Skydiving in Dubai...

Did I tell you about my Skydiving in Dubai?
As usual, it was Kannan who broached the subject.
” ram, are you interested skydiving?”, he asked me one afternoon
Of course I was. Who is not interested in skydive? The tension, the nerves, and sheer thought of diving from 13000 feet above is exhilarating.
I told him I was interested.
” why don't you book a slot for Skydiving in Dubai marina? Slots are available from last week of November”, Kannan informed me
From my office on the 33rd floor of Du Tower, I used to regularly see people skydiving in Dubai. I wanted to do skydiving ever since.
But wanting to do skydiving is one thing, but booking a slot and committing to skydiving is another. Anybody can do the former, but the latter needed
Courage, which I did not have at that time.
This is a problem of seeding a thought in your mind. It refuses to go away until you take a decision or an action.
The next few days I went through a flurry of thoughts and emotions. On the one hand there was this opportunity. I was in Dubai, and this sport was available. For all I knew, if I miss this, I may not get this  opportunity soon. We were already end of November and I was leaving Dubai on the 7th of December. This meant that I had a small opportunity window. I was already 54 it's old and I would be much older, and probably more scared the next time such opportunity was available.
In addition, my birthday was  on December 1, and skydiving could be great gift that I gave myself.
But I was afraid to commit.
I tried to analyse my fears. What was afraid of?, I wondered. Was it the fear of heights? Was it the fear of jumping from a great height? Was I afraid that something untoward will happen?
None of the above was correct. Skydiving, especially tandem diving was a safe sport. There was no cause for fear.
I also thought about James Murray of Impractical Jokers, who, despite being terrified of skydiving, had to do it as a punishment. I also remembered that George H W Bush the ex president of USA, had done skydiving at the age of 92. Also there was this lady, who did Skydiving at Dubai Marina age of 103 years!!
If they can do it, I can easily do, I tried to convince myself.
It was a difficult task. Suddenly we were on first of December, my birthday, and slot not booked for skydiving.
The tension was unbearable. If it was not now, probably I will never be able to do it. But I was afraid of committing.
December 1 came and went and I had not committed.
December 2 came and went and I had not committed. December 3 came and went, not committed.
Finally, on 4th of December, I booked for skydiving at Dubai desert campus on the 5th of December, which was a Tuesday. The cost was 1700 AED.
I had a troubled sleep on the night of 4th of December. Having committed I was a little stressed out about going through with the Sky dive. Now there was no going back.
To reach the desert venue of Dubai skydive, you have to take a bus going to Fuqua and get down at Margam Interchange. From there you have to walk about a kilometre to reach the skydive venue. The bus to Fuqua are few and far between. Since I was given it time of 12 noon I wanted to reach the venue as soon as possible. So I took a bus leaving from Bur Dubai at 7:40 AM and reaching Margam Interchange 9 a.m. This would give me enough time to calm my nerves and settle down. I also felt that if I reach early I could finish the dive early return to my room. We were already on the 5th and since I was leaving Dubai on the 7th, I had a lot of work to complete.
I reached the venue at 9:30 AM. When I reached there, I was told that  due to heavy winds the dive will be delayed. Needless to say that added to the tension.
Finally, my name appeared on the notice board. I was going to do tandem dive with Pablo, an instructor with more than 16 years skydiving experience. Pablo had a lean and taut body, with a confident voice to match.
While tying my harness, Pablo gave me clear instructions.
"We will be diving from a height of 13000 feet. I will be tethered to you. At the time of jumping, you should take a banana position with your head and feet tilted with body arching backward. Total diving time will be 6 minutes of which the first minute will be a free fall. During this time you should be holding the harness very tightly. After a minute I will open the parachute and tap you on your shoulder. Once I tap you, you can free your hands and move them around. At that time you will also be able to control the parachute and move around. About a minute before we land I will again tap you and you have to hold your hardness tightly again. At the time of landing you should be in sitting position with your feet stretched straight in front of you”, Pablo could not have been more clearer.
To be more clear, Pablo illustrated the banana position as well as the landing position..
I was harnessed and was ready to go.
Before you start the skydive there is a video shoot.
"How you feeling?", the videographer asked.
"Feeling a bit nervous", I replied.
"That is normal", he tried to calm me, " any message for your friends and family?"
I looked at the camera and said, " I am feeling excited, I wish you could have joined me here."
And with that we were ready to board the plane.
The plane was small twin engine propeller aircraft with the capacity to hold about 20 people. As we walked towards the plane the photographer took a couple of snaps. I gave a broad smile reflecting confidence and breeziness. I gave a smart thumbs up and boarded the aircraft.
I could not help but notice that Pablo was enjoying every moment of it.
The plane started. This was it. This was the moment I have been dreading for the last one week. Now there was no turning back, I was going to HAVE to jump.
It looked to me that everyone in the flight were enjoying and smiling except me. Even I was smiling, but mine was a fake smile covering my nerves.
Photographer was sitting opposite. He was taking videos all the while.
"Nervous?", he queried.
"Not much", I replied, "Pablo is going to be with me. I trust him."
"Please take care of Pablo", said the Photographer.

What the....? !!!
While we were talking, Pablo was busy attaching his harness to mine.
I looked out. We were high about the ground. Down below I could see cars small as matchboxes. We should be about 10000 feet above ground, I guessed.
Almost as if he read my mind, Pablo said, " right now we are about 4000 feet above the ground. We will be touching 13000 feet in a minute"
What? Only 4000 feet? We are almost in the ionosphere..
Things were moving relentlessly and out of my control. I could only sit and feel nervous.
Before I could think we were at 13000 feet. The doors of the aircraft had opened and ahead of me one team just jumped out.
This was the moment of reckoning. Till  now I had a faint hope that I could opt out. Now it was not possible. I had burnt my bridges. Only way I could reach the ground was by jumping and hoping that everything will be fine.
With Pablo pushing me, we reached the door, I closed my eyes...
... and we jumped.
What first hit me was the cold wind. Even though I was wearing goggles to prevent wind from hitting my eyes, the wind hit my face so hard that my cheeks started dancing around. Pablo did not face any problem because he was wearing a helmet.
I opened my eyes.  The photographer is right in front of me taking my photos. I knew that I was not making a pretty picture, but what the heck? I was 12000 feet above the ground and was falling rapidly. This is not the time to think about my looks.
As Pablo had instructed, I was holding onto my harness like for dear life
After what seemed like an eternity of free fall, Pablo tapped my shoulder.
"You can free your hand now and enjoy", he said, “parachute is open”
I was no longer in a free fall. With the parachute opening, my fall had become must more gradual and controlled.
Photographer was still there, floating with me and clicking pictures. I gave him a thumbs up.
He took a few more snaps and before I knew, he was on a free fall.
Now he was here right in front of me and now he was a kilometre below me and falling fast!!!
I was feeling a bit dizzy. Pablo tried to calm me  down. He asked me to control the parachute.
"Parachute has two handles. If you press the right side down you will move to the right and if you press the left side down you will move to the left. This is how you navigate a parachute to land in the correct spot", Pablo  told me.
I tried it. The movement was making me more dizzy.
"Pablo, you take charge of the parachute", I told him, " let us land quickly"
He took charge and within a minute we had landed on the landing area.
Videographer was waiting there.
"How was it?", he asked me
"It was good. I felt a bit dizzy. Pablo was awesome", I replied.
I slowly walked back to the skydive building. I was feeling dizzy and wobbly. I went and lied down on a sofa to settle myself.
I must have lied down for about 30 minutes. Got up, collected my CD and was on my way.
While walking back to the bus stop I saw that the aircraft was starting with the next batch of divers. I kept looking as the aircraft was going up and up.
Finally when it was as small as a dot, I saw the first diver diving out of the aircraft.
Seeing that I just dived from that height was even more scarier than the actual dive itself.
Looking back see that there were three stages of fear. First stage was before commitment, it was more I fear of uncertainty and fear of change. Second stage was just before and during the execution. Here it was more of anticipation and nervousness. Third stage after the dive, more due to relief and later when the staggering magnitude of what I had done sunk in.
But what the heck? What if I was afraid?
I had just completed my first skydive, a perfect birthday gift to myself...
No one can take that away from me.

My Zipline Adventure in Dubai

6-Dec-2017:

I did the Dubai Zipline adventure sport in Dubai Marina

As usual, it was Kannan who initiated this. He had told me, bout 10 days ago,  that Zip line has opened in Dubai Marina and the cost was 650 AED (about 12000 rupees).

I had not heard about Zipline. So I asked him what it was.

"A rope will be tied across two buildings. You will be harnessed to the rope at one building and you will slide on the rope across to the other building. The speed will be about 60 Kmph", he informed.

It sounded exciting and as usual with any other adventure sport sounded a little scary.

Since it had not started commercial operations, I did not give it any further thought.

On the morning of Monday, 4th of December, I booked for Dubai Skydive for Tuesday, 5th of December. This was a birthday gift that I had promised to myself. While booking for Dubai Skydive, Kannan asked me if I wanted to book for Zipline also.

Having booked for skydive, I was in a kind of high. So in a sort of casual, almost flippant way, I just waved my hand and asked him to go ahead.

So there I was, with two back to back extreme adventure sports bookings, if you see what I mean.

Probably, I had wanted to impress my team. Probably I had wanted to prove to them that age is just a number. Probably, I had wanted to show them I was a superman.

Probably, I was plain stupid... 

Who knows what I think?  

I had already completed my skydive on Tuesday as I was leaving for this adventure on Wednesday. The action was to start at 12.00 Noon. The office of X Line, the company that was organizing the zipline was located in 'P' Level in Marina Mall. Once I reached the 'P' Level, I got a little confused. So I asked Hussain, the owner of one of the shops in the P Level, if he knew the office of X Line. It turned out that he had a friend working for X Line and he had already completed the zipline adventure during its testing phase. He was very keen to show me the office of Xline. 

One the way to the office, I asked him, how it was.

He assured me that the ride was awesome, and that he was sad that it did not last more time. 

"It is just one minute", he told me

Surprisingly, I was feeling a bit nervous about the impending ride. I tried to cover my nervousness by indulging in small talk.

"Where are you from?", I asked Hussain

He said he was from Iran.

This was the perfect time to bring the topic of Skydive. I had met Parviz, who was from Iran, yesterday in the Dubai Skydive venue.

"Yesterday I did the skydive", I informed him

If he was surprised at the sudden change in the topic, he didn't show it. He was impressed.

"How was it?", he asked.

"It was a bit scary, but fun", it was my bravado answering.

"I do not have the courage to do skydiving", he told me in a matter of fact way.

 I did not say anything. 

But I was a bit scared of this zipline. It was difficult to visualize the you will be hanging high above Dubai, hanging all alone, harnessed to a wire. The possibilities for creative imagination was endless.

I tried to analyze my fear. What was I scared of? Was it the decision making? I was I suffering from Buyer's remorse? Was it the fear of heights? Was I afraid of the helplessness of it all? Was I afraid of the fall from a height to the ground level? Was it a fear that something will go wrong?

It was definitely not the last one. I knew that nothing will go wrong and I will have the best experience. Also, only the day before, I had dived from 13000 feet.

That was different. That was Tandem. I had someone strapped to me. Here I was all alone.

We reached the Xline office. The team was very young and very professional. Most of them were Filipinos. By now I was very nervous and asked if I could opt out.

"We have a 48 hour cancellation policy", they informed me. "Why don't you try sir, it is going to be fun", they tried to encourage me.

Marina mall is the end point of zipline. The starting point is the terrace on the 42nd floor of Emaar Building, about a kilometer away. 

We were taken in a van to the Emaar building. As we were approaching the building, my face must have displayed the nervousness. Judith, the Filipino support staff tried to calm my fears,. "This is nothing sir", she told me, "We did regularly during the testing of the zipline. It is a lot of fun", she told me.

"Do you have a break or something to control the speed", I asked Judith.

"No sir. The normal speed is about 60 Kmph, but it depends on your weight".

 "The heavier you are, the slower you will ride, right?", I asked her hopefully.

"No sir, the heavier you are, the faster you will move", she laughed her pretty laugh.

I racked my engineer brain. Somewhere there is a formula linking weight, acceleration and momentum.

I should not have eaten all those parathas.

"When did it open to public?", I asked.

"Yesterday. Today is day 2", she replied.

What !!!

You see, I am not the 'Early Adopter' type. I don't stand in lines to buy the first release of the new iPhone. I don't go to movie to watch First Day First Show. I will allow others to try something first, read their reviews and decide not to try it. 

Here I was almost an early adopter of zipline. 

We reached the Emaar building. As the lift was going up to the 42 floor, I was getting more and more nervous. Once at the terrace, I was very sure that I was not going to do the zipline, 650 Dirhams be damned. 

Except, I did not factor in the technical support staff at the starting point.

"I am very scared. I don't want to go through with this", I told the support staff. I was looking at the street which was 42 floors below. On this day, it seemed to be excessively teeming with tiny, ant like moving vehicles.

"Sir, it is quite normal to be nervous", he told me, "why don't we do one thing? Please wear the safety gear. If you still want to give up, you can always do".

So I wore the gear.

I told him, I was still scared.

"Sir, let me take your video. After that, if you want to give up, you can do that", he told me patiently.

In between my fear, I could sense the grandmotherly approach. You progressively move them to do what you want them to do. I was kind of embarrassed, if you ask me.

I stood for the 'Pre ride' photo and video. 

"Tell the world how you are feeling", told the support guy.

I told the universe that I was feeling nervous and was not sure if I wanted to go through with this.

"Sir, let them set you up at the starting block. Before starting, if you want to give up, you can do", the guy told me.

I looked around. One couple was just getting set to take the ride. There was nervousness in their eyes as well, but they were going ahead with the ride despite. If they can do it, why can't I?

I also couldn't figure out one thing. Just the previous day, I had done a dive which must be 1000 times scarier, but I did not feel the fear. Here  I was getting nervous about a ride that is going to last about a minute. 

Such are the ways of the mind, I suppose.

There were two girls waiting in the line behind me. I could see fear in their eyes as well. If I give up now, probably they will as well.

This male ego is a terrible thing. It makes you do stuff that you probably wont on your own. My male ego told me that I cannot let down the damsels.

So, between my instinct at self preservation and the stupid male ego, the latter won. 

I mechanically lied down, face down on the platform. They tied the harness to the rope. Once, everything was set, the support staff counted 3,2,1 and Go

I was off. 

It was nothing as I feared. From the first second, it was not scary at all. As I slid down the rope at about 60 Kmph, I could see below the magnificent Marina canal lined with yachts of all sizes. I could see the afternoon traffic of Dubai Marina and the beautiful Marina Mall at a distance. 

It was very beautiful. My eyes took in all I could. 

In about a minute, it was over. I had landed on the landing pad at Marina mall. It was all over except for the Video.

"How was your experience, sir?", the video guy asked.

I was all enthusiastic. "It is great. Not scary at all. I am sad that it is over so soon", I gushed

The young team clapped.

I did the ride in the afternoon. Perhaps an evening slot would have been good. I could have got a better view of evening Marina.

After the ride, while walking towards the office to collect my bags and stuff, the Xline associate commented, "This is nothing. Skydive is scary"

I told him I did skydive yesterday. He looked at me with new respect.

I felt proud.