Longing For Parasailing

One question from the seven famous questions of ‘Husn-ara’ from ‘Hatim -Tai’ was “What is that you saw once and wish to see again and again”? If I were to answer it, I would say ‘Parasailing’ or ‘to fly high in air just like a bird’.

Flying in air has always been the dream of many Homo sapiens paving the way for aeroplane invention. However, airplane flying had always been boring, tiresome and these days scary too (since 9/11 and increasing hostility in the world.) for me. I would rather just love to flap my arms, bend my torso, and gear my legs in backward motion to break the gravity and shoo…up in the air. I got lucky to have some eighty percent of my dream turned into reality in ‘Pataiyah’( a magical island in Bangkok).
Although I was, fastened up within tight safety jacket and tied by a cable to the motor boat, but still. The experience of running on the deck for less then a minute, until the boat gained the momentum, was very similar to what I used to see in my dreams. Just when my legs left the deck, parachute on my head blew up, and I saw my self above the sea level, above the sand, above everything; it all again became my dream.
Oh! That wonderful sight, that ‘Bird view’…
Suddenly the world became ‘Lilly putt’, and strangely beautiful. From above, that small island look picturesque, a landscape painted by an unknown artist with hues of blue, brown, and green. Faces, movement, and noise of people were quite inapprehensible which I think may be the reason of added charm to the view. All appeared tranquil and serene. In addition, the feeling of light breeze stirring my facial nerve endings was intoxicating.

Nevertheless, the euphoria was short lived. Just after five minutes of staying in air, I started decelerating, back to same crowded place full of pollution (physical and spiritual).

So do I want to do it again? YES! Yes and yes…Only this time I wish to do it like a real bird, a sky dive may be!

It has been five years or so since that experience of ‘Parasailing’ but the memory of that elating feeling of flying, that touch of pure clean air is still fresh in my mind. In times of sorrow or when world seems cruel to me I just close my eyes and relive that experience;
Really, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”