Another Hell of a trip - Pune

Here I am signing in again to write about my Pune trip. Despite the hectic work of March(Financial Year End), the excitement of visiting Pune had made me more cheerful all along march.

I always have the habit of reading travelogues. That too when I am visiting a new place, I don’t want to miss the best of the place. While reading one such blogs, I happened to read about Tandem Paragliding in Khamset, Pune. 

Ever since I did river rafting and cliff jumping in Rishikesh, I started to fall in love with adventures. The thrill of living on edges can never be explained.

Pune trip is always close to my heart for lot of reasons. One reason being it made me feel so independent. And another reason being I was able to strike down a few from my bucket list.

All my friends had already started to Pune. As I had got some work, I started two days after them. I booked an early morning(5:00 am) flight from Chennai.  I was feeling really excited that I would be witnessing the Sun Rise from top of the world. My flight landed around 6:30 am in the morning. My hotel car driver had already reached and was waiting for me. 

Local sightseeing in Pune
After refreshing, we started around 9:00 am to Shaniwar wada fort, a fort which was built during 18^th century. It is considered to be a haunted fort. After Shaniwar wada, we started to Agha khan palace. 

Agha Khan Palace

Agha Khan Palace is a national monument of Indian Freedom Movement. After the demise of Kasturba, Gandhi had expressed his wish that this palace should be used for the empowerment of Women. As per Gandhi’s wish, the palace was later donated in memory of Kasturba.

That night while dining with my friends, I was telling them about Tandem Paragliding in Khamshet, Pune. I was surprised to see two of my friends were interested to join me for paragliding. 

This is how it all started

Since others were not interested, we decided that all of us could go on a day trip to South Mumbai. We were a gang of ten. We booked a temporary traveller from Pune to Mumbai. We started early in the morning to avoid traffic.

Off to Mumbai

Mumbai-Pune Expressway -Google source

The road tripping on Mumbai-Pune Expressway was awesome. It carved through the scenic Sahyadri mountain ranges with lots of passes and tunnels. One such pass is shown in the picture. We reached Mumbai around 10 am.

We started our Mumbai trip with“Sithi Vinayagar Temple–Well known ancient Ganesha temple (1801).” 

From there, we had decided to go to “Hajji Ali Dhargh.” Dhargha, which is located in the middle of the sea and a path connecting it with mainland. The gushing tides from both sides of the path offered an awesome welcome. Mumbai skyline looked splendid from Hajji Ali Dhargha.

Hajji Ali Dhargha - Heaven on earth

From Dhargha, we headed to a Mount Mary’s church in Bandra. The main reason for choosing this church was to ride on Bandra-worli sea link, a civil engineering marvel. The sea link had been built to connect Worli to Bandra. I wished I could have got a chance to see the Bandra-Worli sea link when it is fully lit in the night.

Bandra Worli Sea Link

After being a Secular citizen covering three main religion's temple on a single day, we felt it’s time to answer the stomach’s call. After enquiring a mumbaikar, we got to know that Briyani will be good in Shalimar restaurant. We headed from Church to Shalimar restaurant. The biryani served at the restaurant was exceptionally good and also very different from south indian briyani. Apart from biryani, Kabab served was another feather to its crown.

We headed from restaurant to Mumbai Gateway after a scrumptious lunch. We had already booked for a Yatch ride in Gateway sailing club. I have convinced my friends to join me for Yatch ride. The cost per head was Rs.600.

Gateway Sailing Club - Yatch Ride

We had chosen the slot in such a way that we were able to witness the sunset from sea. Mumbai Skyline with the backdrop of Sunset was splendid. One hour ride in yatch was really a memorable experience. After Yatch ride, we went for little shopping in Colaba. After a jam packed day in south Mumbai, we started back to pune by 10:30 pm.

Sunset and the Mumbai Skyline

Paragliding in Khamset, Pune
Let me go back to my dream of flying. Yes Tandem paragliding in Khamshet. I was not able to stop the fire of flying in air. So I have checked up with few agencies for booking. I got to know that the tandem paragliding for the weekends have already been booked. Slot was available only on Monday. Two of my friends who were interested to join me, would have already started to their place by that time. So I was left with myself. 

I had two options. Either to sit up all day in my room or to paraglide alone. After lot of thinking, I had booked for tandem paragliding on Monday (06.04.15) 3:00 pm. I was successful in convincing two of my friends to join me to click some pictures. All the way from Pune to Khamshet, my friends were teasing me. The only time where I did shut my mouth for three long hours could be that Pune to Khamshet journey. I was completely nervous but still I really wanted to take that thrill.

We reached the paragliding spot by 2:55. But we couldn’t even see anyone there. After I called and enquired, I got to know that agency people were yet to reach the destination. At around 3:15, the agency people had come to flying site. They gave basic instructions regarding paragliding. 

Trekking to a small hilltop

Then we started to trek to the small hilltop from where the kickoff of paragliding started. My colleague was teasing me that he wanted a take a final picture of me. With the mixture of nervousness and excitement, I trekked to the hilltop to take-off.

All set for Paragliding

I always wanted to do risky things first before others try it. I wanted to experience it all myself before somebody could share their experiences. Too much right? 

Much to the pilot’s surprise, I blurted out that I would like to take the first flight. He gave me the jacket to be put on. All things were set for paragliding.

The tandem pilot had asked me to try running against the wind. Since the wind made me loose control, I wasn’t able to run against the wind. Then two co-instructors had to run along with me pulling my glider against the wind to soar up to the sky.

Soar up to the Sky

Take-off was the best part in Paragliding. I might not be able to do justice by putting it in words. So I will leave to the feel of every individual.

“Flying in air was always a dream..

 Finally that dream came to reality in Khamshet, Pune.”


My blue gliders started flying over the meadows of Khamshet. I was awestruck by the view it offered. I wondered how on earth these people would have learnt this skill. It’s just a pull of string(Lines in paragliding terms) which make the glider plane to dance according to the pilot’s wish.

Yeyyyy!!! Finally Flying in air!!!

When my pilot asked whether it’s thrilling, I said take off was pretty good. But Gliding seemed usual and I didn’t get much of a feeling of flying.

After that, my pilot smiled mischievously and told “Chalo. Lets see now”. Then using his speed bars and lines, he turned the glider hither and thither in a fast speed. I started shouting “Bussss… Bussss…(Enough.. Enough..), I then regretted for telling the pilot that it wasn't thrilling in the first place. 

The final best part was landing. When the wind pulls you in different direction, the pilot’s art of landing had to be appreciated. 
As I said earlier, Pune trip was one hell of a trip. And I loved every bit of it.

Month of Trip     - April'15
No of days of trip - 3 Days