I knew I had to do it sometime in my life… and then one day the time had come. I had to jump off a plane from about 12000 ft up in the air with an unknown guy straddled to my back. It’s called a tandem sky dive and what an experience it was. My husband knew the wild side of me always straining for adrenalin and so decided to gift me an experience for my 30th birthday. A SKY DIVE.

I could not have asked for a better location, which is one of the gratifying experiences of a sky jump. I was in New Zealand, in a little island called Waihiki, which is a few boat hours away from Auckland, the capital of NZ. There is something about the vivid colours of that country which is simply breathtaking. And with the vantage view point I held that day, there was no scenery as awesome.

My husband and I were picked up in a four-wheel drive truck by a fit looking lady and taken to our drop point. I got geared up with the jump suit. I was given some instructions… and strangely so, I didn’t have any fear.. I was only eagerly looking forward to it.

We took off on a little plane with NO DOORS!! Reminded me of our “kaali-peeli” auto. And NO SEAT for us either… except for the pilot. Expectation of the excitement didn’t spoil the thrill of resting my butts on a seat. When we circled above to the location of the drop spot up in the air, I was told to dive! Just like how I would into a swimming pool! Well.. it sure was an inviting blue below… I could see the sea and spots of land far, far, way too far, below. And I was waiting for the countdown to take my leap into thin air with my baggage of a man… my co-jumper… at the count of three… one… two… three… and ahhh! I jumped and caught my breath for a second… I am still a mortal and a human… but the anxt I felt evaporated in less than a few seconds... and I was squealing with delight… and I was like a bird… and I was free falling … till about 3000 ft from the ground.. And surprisingly we had plenty of time to ‘feel’ the jump... unlike a bungee or where it’s over way too soon… just a few precious seconds. Here I could think… feel... and realise that I was in the skies and falling and falling… and could see all the beautiful colours of the world beneath me… the brilliant blues of the oceans.. And the same ocean seemed to change colour like a mosaic of blue greens… and patches of the most wonderful greens of land and pastures and darker trees… There were homes and people who looked a wee smaller than ants around colourful sugar cubes … It was awe inspiring. I remember I thanked god for this brilliant vista that I could hover and see… How lucky are the birds! We even passed close to a few cloud puffs… it was a fairy land. I could breathe easily… I could feel the wind rushing past my fingers… It was exhilarating. I want to do it again… and may be again and again.

It was finally time for us to pull the chute… and I was alerted about the same… After an immediate tug when the chute was released, we slowed down to a lazy zig zag the rest of the 3000 ft. Which is what you can see in the pictures. Unfortunately the aerial photographer was not available the day of my jump and so any pics of my sky jump experience was only the ones taken by my husband from our little digital camera from the land below.

We landed running… and didn’t falter and fall… So that is the story of my sky dive. From getting into the plane till touch down, it took about 40 minutes… It was a very gratifying experience. You can read more about skydiving, its history, equipment, blogs, humour etc at www.anidayventures.com. Glad that there are now opportunities to sky dive in India. You can check out the organisers at http://www.anidayventures.com/node/80