May 30, 2008 Astrid Rao

Fireflies light up the May 2008 end of season party at Shelar

I like walking in the rain in the countryside. Getting drenched to the bone and moving along to stay warm. But to get wet at 'the end of season party' at Shelar means wet jeans, squishy boots, damp gliders sitting out on wet ground with rain dripping in your hot curry and cold beer and [...]

May 29, 2008 Astrid Rao

Nobody told me Shelar Mama was bringing Vada pao to the site today!

Landing out at the parking is always exciting. Heading out to your favorite field you may find that it has just been tilled or worse still burnt out. Then the wind could switch and you may experience too much drift or the wind could pick up and then you may land short and have to [...]

May 26, 2008 Astrid Rao

Thum Pas anyone?

    This batch of young students came in from Pune and Mumbaito do the 5 day course. They were treated to cold refreshments at the site thanks to 9 year old Vijay‘s enterprising spirit. Now its not just chai but chilled thum pas (read thumb’s Up) , Pepsi and Miranda are other options available [...]

May 25, 2008 Astrid Rao

The Magic of Shelar

Marco Doveri came in from Italy for 3 days of flying. He comes on work to Pune about twice or thrice a year and combines work with flying at Kamshet. If you are thinking - How convenient, the lucky so and so … read on. He has been coming over for a few years now [...]

May 20, 2008 Astrid Rao

Cloud Takeover

On our way back from Kamshet to Mumbai Sanjay, Sunith, Parmar and me all had a blast cloud spotting. It was plain to see a dramatic difference in the cloud cover from the day before. Large ever changing puffy shapes dominated the skies often blocking out the sun and creating dramatic patterns of shade and [...]

May 19, 2008 Astrid Rao

The roads of village India

The internal road between Kamshet, Native Place and Karanjgaon (Shelar site) has been getting a face lift .for the past couple of months. The main Kamshet – Uksan ( Native Place ) road is half complete and thanks to a visit by Ajit Dada Patil the potholes in the stretch upto Govitri were hurriedly filled [...]

May 18, 2008 Astrid Rao

Cloud Messengers

  Consistent fluffy, cumulus, are drifting in from the west on strong gusting winds. These ‘meghdhoot’ or cloud messengers are alerting us to the upcoming monsoon season. For the past week or so they have been sneaking across the night sky leaving us blue skies in the morning but as of yesterday we see more [...]

May 16, 2008 Astrid Rao

Vidya gets her ground handling groove

A few years ago Vidya married Gokul a paraglider pilot and the trips to Kamshet, lots of parawaiting and managing an infant in the back of beyond all came as part of the package deal. A while ago she signed up for a course and watching her manage on the field with her daughter running [...]

May 15, 2008 Astrid Rao

Black Winged Kite

We have often seen the black winged kite hovering alongside the takeoff at Shelar displaying enviable kiting skills and then suddenly swooping down soundlessly to catch a lizard or a mouse in its talons. Spotting one is always causes excitement and just watching it hover is awesome. Taking a picture of one however, has always [...]

May 10, 2008 Astrid Rao

The Shelar boys are flying

Under the hawk watch of Steve the 3 Shelar kids Bandiya, Vinya and Sandeep have taken to the skies and have already notched a few hours. We see them here on takeoff gearing up to touch the skies. Ravi is the designated instructor for the day and guides them in the air with a gentle [...]