Mumbai: India’s skydiving queen Shital Mahajan, who has completed 650 jumps and holds several Indian and world records, is excited about encouraging 100 Indian women to be a part of history by creating a world record in skydiving.
The 31-year-old Mahajan started an initiative that she calls a celebration of Indian women’s empowerment through skydiving, in which the Padmashri awardee plans to motivate and inspire women to attempt two records — in skydiving and scuba diving — on Australia’s Gold Coast from April 16 to 24, 2015.
Those who want to join in do not need any training, she says.
“A tandem skydive is safe and preferred by people who are jumping for the first time since it requires little or no training. It is the quickest and easiest way to experience the exhilaration of being in a free fall,” said Mahajan at a press conference to announce her skydiving plan.
“The basic [tenet] of tandem jumping is that you will be strapped to a highly qualified tandem instructor to jump from 12,000-14,000 feet [3,657 to 4,267 metres], falling at speeds of around 120mph [190km/h] before your parachute opens up.”
It means that the first-time skydiver doesn’t have to do anything but just enjoy the view, she said.
“After 10 years in this career, I wanted to do something for my country — particularly for the women of India and show the world they are capable of anything,” she said.
What perhaps is ironic is that does not allow civilian skydivers. Skydiving was banned in the country following an accident in Kerala in which a woman skydiver lost her life.
“That is why, we have to go to Australia to accomplish this feat,” Mahajan said.
Nevertheless, her battle with the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation is underway to get an approval that skydiving be allowed for civilians in the country.
Her doggedness in pursuing her passion has already given her a unique place among women achievers. At the age of 20, she convinced her reluctant parents to allow her to perform her maiden parachute jump over the North Pole on April 24, 2004.
And, as if that wasn’t enough, she thought, “Why not Antarctica?” She performed an accelerated free fall parachute jump over the Patriot Hills of Geographical South Pole in freezing temperatures from 3.53km on December 16, 2006.
Her fascination for the sport never abated, she says, though her parents were getting a little tired of her adventurous spirit. “‘Enough of this, it’s time you got married,’ they told me. I did get married and this momentous occasion was solemnised in a hot-air balloon, some 600-800 feet [182-240 metres] above ground.”
It was her participation in a skydiving formation of 70 skydivers in the US and being the only Indian among them prompted her to organise a tandem skydiving with 89 Indians in Spain.
This is what prompted her to invite 100 Indian women (men and families can join once this number is covered) to skydive in Australia where a scuba diving camp is also organised — apart from a little holiday.
