Indus Paraglding at Pavagadh, Gujarat (Mumbai Mirror News)

 Picnic paradise: Pavagadh

With his exquisite monuments and adventure sports, this tiny hill station in Gujarat is an ideal holiday destination

By Eisha Sarkar
Posted On Monday, February 08, 2010 at 08:06:55 PM

A red ribbon flutters in the wind. It's past noon. We try to ignore our baked backs as we take in the breathtaking view of the valley below the 2,700 ft Pavagadh hill. "Now!" We turn our heads to see a man running backwards with a giant bow-shaped parachute attached to his backwards. "Not there, not there. There are too many trees," shouts the instructor. The man moves a little to his right, gathers speed and flings himself off the cliff as we marvel at the chute. The paragliding adventure finally kicks off at Gujarat's most popular picnic spot, Pavagadh

We watch as the paraglider hovers at the base of the cloud. The proud instructor, Mumbai-based Sanjay Pendurkar of Indus Paragliding, tells us, "You need to look for a thermal (hot air current that rises up in a spiral as soon as you jump off the cliff. Once you find it, you can stay in there for as long as you want to. The day before, a man was up there for five hours!"

As people wait for tandem paragliding (the term used for the joyride-like experience where a trained paraglider will take you along to give you the feel of the sport), we look at the landscape sprinkled with exquisitely-carved monuments that make up the only UNESCO-World Heritage Site in Gujarat.

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