500 feet above the ground!

Imagine floating mid-air, with no support of anything, being swung by great wind blowing on your face, and nearest point on earth is 500 feet below you! --- That's para sailing...!

My friend Milind and I have this zeal for adventure sports. And when we get a chance, we don't look back or keep thinking, we just do it! And so was our adventure of Para sailing. It was arranged by Nisarga group in the dry Lake bed near Hosakote. Its a huge (few km in radius) lake bed. Totally flat and lot of wind. So at the beginning of flight, your parachute is blown up with lot of air:-

You are tied to a jeep at the other end. And as soon as the jeep moves, you get a gentle lift in the air... And there you are...! As the jeep picks up the speed, your parachute gets filled in with more and more air, and you rise up in sky!!

Very soon, you can see the horizon in all directions! And the air current makes you float. A small imbalance and you will tend to 'feel' as if you are falling that side! But you don't...! And you feel so weightless, as if you are like a feather.. A fear of falling down rises in you, but you keep floating without support! You can't even grab on something for support anyways!Two minutes of this ride, its a thrill!

As the jeep slows down, you slowly come down, and there is a person to catch you! Its so systematic and well practised, that its as if you are parcelled through air!