Defying disability, this 31-yr-old wants to conquer the skies

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 8

“My dream is to fly high,” said Shashi Sharma, who is the first physically challenged person in the country to have done paragliding at 5,000 ft.

Narrating how he forayed into the risky adventure sport, Shashi, who successfully took the flight from the Gadsa valley in Kullu district on May 5 last, said: “I was sitting at the paragliding site with my friends telling them that I wished to do paragliding and make a record and one of the instructors overheard me. He came to me saying he would help me if I had the will power.”

A confident Shashi, who loves to overcome challenges, said: “The problem is not our physical disability, but the disability in our attitude that creates mental barriers stopping us from taking the initiative and by setting records. “I wish to inspire others,” said the 33 year old, a resident of Bhattar village in Jubbal tehsil of Shimla district. Shashi completed his XII from Senior Secondary School, Karsog, Mandi district.

He has scripted history by travelling 600 km from Shimla to Nangal in Rajasthan via Hisar in one day in 2014 on his specially improvised Royal Enfield motorbike, that too, a year after his shop of Mahindra spare parts was completely gutted.

“I wished to travel to Leh-Ladakh on a bike and make a documentary on how a physically challenged person can fight all odds and ride through one of the most difficult tracks, but due to financial constraints, I could not do so. No help has come from the government or any NGO so far,” he lamented.

Despite of his 90 per cent disability, Shashi, who became a victim of polio at a tender age of two, said his twin cherished dreams are paragliding at a height of 10,000 feet and travelling across the length and breadth of the country alone on his Royal Enfield.

My father opened a spare parts shop for me after his retirement in 2013, but it was gutted and the insensitive government gave a relief of Rs 15,000. Its claim to provide 3 per cent job reservation to physically challenged persons was an eyewash as over 1.50 lakh such persons had been waiting for jobs, he said.

Shashi also wishes to open an NGO for the disabled. He urged the government and private auto manufacturers to come out with specially designed vehicles.