FlyNirvana BLOG

It was the 8th end of season party Nirvana Adventures has held at the Shelar site at Kamshet.  As usual the celebration began with  with the hike to pay our obeisance to ‘Gonshubai’ the deity( feminine power)  in the hills. We then gathered outside  Shelar Mama’s house for a thanksgiving ceremony and each person said a few words. Thanksgivings are  a joyful way to celebrate and the outpourings from pilots, students, instructors and village elders and kids were inspiring and moving. People gave thanks for the wind, the weather, the wonderful flying sites at Kamshet, the  Nirvana Adventures family and our wonderful sport. Irene and Stefan who are leaving us to go back to Switzerland soon after 5 years of Nirvana and Native Place weekends said that they would be leaving behind heir family in Kamshet. Steve was remembered by many as were all our friends from all over the world who were with us in spirit.And then the dancing began … see the pix on facebookPeace Bliss & Happy LandingsAstrid & Sanjay Rao

Driving up to Kamshet on Friday morning our eyes turn skywards and all we could see were layers and layers of cumulus clouds. Some light some dark some thick some thin,  all piled up as their name indicates. I am groaning - thinking about the next couple of days flying  but Sanjay says “.This is inevitable – a good sign ( for the farmers and the country) that the monsoon is coming on time this year”.

On Saturday the Shelar skies were clear but strong gusting winds through the weekend right up to sunset and beyond put paid to our ideas of having even a short flight.

Arun, Anand, Colin, Chetan, Rohit, Vinay, and me all hung out at the takeoff for an hour or so and then finally decided to walk down. It was not all disappointment though – we had a blast fooling around on takeoff and even discovered some porcupine quills and solved the mystery of the shed quills. And then on returning home to Native Place we were treated to a synchronized display of fireflies. Those among us who had never seen it before were suitably impressed the rest of us thanked nature for this wonderful display.

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings and long may our eyes see the fireflies

Astrid & Sanjay Rao 

Hi All,

We are now in May, the last month of the flying season at Kamshet . Come June, the monsoon arrives and our landing fields turn into verdant waterlogged rice paddy fields.  Luckily for me  I am I parked at Native Place for the summer holidays  and can make the most of the flying this month.

This May we started with cloud build up, strong cross winds, unstable conditions and even had a thunderstorm on the 7^th after which the weather settled down and flying has been phenomenal till date.

May is the wedding season, on the 8^th was Bandya’s wedding and Ravi too ties the knot on the 27^th of this month. Many of us are waiting eagerly for the occasion. There is nothing like a village wedding and the dance or shall I say the trance party begins from sunset and full power dancing in the streets goes on and on.  Guys Bandya’s party was a super experience for me. Dwane, Dylan, Hiren, Stan have been to many of these parties and every time I ask them what it was like they say super! But seeing and dancing for one ’s self is the only way to really experience it and that is exactly what we all did on the 8^th night. I have never had so much fun in the city!

You all can join us too – 27^th May is the next big day.

Peace Bliss and Happy Landings

Astrid & Sanjay Rao 

 I mentioned in last weekends blog about flying back to the parking and enjoying the sunset. what i did not mention was that the parking was strewn with litter - wafer, chewing gum and chocolate wrappers, plastic water bottles  Macdonalds too - horrifying sights. It was not just the parking there was litter all along the path and even at takeoff. Alarm bells were ringing in my head but it was the end of the weekend and i was on my way back to the city.   I thought about it all next week and realised it needed some immediate &  serious intervention. So on Saturday afternoon we got to Shelar with garbage bags and a plan. white garbage bags were distributed among the pilots and students and black among the kids at the site. A competition was announced - black versus white or pilots versus the kids ( no prizes for guessing who won )

We collected 43 bags of garbage in one evening! Pilots lets be pro active - get your hands dirty and get the job done. Lets all pick up the trash and not wait for the next person. Believe me it gives instant results and intangible rewards.

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid RaoP.s.  

The hillside was burnt on Monday - notice the charred hillsides in the background of the pic. Luckily the main takeoff was spared so our gliders wont get sooty.

The wind at Shelar was bang on this weekend and conditions were buoyant not just by the ridge but all over and it was possible to sail about for hours on end. After some floating about, exploring different areas of lift and going where i pleased i headed out to land by the  car park   Colin landed soon after me and Rushikesh came in next. I sat quietly on a rock  watching the sun slip behind the hills and the paragliders fade in the dying light. Soon Sanjay came by on the bike after the training session was done and we headed back home to Native Place.

Joel a gregarios Belgian pilot visited us for the first time and made the most of the lifting conditions. Arvind and Sam came over after a long break from flying and got started once more on the ground handling field. Hiren tells me that Sunday was a good day too with many gliders in the air and lift everywhere.

 Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao

  Ravi flies tandem at his home site while a woman grazes her goats on the hillside                                                                                                                                                                    On Saturday after taking the above picture I geared up and got ready to takeoff. The wind was perfect, Dwane had just taken off, and it was my turn next when I realized that my vario was missing. By the time I located it the tall grasses 20 minutes later the wind had turned very cross and I had to wait for more than half hour before I could get off the hill. Tired of waiting I decided to walk down and do some ground handling. I began to unclip and the wind got a bit better so I waited a bit happy with the idea of doing a top to bottom rather than walking down the hill. After takeoff I scratched about at the gully and many beats later perseverance paid off. I gained height and headed for the cliffs to investigate screeching Amur falcons making a serious racket high above. I was happy to watch them squabbling and roosting on the cliff-side.Piku came up on Sunday and it was good to meet and fly with him. Anand came with friends to fly and celebrate his birthday at Native Place. Colin, Richard and Sinchan were there too. All in all it was a good weekend.                                                                                                                                                                       Peace Bliss and Happy Landings                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Astrid Rao

Crosswind dominated the long Easter weekend.  The north wind component continued from the last weekend with a little more strength and stubbornness – consequently very little flying happened. Some of us managed to catch a window of opportunity and get airborne for a significant amount of time but one could actually see the cycles in action as a wave of pilots who had managed to get up one minute all drifted earthwards as the lift dissipated. Gokul who got up early when the direction was good took advantage of the north component and headed back to tower hill and the highway. While some pilots got top to bottoms or simply had to give in and walk down.Sunith who is now 13 years old accompanied us to the site and did some grueling ground handling in the hot sun. He was supervised by Vinya and as I watched their interaction memories of them playing together as children flooded my mind. Scenes from 10 years ago, running around barefoot in the sun, up and down the hills and fields along with the rest of the Shelar kids. Happy days, happy memories.I  had been looking forward to 3 flying days and a lot of other excitement as well. The wind may not have blown favorably but there were other factors and incentives to keep us happy. We had just completed the first round of 100 courses with the air force, there was old friends Mike and gang at Native Place to catch up with, Steve’s staggered birthday bashes that went on through the week, an Easter egg hunt with Irene Anna & Stephan and the standard post breakfast cool off in the lake to look forward to as well.Peace Bliss and Happy LandingsAstrid Rao

Hi All,

The east west transition is complete and we now have a consistent west wind blowing every afternoon. Flying at Shelar is on as usual.  Here are the highlights of the last few weeks.

Mother, daughter & hammock:

Captain Shyam came for the weekend in the begining of the month. At that point we were still moving between Tower Hill and Shelar. While he was away flying Anisha and Anaya enjoy a peaceful relaxed afternoon at Native Place. 

A very special flying lesson at Native Place:   

A Pair of fledgling  bulbulls fall out of their nest in the bamboo growing inside the central courtyard at Native Place and a few of us  get to witness their parents give them thier first flying lesson.

Welcome back Michael:  

Michael is back in Kamshet once more from Hong Kong along with Ian, Mark and Ben. Shelar Mama was mighty pleased to see an old familiar face and greets him with his inimitable gusto.

Nirvana’s Air force and civilian training continues to run through the month: 

EP and CP batches in progress for the air force during the weke and all you wonderful people on weekends. 

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao

On Saturday I went flying after an entire month and a half. I could not wait to get up in the air and was hoping for good conditions. We got there early and after some ground handling walked up to takeoff. Due to the cross wind  pilots had to take off, make their way  in tail wind to the venturi and the little  SW. facing ridge  left of takeoff to gain height. The wind being quite strong people were able to gain enough height in this area and fly over the cliff and once at the upper cliff level the sky was all lift.

 There were many pilots at takeoff and things were going slow as we had to give each one a chance to gain height. I dallied a while at takeoff and when I did get connected the wind had started to play up- on and off it went and I thought ‘oh oh! It is going to be a top to bottom for me today‘

I looked up to see all the other gliders soaring high over the cliff behind takeoff.  As soon as  the opportunity presented itself  - I inflated , ran hard, and flew straight to the venturii With a few tight figure of eights I was soaring high –  Once I got up it did not take much to stay up -  it was easy lift and super smooth  conditions and we all sailed along effortlessly.

After an amazing dreamy flight I landed a happy woman ready to head back to the city on Sunday morning.  Sinchan, Soren, Kunal and Ashwin who shared the air with me that day were all hoping the weather would do a repeat performance on Sunday. They reported to me that conditions changed and what was ‘maska i.e super smooth on Saturday turned boom boom on Sunday.  Well J – that’s what the weather has a reputation for doesn’t it?

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao

 We are happy and honored to be training the forces once more. Nirvana Adventures has bagged a prestigious Air force contract to train over a hundred airmen and officers from across the country in the art of paragliding.

Peace Bliss & Happy Landings

Astrid Rao