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X is for X-treme Sports

There are certain kinds of people who just can’t be content with the humdrum of everyday life. They seek out adventure and are daredevils. These are the people who bungee jump, paraglide and take part in X-treme sports.

My earlier post on U is for Underwater Pursuits covered some of these, but today, I will continue with those that can be done on land and in air, too. Here’s a link that discusses adventure sports in India. 

Although I wouldn’t really call myself a daredevil, I have done parasailing twice ( Once in Thailand and once in Ibiza), rappelling( in Mahabalipuram, Chennai) , trekking ( in Munnar), hot-air ballooning in Corbett and caving in Araku Valley, Vishakhapatnam.

The rappelling in Mahabalipuram was at Silversands resort and was a day trip from Cognizant where I was working then. We had to scale a tall outcrop of rock, which was almost vertical. We had to hold on to small ledges that were carved into the rock, and we were also secured by a rope in case we slipped. But before embarking on this risky undertaking, we had signed an indemnity bond that waived the resort of any responsibility in case of a mishap, which made us pretty nervous. Since I’m typing this out several years later, I’ve lived to tell the taleJ

My trek to Meesapulimalai, Munnar, has been captured here by a co-traveller and friend. 

The hot-air-ballooning that I did at the Kosi riverbed in Corbett was in a hot-air balloon that was tethered to the ground. So it wasn’t that risky, to be honest! Here’s a picture of the event. 


The caving in Araku valley is not for the claustrophobic! I felt a bit dizzy as I entered the caves and could smell bats everywhere. Not something I would do again in a hurry!

The parasailing in Pattaya, Thailand, was my first time attempting this sport and although I did not take a video or a picture, here is a video of some stranger on the net attempting the exact same thing.

I repeated parasailing, but this time with a friend in Ibiza. The two of us parasailed together at the same time. Here, too, my luck ran out as far as photographs and videos are concerned ‘coz the videographer lost only our videos and photos!  The one thing I’d like to add about parasailing in Ibiza is that when it’s time to land on your boat, the landing pad isn’t smooth at all. You could risk shredding your legs! Again, I’ve lived to tell the tale, so I guess I’m like a cat with nine lives.

I invite those of you who have done X-treme sports to share your experiences in the comments section.

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