“For those, who are determined to fly, having no wings is just a little detail.”

If you wish to grow a pair of wings & fly high, pay a visit to a quaint yet picturesque village, Bir in Himachal Pradesh.  Jump from the second highest site (Billing) of the world to fly for an uninterrupted, soul-indulging ride of 35 – 40 minutes long at INR 3000 only.

It’s a gift – the free life!

When they first harness you, it feels just like an ordinary thing before any other activity. When you see the parachute spread wide on the ground, it looks like any other adventure gear. When you look around & see people taking off, you don’t even bat an eyelid.

It’s only when they ask you to run, you realize how magnanimous & majestic it is. Jumping from 8500 ft. + doesn’t give you an adrenaline rush. It gives you the rush of your life. You fly high & mighty in the sky & all your troubles vanish into thin air. You glide swift & smooth like an Eagle eyeing its prey from thousands of feet away. It liberates your soul & you begin appreciating the gift that has been bestowed upon you – the free life.

Bir to Billing & then Bir again – the 28 kms., back & forth journey:

You begin from Bir, hike 14 kms. to reach Billing – the launch site. They harness you in less than a minute & you are ready to connect with your adventurous side.

My feet started to shake when my glider asked me to run down the slope. “What if  I fall? What if the parachute doesn’t open? What if I make a fool of myself? And then I saw a 10 year old flying with his glider. That was enough impetus for me to give some competition to Usain Bolt. And that’s how I started running too. In 5 seconds that seemed like 5 long minutes, my parachute caught the drift & we soared high. I still remember when my feet went up in the air;  I felt like a Skylark.

In the words of P.B. Shelly,

“Higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest

Like a cloud of fire;

The blue deep thou wingest,

And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.”

The Azure Sky & the Finished Puzzle:

The pieces on the ground from up in the air, seem all part of a puzzle. A puzzle that’s been finished for long. A puzzle that starts to make sense when looked at from such height.

When you fly this high in the air, everything looks beautiful. In that short time frame, you develop compassion for the world – the lush, green valleys; the pretty, colorful houses & fellow human beings.

How big or small something is – depends only from where you view it. Our problems sometime seem bigger than life. Yet, when you are in the air & look down, everything seems smaller.

The best part of the glide is definitely the landing. When you gradually approach the land, all you care about is – yourself. And you thank the gods since you are safe, sound & happy.

“Waking or asleep,

Thou of death must deem

Things more true and deep

Than we mortals dream,

Or how could thy notes flow in such a crystal stream?

We look before and after,

And pine for what is not:

Our sincerest laughter

With some pain is fraught;

Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”