A Trip to India's Paragliding Paradise- Bir #TravelAdventure2019

Every adventure junkee dreams of doing paragliding at India's most famous paragliding site, that is Bir. Mine too. We have a tradition in our family to go on a trip every year and from last 4-5 years, I have been the one who was planning every tiniest of details for that trip. So, this year Bir has to be on the list. I planned a trip to Amritsar followed by Dharmshala, Mcleodganj, Bir and Khajjiar. I was so excited for this adventure even during the planning phase, so you can probably imagine my excitement when we actually drove for Bir and finally when I was standing at that peak from where I was supposed to take off.

I booked a morning slot for paragliding with TravelBirBilling tour operators. We left from Dharamshala early in the morning and reached Bir by 9:00 am. From there the tour operators picked me and my brother for further ride to the top of the mountain. That Jeep ride was one of the experience I will never forget on this trip. The narrow roads and the speed of the driver had my heart in my hands but view outside the window kept me engaged for the whole duration of the ride. When we reached to the top, we can clearly see so many paragliders in the sky, one hand glider was taking off and more solo gliders were hiking up to their take off point. We took a round of the hill while our riders were making the arrangements. The view from the top was surreal. On one side you can see the whole of Bir village and maybe its surrounding ones too and on the other side you can huge snow clad mountains which as per our operator has hot springs. Hearing about those mountains, I wished to go there too which will be another story on its own but lets keep our attention to the current adventure ride I'm gonna take.

After clicking dozens of pics, making videos of the surroundings and sulking in the breezy winds, I got ready for the ride of the lifetime. After installing all the calibers, harnesses and attaching the parachute and other accessories, my rider and I were ready to take off but had to wait for 10-15 minutes for the wind to flow in the desired direction and during that duration I was constantly irritating my rider by asking the same question- "Why are we not running and taking off, there's enough wind here😅". But as they say- "Sabar ka fal meetha hota hai". Indeed. All the wait was worth the ride. The bhaago sound still echoes in my ear and the feel when suddenly my legs got off the ground and I was in the air. I would lie if I'll say that it was all good and exciting, that one second or maybe millisecond when my legs couldn't feel the ground beneath it, my heart skipped a beat.

Now starts the jolly on the go ride for next fifteen minutes where I'm seeing one of the best views from  the top, making a shitty video of myself from the gopro, saying senseless things and just capturing the best moments of my life. While seated amidst the air and swinging my legs between the clouds, I didn't realize I also had to go down and here comes the worst part - landing. 100-200 jyada le le bhai but landing mat kra. Apart from the fact that I'll miss this great view, another reason why I sucked at my landing was turbulence. The moment we start to go down, I started feeling pukish and my stomach was on another ride of its own. As we were getting close to the ground, my rider asked me to lift my legs up to have a safe landing. He didn't tell me to make balance between my legs and the ground once we reach there and I was not in a condition to use my brains. And I landed on my ass. "Shit" that's how my dad reacted who was standing and watching me land from the ground. Chill, the sound was loud but I wasn't hurt at all.

The whole experience from getting into the jeep to go up the hill and the paragliding, I had a smile on my face from ear to ear. I was scared at some points but that didn't impact my excitement. Every time I do an adventurous thing, be it ziplining, or trekking or going on a solo trip or anything that I haven't done before, it makes me feel good about myself. It is like a meditation to me that heals all the things not going so great in my life. During these times, I feel complete, empowered and confident about myself. Me hoon hi nahi is duniya ki vibes aata hai yaar. Before leaving the landing site, I knew I had to do some new adventure real soon. I complete one adventure with a hope to be back and do something new. Life's short and there's a lot of things to do and experience. Don't stop getting into newer shits each passing day and you'll have the best life one could imagine.