I grown up, I want to be a pilot. I will fly you to Hong Kong”, I would always tell those words to everyone when I was a kid! And guess what I did this Christmas vacations? I went for a Paragliding camp to Nirvana adventures, Kamshet near Lonavala for five days.
On the first day, I started of with ground handling where I learnt to handle the glider. And second day with bunny hops which were small flights with radio instruction for ten to fifteen seconds from the training hill. The best part is you are solo from the start.
There were people coming from all over the world. I interacted with pilots from Luxemburg, Germany, England and Norway and people across India. I learnt various types of knots from the Daniel, the German pilot.
Third day, I had a little bigger flights with radios, which last about a minute. And I’m flying already! And as I landed I heard my instructor tell me, “Welcome to the fidelity of pilots!!” On the next day, I was making my own approaches to the landing spot! Wow, I can fly on my own now!! Nirvana’s where I discovered the joy of flying; just like a bird and free up in the air which was truly amazing! It was just my glider and me, high up there! I was a solo pilot fulfilling my dreams!
The fifth day, my last day after five hours of Parawaiting, (waiting for good wind conditions for flying) I had a fantastic fifteen minute solo flight, top to bottom from the Tower hill!
Alas! I completed my P1 (1st level course) and I’m desperately waiting for my P2 (2nd level course) to begin. P2 is where I can expect at least one hour flights each day!

My Instructors: Sanjay Pendurkar, Ravi, Yogi and Ramesh.
More information at -à http://www.flynirvana.com/ , http://www.nirvanaadventures.com/