KARACHI: As the cool winds of the north reach down south, the spirit of adventure in some Karachiites takes them to the top of the little hills around Gadani, in Balochistan, early Saturday morning to jump off and, no, not to end their lives, but to enjoy while pursuing the fun sporting activity of paragliding.

That was what the 15 or so individuals including men, women and children were doing at the place, some 46 kilometres from Karachi, at around 7am. “Paragliding is a seasonal activity as the weather and winds are favourable for it from October to March. We would like to organise more such adventure opportunities during this time but we also need at least 15 people to register per trip. Otherwise, it is not feasible for us,” said Aliya Farrukh, one of the owners of the PDQ or ‘Price, Dependability and Quality’ Club, responsible for arranging the trip.

“Earlier, we used to hold the activity at Churna Island but due to the extra security situation there now because of Kanupp, we have decided to find another point. And this place, though a little far, seems ideal,” she said. “The location, dimensions of the hill, the landing areas around it, all play an important role in paragliding. This hill, we discovered, is great as it has wind blowing on both its sides,” explained Qambar Ali Burair from the club’s management, who was there to assist the adventurers along with their very experienced instructor Ajab Khan.

“Adventure sports are almost non-existent here. The government does nothing for the promotion of adventure sports. Well, when it does nothing for the promotion of regular sports, then adventure sports don’t have a chance anyway. So there are a few private ventures like us for the people, who are taking to the idea,” Burair said.

Meanwhile, a group of six young men playing football to kill time until they got ideal wind, jokingly compared the height of the hill they would soon be climbing for paragliding with their office building in Karachi. “We work in a corporate setting with few opportunities for adventure,” said one of them, Adeel Arif. “That’s when me and my friend Haris Chishty thought of paragliding. We gathered another four of our colleagues and here we are,” he added.

There were also two children, 12-year-old Emaaz ur Rehman and his 14-year-old sister Rabia anxiously waiting their turns. They were there with their parents of whom only their dad was going to join them in the adventure while the mother was glad to watch from a distance. “My husband and kids love adventure. Just last week they went snorkelling. And this week it is paragliding,” Tayyaba Rehman laughed.

“Though we have tandem paragliding for children with the instructor in control of their flight, we are letting these two do it alone today on the request of their father,” Aliya Farrukh explained. “And judging by their enthusiasm and confidence, it will go fine,” she said.

Her husband Farrukh Saeed, who also manages the club with her, said: “Above all we want this to be a family event. The gliders and equipment is expensive and not even available here. It takes a lot of wear and tear in the hands of amateurs and due to this we have to replace a glider in six to eight months, but we want the people coming to us to have fun.”

Meanwhile, the instructor, Ajab Khan, made sure that the folks knew well what they had to do once they were airborne, explaining to them about hand controls such as risers, brakes, strings, suspension lines, wind sails and para wings, and making them do several drills. “I will be in touch with them throughout on the walkie talkie, too,” said the instructor, who has also trained army, special services group commandos, Air Force, Motorway Police, etc., in paragliding. “I normally do this in Kaghan and Swat but since it gets very cold there around this time, I come to Karachi to teach paragliding to the people here,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015