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 Landings 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 

Nirvana Adventures

  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 Nirvana Adventures

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

Nirvana Adventures

While driving up to Kamshet on Thursday afternoon I scanned the hills in the east. The wind seemed to be bang on and as I approached Tower hill I spotted a few gliders peacefully floating about in the sunshine. As I watched them glide about gracefully in the sky I felt this desperate urge to be up there with the wind in my face and a song in my head.The wind was smooth and consistent and I could almost feel that amazing sensation of being high up above it all. It’s been a while since the season has started and I have not yet had a single flight. Tomorrow – I must get out there.So the next day I went to the site with Dylan, Ravi and the rest of the gang to find strong gusty winds and a long long unfruitful wait. The skies are evading me but this cannot last. Saturday came and I decided not to go to the flying site but head out with the students and do some ground handling and what do you know – we had no wind at all but out at the tower we could see gliders floating in the distance.  Damn! Another opportunity missed. Sunday turned out to be my lucky day. A nice hour and a half long flight and an uneventful landing in catabatic wind. Whew!It was a great long weekend. I had promised Saurin that I would see him before the week was through. There was a great bunch of students and pilots at Native Place.  David, Graem, Soren  Bruno, Femka and Tjhis  from across Europe. Vijay from Hyderabad as well as as a group of students from the Indian Navy.The season has begun beautifully for me. Can’t wait for next weekend!Peace Bliss & Happy Landings Astrid Rao Nirvana Adventures

The world famous Nirvana Adventures - end of season party at Shelar site was a rocking success. We upped the ante at this year’s party by organising electrity and music at the site. Shelar Mama’s house was the prefered location as usual and the party started after some of us hiked up to the shrine of Gonshu bai offered her thanks for watching over us all through the season and urging her to bless this idyllac area with a good monsoon and consequently a good rice crop.It was a meeting of the old wise men and children at the shelar site and Nirvana pilots, students and friends. A great big cookout supervised by the veterans, and some rocking music and refreshments  kept us dancing and having fun.And then once more it was time to walk back througt the fields illuminated by the moonlight and back to Native Place where the party continued with pilots in the dipping pool highlighted by an illumination of fireflies as you can see from the picture above.

Last weekend CNBC-TV18, ‘Business with Pleasure’, a show that features leaders of corporate India at their relaxed best joined hands with Nirvana Adventures to take TIML chief executive A.P. Parigi on a paragliding adventure. The site was Tower Hill Kamshet and the the focus was on achieving the dream of free flight.Mr Parigi and Tanvir Gill anchor of the show spent an idyllic afternoon on top of the mountain along with paragliding enthusiasts discussing business and enjoying time out as they waited for the skies to become hospitable so that they could spread their colorful nylon wings and fly freely like birds in the sky.Watch the show in the first weekend of the new year to see the action unfold. Nirvana Adventures

As Dylan and I drove up from Mumbai on Friday afternoon a grey cloud hung over the city and followed us up the expressway all the way to Kamshet. It reflected the mood of the city hanging low and despondent over us. The newspaper we were reading did nothing to cheer us and I put it down and called Dwane who was at the guesthouse and he said today is ‘Hemmakvall’.What I asked ? what did you say? Hemmakvall he replied and I disconnected the phone thinking it was a bad connection and I was unable to hear him clearly.It was the Swedish influence – what with a bunch of 18 Swedish pilots living at Native Place and one non flyable day already. They are back for the third time thanks to the wonderful air at Kamshet and the great food at Native Place, they had entered via Mumbai on the morning after the trouble began and were safely ensconced at Native PlaceHemmakvall I found out meant – stay at home and chill and apparently that is exactly what  Dwane and Hiren were doing when we reached Native Place - Cleaning their gliders on the lawn under a cloudy sky, watching the birds and marveling at the strength of the wind as it whipped through the trees making an orchestra all on its own.When Thursday’s strong winds did not do the usual thing of mellowing down in the evening and being hospitable to us pilots they resorted to Plan B –  hemmakvall and what better place to indulge chilling out than at  Native Place. Becca and Joel had come up from the city with Braydon their little son. They too indulged in hemmakvall as you can see from the picture above.But Saturday evening had a surprise in store for us in the form of Sanjay’s impromptu plan – we pulled out all the XS and Kiting wings and drove across to an amazing spit of land for a full on kiting session. The scene was fluid and colorful a very impressionistic sight… 15 or us or more, Indians, Americans, Swedish, and French all sharing one little piece of land and the skies a few feet above. Kiting in strong winds is an exhilarating feeling and collectively our spirits soared. Hiren soon found his newly cleaned glider strongly attracted to a tree but it was rescued by Ravi who is also famed for his tree climbing skills.On Sunday the winds were strong but not that strong. We were expecting it to calm down by the evening and it did. But thick stratocumulus cloud cover restricted the ceiling and flights were low, out and quick – what with a large, long awaited shower that ended the evening activities.To see more pictures of our  kiting by the lake click herePeace Bliss @ Happy LandingsAstrid Rao Nirvana Adventures

The rains have arrived and the Paragliding season at Kamshet has come to a close. Our gear is packed away and for the next 4 months there will be no rainbow colored wings in the sky.

This season makes a dramatic impact on the region. The golden and brown hills baked by the summer sun make a dramatic color change from brown to green. The venturies and gullies that we have flown over will soon have silver snaky waterfalls running down and splashing up and around in the strong wind. The dry baked fields will get slushy and the farmers will be happily rushing about their flooding fields to sow the paddy and transform these mucky fields into patches of verdant green.

Some of us will step out into the sky before this period is over though by doing the birdie thing and flying off to flyable climes. A month from now Sanjay Sunith and me are off to France for a 3 week trip.

Until then I will do some serious gardening at Native Place ( monsoon is a great season for planting), Sunith will do some serious studying ( he is going to miss 3 weeks of school) and Sanjay will make all the arrangements necessary for the smooth running of the guesthouse while we are away as well as for our European adventure.

Astrid

On our way back from Kamshet to Mumbai Sanjay, Sunith, Parmar and me all had a blast cloud spotting. It was plain to see a dramatic difference in the cloud cover from the day before. Large ever changing puffy shapes dominated the skies often blocking out the sun and creating dramatic patterns of shade and light.

We kept wondering how Yogi Ravi Steve and the rest of the boys were doing at the flying site. Either very low level flights or would it be some good old ground handling. Shirish called to say that it had rained in Mumbai the night before and he gave us an update on the rescued Black winged kite. He had taken it to the BPSCA hospital at Parel where it was identified as a fledgling. They were taking care of it for a while and Shirish hopes it will be ready to be released and fly free in a week. Nirvana Adventures