Kids want to fly
Yesterday at the training site there were a couple of little boys barely 9 or 10 years old holding up bed sheets and running full tilt – they had no preconceived notions about flying with the sheets. They have been watching us train here and have some idea about what one needs to be airborne – they were simply having the time of their lives – turning around to demonstrate kiting the glider, jumping ahead to demonstrate bunny hops etc. they were just imitating the training process and having a blast.
Their antics reminded me of an article I wrote ‘Kamshet and the Circus in the Sky’ almost 9 years ago, to give people an idea about a day at the flying site. I had ended the article by musing about the village children who come by to see the circus in the sky (us paragliding) and wondered how our activities and their exposure to us would affect their lives.
Back at the site and in the ‘present moment’ my eyes turn towards Ravi Shelar one of those very village boys who today is a paragliding instructor and a competent tandem pilot. And then there is Bandya Sandeep and Vinay, fondly called the Karanjgaon Contingent. Yesterday’s children and today’s young men who are now part of the Nirvana Adventures team all having achieved their flying dreams as well as dodged the bus that takes all young people away from their homes family and roots in village India to the drudgery of menial work in the city.
The circus in the sky sure has impacted many lives
Peace Bliss & Happy Landings
Astrid Rao
Angel Lift
Driving up to Kamshet on Friday morning was an exciting affair as always. Sanjay Dwane and I headed out at an unearthly hour to get to the training site on time.We had a luncheon party planned for the village kids and us at the site after the training and we were looking forward to an interesting afternoon.
Gave the flying site a miss in this afternoon and decided to stay and enjoy a quiet peaceful Native Place. Hiked up to Boulder Rock in the evening (our secret sunset watch point) to commune with the birds, the rocks and the setting sun and then we all got together to enjoy the night sky, the stars, the moon and the amazing fragrance of the Raat Rani (night jasmine)
Saturday saw Hiren Dwane and Me head for Tower Hill early in the morning. The skies welcomed us with fantastic conditions – light winds and small thermals and, although one could not get too high it was a hospitable friendly sky to glide about in.
By late morning the winds were howling and Ravi, Dwane and Hiren took off at about 3 pm in fairly strong wind conditions. They got up to 1400 meters. Looking at them from the takeoff getting super high, wings pitching and twitching, I sank down besides my glider and decided it was better to watch and wait. Presently I was rewarded with super smooth lifting conditions – the flying experience akin to floating in a beautiful dream. ‘Angel Lift’ I like to call it.
On Sunday afternoon too we faced a similar phenomenon with strong gusty winds but this time they persisted for a while and just when I began to think that walking back to the van as a possibility, things got better. I launched and was greeted by a welcoming even tempered sky.
All and all it was a great weekend. All the students in the Elementary Pilot course logged many flights and were super excited and I got the conditions that I had been hankering after since our Bir Billing trip in October.
Peace Bliss & Happy Landings
Astrid Rao
A Super Training Weekend
The winds seem to have settled into a reliable pattern and sure were happy with the big leeway it gave us this weekend
We stuck to an early morning schedule and our Elementary Pilot Course participants had super winds, super flights and made super progress. They were a great bunch and we had a great time together.
The early morning call took the wind out of my sails though and after all the running around in the field i indulged in a big lunch and then a still bigger siesta giving Tower Hill the miss!
One great thing about the weekend was convincing Shilpa to continue training when she had second thoughts. She went on to have a number of flights and the shared joy is reflected in the picture above (you see her in the middle flanked by me and Mitali).
Ravi, Bandya, Sandeep and Vinya all had super flights though and from what they tell me the awesome Tower Hill flying days are here once more.
Peace Bliss & Happy Landings
Astrid Rao
Diwali Week at Native Place
The festival of lights was celebrated in style with oil lamps adding to the warm glow at Native Place. Lamps, Fireworks great food and happy people set the festive mood and students, pilots and house guests all had a wonderful time, away from the noisy firecrackers and pollution in our own little piece of paradise.
Many new gliders were opened on this auspicious occasion. Sunith Rao spent the week at the training hill with the new Ozone Ground Hog and enjoyed the forward launch runs downhill and the odd hop.
The wind was fairly mild and very very switchy and the training progressed slowly.
I was happy to go off to the Tower and fly with Hiren, Dwane, Hans and the rest of the gang. It kept me from having to watch my son on the training hill.A lot of para waiting ensued but we were able to squeeze in the odd half hour to an hour and this kept us extremely happy. Gokul in his new Airwave Sport 4 entered the air at Kamshet and reported that he was extremely happy with it. Daniel in a new Element and I too got a brand new Mojo 2.
What is it with new gliders and the preoccupation of keeping them clean? Last year this time I had a new glider that I landed on a dusty road on the very first flight. This year too I did the very same thing instantaneously making a brightly colored wing eat dust and look suitably faded.