Paragliding In Bir

How can you go to Bir and not do Paragliding? Isn’t it something obvious and so obviously it was on my to do list as well. Bir pronounced as “Beed”, is one the most popular sites for paragliding, not just in India but across the world too. To add a little trivia here, Bir also hosted the paragliding World Cup last year in the month of October. It was the first time when India has hosted a paragliding World Cup. So needless to say that doing paragliding in Bir is a must and I was very keen on doing it. But things always don’t go as per your plan.

Also Read : Pretty Palampur : Straight From The Heart !

Even thought we were desperate to do it the very first day of reaching Palampur but we couldn’t do it because of the inclement weather. The first day was majorly spent in soaking in the beauty of Palampur and our unique cottages at Himachal Heritage Village. We waited for a long time for the weather to get propitious and winds to get in our favor but it just didn’t happen. We came back empty handed and the desperation of taking that jump was now way more than before. Blame it to awesome stuff that some of the fellow bloggers who were already done with paragliding had told us.

Also Read: Enjoy Authentic Himachali Stays With Himachal Heritage Village !

The next day I woke up praying for a sunny day. God heard us and the team from the site informed us that the weather and the wind both were favorable for paragliding. Few members from the paragliding team received us form the base and then we went on the top spot in a jeep. Just when I reached the top I saw a lot of people taking the jump and a lot of colorful paragliders in the air.

Soon it was my turn to get geared up. The team puts in a lot of effort to ensure the safety of the flyer as well as of the pilot. There is also an option of taking a GoPro camera which will record your whole flight. I obviously opted for the camera.

 While I was waiting for everything to get ready I had butterflies in my stomach. Soon the instructor called me and started harnessing me with the paraglider. My pilot was very quite, I tried nudging him by asking stupid questions but he didn’t budge. I then said “Bhaiya girlfriend se ladayi hui kya?“ (did you have a fight with your girlfriend?) to which he responded by bursting into laughter. Love is the culprit, always always.

The instructor guided me not to get scared and just run when the pilot instructs. I did the same and in less than a second we were in the air. It just happened, I didn’t do much of anything just few steps and the heavy wind blew us off. It was extraordinary. I felt so light. The wind was strong and cool.

I was constantly chatting with the pilot. I asked him stupid question and he responded to all of them. He told me how much he loved his job and to see people screaming and shouting in thrill. 2500 meters above the sea level everything looked small and insignificant. I realized I am just a small entity of this huge universe and the only way I can make some difference is by my good deeds.

Once you get in the air and the excitement settles you get comfortable there. The flight is of approximately 35-40 minutes and it is a visual treat. I thanked God that I was able to do something like this and that I was able to witness such incredible sights. The pilot then told me that it was the time for landing. He instructed me to keep my legs straight, I did as he said and we had a pretty smooth landing. I was worried about the landing more than anything else because I had heard stories of how people hurt themselves while landing.

As I set foot on the ground all my apprehensions were put to rest. The initial jump done and the safe landing also done. The butterflies went to sleep I guess. As soon as I landed the members of the team came to unharness me and then we went straight to their office to collect our recordings that we had done through the GoPro camera.

That’s all about my paragliding tale how about you ?

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