May be not many are aware of Pune based Shital Mahajan because sky diving isn't one of the most popular sports in India but that doesn't mean that this Indian sky-diver is short of achievements.
Shital Mahajan marvels at the unprecedented sport of sky-diving in India and holds the title of the first woman to have sky-dived from both the poles of the world, which is quite unbelievable because Shital, then 19, had never seen a parachute except for in movies and pictures before her first jump, which was at the North Pole.
Surrounded by ice from all sides without even a corner spared, when Shital made her first jump on April 18th, 2004 in a temperature of -37 degree Celsius from a height of 24,000 feet and created a world record, she had no idea if she'd even make out alive.
Upon reaching the North Pole, Shital was informed that she has to land on only a small piece of ice, adding to that was the fact that after she jumped and opened her parachute, it looked to her that it was torn and panic struck her instantly causing her to open the emergency parachute, but she soon realized that the primary parachute was just designed like that. By then came up another problem. There was a huge possibility of both the parachutes getting entangled but Shital's quick thinking helped her in managing to wrap the second parachute around her legs so that there will not be any technical hindrance in the landing. Although, landing safely was still a difficult task, which she successfully mastered and became the first woman to have sky-dived from the North Pole.
For this jump to take place, Shital's father had to put their house on mortgage but perhaps that's what passion is.
After this jump, her courage knew no bounds and she went ahead to create more records with her second jump, which not even the bravest of sky-divers jump at the idea of. This second record creating jump was made from the South Pole in Antarctica, in the gravely cold temperature of -38 degree Celsius on December 15th, 2006 from a height of 11,500 feet and become the first woman to have done a free-parachute fall and sky-dived from both the poles, giving her 3 world records in just 2 years.
Shital then went on to make 11 national records by 2011 and was also awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award after receiving other such accolades.
She is now prepared to create another world record and 2 national records and will be heading to Spain on 23rd August along with 85 Indians who will sky-dive in a foreign country, which will be the world record.
in this trip one national record would be that a maximum number of people will jump together in an hour's time and the other one would be that a group will sky-dive in 6-12 hours. An important and noteworthy fact is that all the people who will be a part of this group are entrepreneur and amateurs all will be sky-diving for the first time.
Shital will be a part of these record making jumps and will supervise this group of 85 Indians.
After returning from Spain, Shital will be preparing to go to the Mount Everest base camp in October and she hopes that she will become the first woman to have sky-dived from the Mount Everest by next year.
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