sithi Vinayagar Temple–Well known ancient Ganesha temple (1801).” 

From there, we had decided to go to “Hajji Ali Dhargh.” Dhargha, which is located in the middle of the sea and a path connecting it with mainland. The gushing tides from both sides of the path offered an awesome welcome. Mumbai skyline looked splendid from Hajji Ali Dhargha.

From Dhargha, we headed to a Mount Mary’s church in Bandra. The main reason for choosing this church was to ride on Bandra-worli sea link, a civil engineering marvel. The sea link had been built to connect Worli to Bandra. I wished I could have got a chance to see the Bandra-Worli sea link when it is fully lit in the night.

After being a Secular citizen covering three main religion’s temple on a single day, we felt it’s time to answer the stomach’s call. After enquiring a mumbaikar, we got to know that Briyani will be good in Shalimar restaurant. We headed from Church to Shalimar restaurant. The biryani served at the restaurant was exceptionally good and also very different from south indian briyani. Apart from biryani, Kabab served was another feather to its crown.

We headed from restaurant to Mumbai Gateway after a scrumptious lunch. We had already booked for a Yatch ride in Gateway sailing club. I have convinced my friends to join me for Yatch ride. The cost per head was Rs.600.

We had chosen the slot in such a way that we were able to witness the sunset from sea. Mumbai Skyline with the backdrop of Sunset was splendid. One hour ride in yatch was really a memorable experience. After Yatch ride, we went for little shopping in Colaba. After a jam packed day in south Mumbai, we started back to pune by 10:30 pm.

Paragliding in Khamset, Pune
Let me go back to my dream of flying. Yes Tandem paragliding in Khamshet. I was not able to stop the fire of flying in air. So I have checked up with few agencies for booking. I got to know that the tandem paragliding for the weekends have already been booked. Slot was available only on Monday. Two of my friends who were interested to join me, would have already started to their place by that time. So I was left with myself. 

I had two options. Either to sit up all day in my room or to paraglide alone. After lot of thinking, I had booked for tandem paragliding on Monday (06.04.15) 3:00 pm. I was successful in convincing two of my friends to join me to click some pictures. All the way from Pune to Khamshet, my friends were teasing me. The only time where I did shut my mouth for three long hours could be that Pune to Khamshet journey. I was completely nervous but still I really wanted to take that thrill.

We reached the paragliding spot by 2:55. But we couldn’t even see anyone there. After I called and enquired, I got to know that agency people were yet to reach the destination. At around 3:15, the agency people had come to flying site. They gave instructions regarding  basics of paragliding. 

Then we started to trek to the small hilltop from where the kickoff of paragliding started. My colleague was teasing me that he wanted a take a final picture of me. With the mixture of nervousness and excitement, I trekked to the hilltop to take-off.

I always wanted to do risky things first before others try it. I wanted to experience it all myself before somebody could share their experiences. Too much right? 

Much to the pilot’s surprise, I blurted out that I would like to take the first flight. He gave me the jacket to be put on. All things were set for paragliding.

The tandem pilot had asked me to try running against the wind. Since the wind made me loose control, I wasn’t able to run against the wind. Then two co-instructors had to run along with me pulling my glider against the wind to soar up to the sky.

Take-off was the best part in Paragliding. I might not be able to do justice by putting it in words. So I will leave to the feel of every individual.

When my pilot asked whether it’s thrilling, I said take off was pretty good. But Gliding seemed usual and I didn’t get much of a feeling of flying.