Everyone dreams of flying and I am no exception. When I got this chance of flying, I shed all worries of death and more importantly, exorbitant cost and set my mind for it. People often take cheaper (ref. Damle UDD : my friend in IIT) and simpler routes (dope, ref. random junta in IIT) to "fly" but I took the highway. So I brainwashed people in Montreal who wanted to go bungee jumping by the selling point "Lets do the ultimate thing!" In the end, it was 5 of us : vivek, charul, nitish, sushant (who was to drive us) and myself. On one hand, I was getting excited watching those sky diving videos on youtube with people giving retarded expressions and "over-repeating" one particular phrase ("yo man" seemed the fav) while on the other, people were scaring the shit out of me by puking statistics of sky diving deaths. And I remember, charul asking me, "Agar mar gaye toh? (What if we die?)" and I replied, "It would be a good way to die!" (It does sound a little corny now :P). To add to the woes, Sushant's mind was dwindling owing to money issues ($400 is not cheap) and the climax: the night before the jump, he disappeared and was not answering our calls!
But bad luck was having a bad luck! Sushant returned and the plan was on track. I left a note to my family saying I love them just in case I became victim to those puked statistics. Next morning we reached the airport. The cute receptionist had a calming effect. Getting done with the legal formalities (they are so foolproof, you can't blame them in any possible way) and the protective gear, we got in the plane. The aircraft took off into the heavens and so did our hearts into our mouths. I got 1st into the plane and so last of the 3 to jump out. Charul went first and after substantial resistance, the instructor finally managed to defeat Nitish's high inertia.
It was my turn. Few heavy steps and I was at the exit of the plane. 14000 feet high above ground! Few scattered clouds. Lush green land and tiny blue specks. A strong gush of super cold wind slapped my face. Trust me, no matter how brave you are, how many adventure sports you have done, but "Plane se kudne me sabki phat leti hai!" (jumping off a plane scares the crap out of you).The instructor literally dragged me and jumped out of the plane.
And there it was: "The Place between life and Death". The feeling of weightlessness overwhelms you. The icy cold breeze caresses you. You feel you are just falling into nowhere. Mind becomes numb. It all happens so fast, the brain cannot comprehend it and gets literally blank. Probably even my heart skipped a beat. I felt lifeless and yet not dead! I reveled in that moment. The brain soon boots up. As expected, the instinct first kicks in and you realize how helpless you are. Free-falling with no access to the parachute! But soon the rational (??) brain takes over and I felt FTW, lets enjoy this even if the parachute fails to open, I don't care. This is when I had an epiphany about myself: even in the most dire of situations, I try to fish out the good part and that I attach more importance to "enjoying life" than "life". Most of the first time sky divers just scream and give the customary thumbs-up but once, I had this "near-life experience" I did dance, swim, salute and make other gestures to justify my philosophy and made the most of the 50 second free-fall. Definitely more than worth for $400. An experience for the lifetime.
Soon I felt a huge thrust and the camerawoman went far away. The parachute
opened and now it felt like I was floating in air. The instructor handed me the parachute strings and taught me to maneuver it. It was a breath-taking view from above! He showed me all around- Montreal, the lakes, the mountains, the greenery, the tiny buildings and cars...
Every now and then, he would say,"ur gonna feel funny" and then he would pull the strings and it felt like I was hanging in the air. It was super cool. A few more aerobatics later, I returned safely to mother earth.
Undoubtedly, it was the most memorable experience of my life and somehow I feel I have accomplished something now. (Check out My skydiving video).
8 comments:
nice read, can sense the thrill through your words!...all the more excited to do it someday!
Thanks! and hell yeah, do it asap. don't wait (for any1) :P
Amazing dude, and I am reading this the day after watching ZNMD! :) Can't wait to try it..
Thanks! n write it first on your to-do list!
Hey cool! can feel the excitement !!
Yeah! do it once
nice one "kamine" :P
yo hagod, the fact that i did it b4 u makes it even more enjoyable :D