"When A Gust Of Wind Blew...": 80-Year-Old On Skydiving From 10,000 Feet
In July 2024, on the first World Skydiving Day, when Dr Shraddha Chauhan saw Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat take the plunge, she asked her son if she could do it too. The conversation ended there until her son said, "Let's do it," and took her skydiving on her 80th birthday this year.
While Dr Chauhan was excited and confident of taking the flight, her husband and second son were not in favour of it and rejected the idea. "They said it is not the right age," she recalled.
"But I said no, now that I have thought of it, I will do it. Additionally, when my son, an expert instructor and God are with me, everything will be fine," she said.
"The desire I had in my heart, to fly in the sky like an aeroplane, today my son has fulfilled that wish. It's a very proud moment," Dr Chauhan said after jumping from a height of 10,000 feet on her 80th birthday.
Speaking exclusively to NDTV, Dr Chauhan credited her son, Retired Brigadier Saurabh Singh Shekhawat, for fulfilling her wish.
When asked if fear gripped her at any moment, she jokingly said, "I wasn't afraid of jumping from 10,000 feet, but I am scared of your questions."
Remembering the experience, she said, "When a gust of wind blew, I fell into a thoughtless state. I wasn't afraid of anything."
Dr Chauhan, a yoga practitioner, said that one needs to be healthy and physically fit to skydive. Despite battling vertigo, cervical spondylitis and spinal disc issues, Dr Chauhan took the plunge and became the oldest Indian woman to complete a tandem skydive.
"I do get health check-ups done every quarter. I wake up early and practice various yoga asanas - Mandukasana, Tadasana, Gomukhasana, and Pranayama. A slipped disc is an old friend of mine, but after skydiving, the stiffness has reduced, I feel," she added.
Dr Chauhan took the plunge at Skyhigh India, at Narnaul Airstrip in Haryana, two hours from Delhi. It is the country's only certified civilian drop zone.
In a video shared on Instagram, Dr Chauhan is seen preparing for her jump with the support of her son, Chief Instructor at Skyhigh India.
"She is my mother, Dr Shraddha Chauhan. Turning 80 years, and today, I have the good fortune and honour of jumping with my mother," he says in the clip. "Happy Birthday," he adds, as his mother plants a kiss on his cheek.
The mother-son duo then walks hand in hand and takes off. At the end of the video and after the successful flight, her son can be heard saying, "Entering into the 81st year in style. This is excellent at 80."
Towards the end of her interview with NDTV, Dr Chauhan shared a black and white picture of herself with her son, Shekhawat, in her arms.
"Just like my son lifted me in the sky and kept me close to him, I too used to carry him around in his childhood," she said.
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