Indian Express
Sign In | Register Now
Newsletter | ePaper
Indian Express > 

Para-jumper ties knot in hot air balloon

Font Size
Pranav Kulkarni Posted: Apr 20, 2008 at 2331 hrs IST
Related Stories: PUCL wants C’garh Act repealedA scratch and lose card for the CongressCarnatic musician N Vasudevan passes awayRudy calls some Cong leaders ‘pets’, draws flakLet activist receive US award: Nobel laureates to GovtVerma yet to appear, panel to wrap up case
PUNE, APRIL 19: It was a Guinness book moment when para-jumper Sheetal Mahajan, dressed in a red saree, tied the knot with Vaibhav Rane, 600 feet above the ground in a hot air balloon.

“Marriage is a memorable moment, and I always wanted to make mine special. I am passionate about heights, and that is how the idea of getting married in a balloon struck me,” said Mahajan, who has many other firsts to her credit.

On April 18, 2004, Mahajan made her maiden para-jump from a height of 2,400 feet above the North Pole. She become the first person to jump over the North Pole without any earlier jumps to her credit. On December 15, 2006, she became the first woman to do a free-fall para-jump over the South Pole. This, in comparison, was a staid affair, but it created ripples of excitement.

The muhurat for the wedding was scheduled for 5 in the evening. But it was preponed to 7.30 am due to bad weather. “There were five people in the balloon — my husband-to-be, my father, panditji, pilot and myself. Right from phere to kanyadaan, all the rituals took place in the air,” said Mahajan.

Ads By Google
Rane is a software engineer working with an MNC and is based in Finland. Getting married in a balloon was not even in his wildest dreams as he has tried para-jumping only once. “I had never thought that I would get married this way. But then it was a wonderful experience,” he added.

Marriage, however, doesn’t mean the end of career for Mahajan, a BSc graduate. She is leaving for California on May 1 for a Maharashtra Government-sponsored training in para-jumping.

Ads By Google
Post Comments
Message*
Maximum characters allowed     
 
Name* Email ID*
Subject* Country*
TERMS OF USE:
The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s).
I agree to the terms of use.
View all Messages [ 0 ]
View all Messages [ 0 ]
Group Websites : Express India | Financial Express | Screen India | Loksatta | Kashmir Live | Biz Publications
Privacy Policy | Feedback | Site MapThe Indian Express Group | Work With Us | Adverise With Us | Contact Us© 2008 Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd. All rights reserved
*Recipient(s) name *
*Recipient(s) e-mail address *
(Separate addresses by commas)
*Your Name *
*Your e-mail address *
Select your Country
Comments(optional)

The name(s) and e-mail address(es) you provide will
not be used for any purpose other than to inform the
recipient(s) of your identity. (*mandatory field)
 
Close