Stuttering in the air!!

Continuing on our “Different” theme, as planned we, Manohar, J.P., Suraj and Sujit met at Pune Gliding club on 16th May 2010. Manohar was accompanied by a friend , while Suraj came with his older brother. Manohar and his friend were the first to reach the venue. As they still had some time at their hand they proceeded to a nearby restaurant for breakfast, where I joined them. During the breakfast we had an interesting discussion about whether to join a smaller or a big company. Mind you, when two stutterers are up against you, its better to be on their side! It was very clear to us that a more organized and clear thought process is required to convince someone or at least make sense to someone. As we had a very fruitfull discussion and breakfast, all three of us headed to the gliding center again, only to find that the gliding will take another 45 minutes to start. I was really excited to see the gliders. Meanwhile Manohar saw a group of dogs and very empathic about their state, and angry on a few of them for encroaching on our seats. But later made some adjustments and found some space in between (Sorry! I can attach the photographs :-) ). Soon, we were joined by Suraj, his brother and Sujit. All of us headed to the person-in-charge to check how long will take for our number to come. We came back to our seats and started discussing Suraj and his brother’s trip to Leh, and people were quite amazed when I told about Sachin’s adventure on his Bajaj scooter to Kargil.

As we were having our discussion, a glider took off. Some of us ran out of the shed, to watch the amazing flight of an engineless plane. As time passed by finally it was our turn to fly! Maohar and his friend went out first. They had an amazing flight and were looking quite thrilled after the flight. They shared their high points during the flight. My dream had finally come true to be in the cockpit of a flying plane (even though I was specifically asked not to touch anything) . I had some time for my takeoff, so I started chatting with the pilot about the process of becoming a licensed glider pilot. He advised me to come again and go for a longer flight (around half an hour or more), to see whether I really like it and the make a decision. He also gave me some tips as to how to convince a pilot to take me with him. As we were talking, The ground crew got a signal on his walky-talky for clearance. So here was my time to make it in the stuttering record books as a the second Pune SHG member to fly in a glider (first is Manohar, congrats buddy.) I thought about a speech that I would have to give once I land and people I would like to thank. But suddenly I realized that there were no media person as it would have been highly improbable of them being present without an invitation. As the pilot released the rope attached to the glider, we had a momentary free fall (a high point during my flight). The river, the road, the city were looking amazing. My pilot was very good guide too. He showed me a few landmarks around the place.

After all of us were done with the adventure, me, Manohar thought of spending the evening at Sujit’s place, as it was closeby. We got our food packed and headed straight to Sujit’s apartment. Instead of watching T.V., we thought of talking. By the time we finished our lunch, it was 5.30 p.m. After an hour of rest, we headed out for an evening walk. Me and Manohar left for our places around 8 p.m. It was a very nice and pleasant Sunday evening that I have spent in last few months. Me and Manohar would be leaving for Goa this Thursday to attend Harish’s wedding on Sunday. Looking forward to my first vacation in a long time.