Being Adventurous In Goa

Amazing Goa Beach

Well, being adventurous is easy and fun when you are young and fit. However, the matter takes an interesting turn when you are errr…..fat. There, I said it. Apart from having problems in fitting into normal-sized clothes, fat people are always scared of treading on someone’s toes because their kindness is directly proportional to their weight.

The same holds true for me.



Most of the times, I don’t run because I’d hate to repeat 2001 Gujarat earthquake (and, no, I wasn’t running at that time. I was ummm…..you know, ummm…never mind). I don’t do rock climbing because I love their existence and the joy those rocks bring to millions of people all over the world. I don’t like gymming because those machines seem fragile to me and I really don’t want to break them (because for one, I don’t have money to compensate the owner, and another thing, I’m a shy girl who hates to bring attention to herself).

I digress. Although someone told me digressing is good, I will try not to. So coming back to the topic of adventure, couple of years back, I went to Goa with my family (I know. Goa with family? Uhh huh. But don’t worry. A year back I went again with friends. There, I redeemed myself, didn’t I?)

I did all the usual touristy stuff of roaming the streets of Goa, shopping and beach walking but the most amazing thing that I still remember is para-sailing. Yes! I did para-sailing!!!!! Great stuff, isn’t it?

But to be honest, it wasn’t planned. It was totally spontaneous.

Whosoever has visited Goa would know how beautiful the shacks look in the evening. While we were vacationing there, we had taken to spending evenings at the shack.

Colorful shacks in Goa

 
So here I was eating hot onion pakooras with chocolate-chip pancakes (no, it’s not weird combination. You just need to try it.) and suddenly I saw a group of men and women getting ready with life jackets while taking selfies.

To say I was intrigued is an understatement. Instead of going alone to investigate, I dragged my bro to see what all the hoopla was about. Well, as you must have guessed it, it was a team of para-sailors. Until then I didn’t even know there was something called para-sailing. I only knew about sailing and para-gliding.

When I asked the guy what’s para-sailing, he said that he takes a small group of people who wants to do it 20 nautical miles from the shore and then they do para-gliding through a tied rope.

On the right side, you can see para sailors ;)

On one hand I was excited to try and on the other, I was scared. Scared because being fat, I could only think of disasters like falling down from 10 storey height into the sea and ropes getting cut. The worst doubt was, would I fit into the life jacket? I barely did.

Being scared, I asked my bro to go. I was thinking to gain voyeuristic pleasure. He refused – denying me that measly pleasure. He’s really not into all this stuff. For him, vacation is lounging around beaches or someplace comfortable, and just eat. Nothing wrong with that. I too like that but sometimes adventures like this are just too tempting.

And I succumb to it. With a heart that was ticking like a time bomb. I could ear my own heartbeats but still I was determined to see this through. The worst thing that could happen to me was getting dumped in the middle of the sea. Even though that was a scary thought as I’m a non-swimmer, what the heck? I was wearing a life jacket and I firmly believed that I’d be rescued quickly because hello! I’d be visible even from the shore – an undue advantage of being large.

Although I gave myself lot of pep talk before boarding the motor boat that was supposed to take us into the sea, I had started sweating. Yes, I swear. Suddenly my palms were turning greasy and I had to take huge gulps of air to keep blood circulating properly. It was like a mini anxiety attack!

But let me tell you this, it was worth. Millions of times worth. The jokes, the doubts, the uncertainty. Everything was worth.

Because the view that I got from the top of the sky was incomparable; the joy of floating in the sky was immeasurable;  and getting dumped in the sea water (and gulping gallons of salty water in the bargain) thinking the rope could no longer take your weight only find it was a prank by other sailors was priceless!

I wish I had water proof camera with me. I’d have taken thousands of pics of that moment. Although those pics can never compare with the real experience, it would at least do the work of tempting other cowards like me into trying it.

This post was written for Rise Above Fear campaign held by Indiblogger.in and Mountain Dew.