Flying in the sky....

It was a second attempt to get a shot of fame..

It was 2 weeks back when 9 of us had rushed to cambridge and then to march just to know that our turn to jump was at around 4.00 and we had the clouds shower to delay it more and high winds to make sure we did not do it that day. Last week was quite hectic in terms of work and stuff and even though we had decided to jump together we had to split up. So it just ended up that 6 of us decided to leave to March on Saturday so as to have sunday as reserve day...

It was a busy friday, but we managed to book tickets to Cambridge and GK and party got time to ask for a cab from cambridge on Sat morning. There i was on a nice and neat friday night @ Thakur's house having some khichdi rice, Thakur and Bhupat to give some company in listening to Jagjit singh's ghazals as if our lives was gonna end the next day...

It was way too early for my standards to wake up @ 4.15 Am and not sleep in the cab to Victoria / Bus to Stansted. It was almost 6.55 when we left for Cambridge from Stansted after making sure our stomach's were comfortable and ready to bear the brunt of dives... We reached March airfield after some circus and Thakur's communication with the cab driver. Luckily the cab driver got us into the place correctly without much delay. We registered ourselves by 8.30 AM and assumed we would dive by 11.00 AM MAX. But it did happen that many of the guys had come in at 6.30 and there was no way we could dive before 3.00 after noon. Then started a bout of snooker as if playing for the last time in life, tempers flaring and eventually our team (Amol & me) winning the tournament of 4 matches) by 2 against 1 & 1 each...

It was time for our turn, guys started off to the plane as if there was nothing ahead of this in life.. It was a whole 20 mins before our photo session was over and Amol and Thakur went on board and a few mins we could see parachutes floating not knowing which is Thakur / Amol.

It was time for me, Bhavin and Rohit to get ready. Before we knew, we were tethered tightly to our instructors and were 7k feet in the air on a plane with the door closed, so that guys don't look down and chicken out. Our camera people were the most active people, taking out videos at 'ain mouke' (hindi) and making sure they had their forty winks before the 15 mins of the plane reaching the height of 12k feet. These moments passed like years, when finally the doors opened and all you could see was a layer of clouds which seemed like a Sea of foam. Then it all started, Rohit was the first to go out, and all i could see was he disappearing in the cloud cover, and i was like 'oh! Man, where am i??'.
Hell nervous i moved to the door and those few seconds felt like a few moments, before which my instructor had tightened the noose and we fell off the plane's door as if we were diving into the sea.

The next 45 seconds was something you can give your life for, making 2 somersaults in a row, i could see the scene alternating between the Sun in a far end of horizon to the plane above us which soon became a spec in the sky, as we dropped an approx 8000 feet in sky within 45 seconds with the camera person flying around with her wings and egging me to smile. I wanted to give a loud shout 'Yahoo!!', but the clouds making sure i could not, with the moisture entering my mouth and keeping it wet. It was a fitting moment when my instructor opened the parachute and i could see my camera lady falling down. It was a scene to see, with gravity and air acting against each other...

The force experience was amazing, the parachute pulling me back by quite a few feet... Now we started doing some rounds with the parachute, trying to do clockwise and anticlockwise turns with the earth's gravity making sure we feel the g-force. The rounds which no roller coaster in the world could give you even for a million pounds....

The scenery i saw was amazing, something which is worth more than a few thousand pounds put together. A very beautiful skyline and cloud cover and then neatly matted fields below which looked like blocks of lego toys.
The parachuter and me had a good conversation with him telling that he was parachuting for the past 20 years, and me telling i am gonna try to become one.... whew he must be enjoying life.... Nevertheless before i knew, i had spiralled in the parachute with a speed double of any roller coaster and had still managed to keep myself looking at everything visible within my horizon and eye sight.

It was seconds before i knew we were about to land and i had to pull my legs up when i realized i could not, and then we (crap) crash landed with the instructor falling over me. Fortunately the speed was far lesser than the g- force and the instructor said ' Better luck next time', as if he had read my mind that i am gonna do this many more times to come. As i waved to Thakur and Amol who had the camera, i saw Bhavin and Rohit come down and give me the thumbs up, than i had realized that i had lived some of the best moments of one's life. Coming out i gave a shake hand and hug to my instructor, who said i very well handled myself for a noob sky diver. By the time i reached the office, i had decided i still had a minimum of 20 drops to do, perhaps some solo. But then it is for another day and another time....