By NNN-PTI
New Delhi : Stressed out executives seeking to escape the city crush, young urban professionals with a spirit of adventure or the plain restless youth, all seem to be heading towards the vast open skies to recharge and rejuvenate.
Paragliding, a sport that imitates the flight of a bird, ranks high in popularity with flying schools and clubs registering a hike in the number of people signing up for weekend jaunts and short term courses.
“When we started 10 years ago we had a lot of foreign tourists as clients but recently we are witnessing an increase in the number of locals taking to paragliding. This might be so because more number of people have more disposable income in their hands and sports like paragliding are more fulfilling than going to the pub and downing a couple of drinks,” says Sanjay Rao, of Nirvana Adventures, a paragliding school in Maharashtra.
Pranab Kukreti, who heads Treks and Rapids, an adventure sports company based in the capital seconds Rao. “Among all the aerosports, paragliding is now very popular and we have been getting more enthusiasts from smaller towns like Gwalior, Lucknow and Chandigarh,” he says.
The sport requires skill and knowledge of the terrain as well as the weather conditions. “I started paragliding some six to seven years ago and continue to do so because I find it a great stress buster. Also I am ambitious it gives me an opportunity to improve myself constantly,” says Gokul, a banker who resides in Mumbai’s Lokandwala area.