News for March 2011

The Big Jump!

Never even dreamt that I would do this one day. Let me date things back a little to explain where and how it all started.

My friend Bhuvan did all the research and mentioned that there is a place called Umm-Al-Quwain where we can do sky-dive and wanted to know if I was interested. It was hardly a month before our term exams and I knew, it’s now or an opportunity lost. So decided to go for it. On the day of the jump it was a mix of nervousness and excitement. Bhuvan, Rachita and myself reached the place at around 9am, signed a hand full of papers, got introduced to our trainer and finally all set inside the plane after a small training session. On reaching 11K feet, there was only one thing that crossed my mind. “I can’t believe I am doing this” 🙂

The moment I got off the plane and the AFF (Accelerated Free-fall) started, fear was not there in my head as I knew I had a good 50 seconds at least before I can hit the ground unlike in a bungee jump where you have 5 seconds. The tandem instructor did a couple of 360 degree turns and every time he did that, I could feel the pressure in my ears. Guess this is what people call as experiencing G’s. Once you reach the no drop zone, the parachutes get deployed and it feels like someone pressed the pause button in a video. It takes a while for you to realize that you are still loosing altitude as the air that was gushing past you at close to 200 kmph and now its somewhere around 60 kmph. The instructor asked me how it was like to get off the free-fall. Told him it looks like everything has come to a sudden halt and it is in slow motion now. He smiled and asked if I want to learn how to lose altitude fast in a parachute? Gave my obvious answer. Then he showed me the small grass land where we had to land. He said, the wind direction plays a major role in landing and as its good, he said, we will be able to drop altitude vertically for a few seconds and then start drifting towards the landing area. He then started to pull one side of the chute and we started to literally spiral down. We repeated that fiasco by pulling the other side of the chute also once and then I could see that we were really close to the grass strip.

So totally I had a 40 second AFF followed be a few minutes of gliding in the parachute. This is something that will definitely last a life-time for me. Once you are on the ground, you’ll feel like you have conquered something. And then you will ask, “Is that all? Can I do it again?” 😀  In simple words, it is a perfect blend of excitement, achievement, sense of calmness and clarity.

As usual, I called home post all my adventure to say I just jumped off a plane 😉 Somethings are to be kept as a surprise and this is one of them. I had to explain a couple of times before my dad actually understood what I was trying to tell him as he definitely didn’t expect me to do this. I’m sure by now my parents know they have one crazy devil at home.

[mudslide:picasa,1,jayakumar.rajaretnam,5120767935300913345,320,center]

So what’s next? Solo sky-dive. I’m sure this is a long way to go. But someday, I will have the certificate to say I have conquered the blue skies. And ya, it does not end here. I need to scuba dive too. Give me some nice places to do these two guys!!!

My first jump! – Bungee

19th November 2004, 9pm: It was the day before I had to leave for US on my first onsite assignment. A hot day but the night was very pleasant in Noida. Decided to treat my friends in the PG I was staying and we went to Atta market. We saw this huge crane (120 ft high) lots of flood lights and people around. Got close to see whats going on and guess what! a bungee jump. Not a lot of takers so there was no queue at the ticket counter. I initially had no intention of doing it but this friend of mine (a sardar) was all excited and was like… JK let’s do it. It’s gonna be fun! you will not regret. We stood there for about 10 min to see at least one person do it. Finally one brave soul did it and we decided to go for it too.

All geared up and the elastic rope tied to my leg, I had to hop to a small compartment attached to the crane. At 120 ft, the night view of the atta market was simply amazing. The chill breeze flowing past me was a catalyst to the experience. I was now asked by the staff, “Do you want me to give you a push or are you going to jump yourself?”. I told her I will jump myself. The reason was I wanted to experience every single moment of it. A push might take it all away.

Trust me, this was the most difficult part. Hands stretched, legs tied and trying to tell your mind to push your body forward so your center of gravity can fall in front of you and you can make the jump is not easy at all. Every time I try to push myself forward, my legs will not allow and I just can’t do it. After about 15 seconds, I gave all what I could to push myself forward. The next few seconds, was bliss. At this moment, there were two things running in my head. First, “WTF am I doing???” and second, “why am I not able to feel the elastic tied to my leg??!!” 🙂 After a few seconds, when you reach a point where the elastic cord pulls you up, that’s when the rope tighten around your leg and you get your “life” back. I literally mean this.

Those who have stage fright should try this. When you go on stage the next time, just think of this moment and fear will no longer be in your eye. Called up home and told them what I did. Ya, it started off with my mom scolding me, “Is this the time to do such crazy things? You are traveling tomorrow and you are doing all this non-sense.” 🙂

 

Learning 1: You never know if opportunity will knock again. So when you have the chance, go for it.
Learning 2: If you want to do something crazy, do it first. Listen to no one but your instincts. Else it might be an opportunity lost.