When was the last time you did something for the first time?

When was the last time you did something for the first time? Invariably this question keeps popping up in my life once every few months and every time it does it leaves me with the same extremely uneasy feeling - so much to do and experience and so little time! Last August, I made a big change to my life, one where I clearly knew work-life balance could no longer remain a theory that I kept hearing of and discussing with people. More so because that uneasy feeling had created a home in the back of my mind making me question the significance of what I was doing and whether that would amount to anything truly valuable at all in the long run?

9 and a half months later, I feel like a new born baby. People who have known me for the last so many years will know what I mean. People who have come to know me after August will never fully understand how these words are an understatement and still don't communicate the intensity and fervour with which I say them. It's been 9 and a half months of several firsts and an incredible feeling of pure happiness that's just there every time I remember any one of them!

9th March was one such day.

It started off with one email about 6 of us being able to go sailing in Mumbai for 3000 bucks. Yes, sailing in Mumbai. Obviously, it was only a matter of few minutes when that one email jumped to 23 and we were all set for this!

All dressed up and geared for sailing, we met at the jetty at Gateway of India and took our boat with the motor (no do not imagine a fancy motor -boat) to travel to where the sail boat was anchored. A sailboat just before you envision it is a simple sailboat and not like the luxury ones or somewhere in between that we see on all the shows on Star World or AXN or the Hollywood movies! Having said that, it was a thrill to stand up and jump across from one boat to the other somewhere on the sea! Jimmy captained our sailboat and was our guide for the 2 hours that followed.

Sun kissed sails and smiles!

What did we learn? 
(Yes I have seen Go,Goa,Gone) : 

• Jimmy, our captain, is a sportsman - turned - entrepreneur! He has participated in several sailing races across the world and on the very same sailboat that we were on! Unfortunately, as we all know, sports apart from cricket (and now some more) barely get any patronage in our country and hence racing hasn't turned out financially viable for Jimmy leading to the entrepreneurship and running the sailing business!

• Sponsoring one of these sailing teams costs under 10 lacs. Is it really that difficult for any of the brands or age old industrial families to actually put in some money and encourage this in the country? Godrej has in the past.

• There is an unseen boundary to which you can sail when you take one of these sailing trips. The other side of this invisible boundary is the area that we know from the roads as Chowpatty.

• There is a sailing school for kids to learn and you can see them practise!

• There is an old unused prison on the Arabian Sea not so far from the Gateway of India and chances are the first word that will pop in your head when you see it will be Alcatraz!

Alcatraz!

• Many of the sailboats used at the Gateway of India by Jimmy and others are made by Godrej and the sails only are imported.

• As business is closed for the monsoons, Jimmy (like most other sailboat owners there) sails back to Goa on the same sailboat with supplies and the trip takes about 3 days.

• There is a lighthouse somewhere mid-sea that I would love to go visit if it was allowed and feasible!

• No boats are allowed on the sea after 10 PM.

• The Indian Navy has marines who in order to stay fit practise wind surfing and it's a thrill to see them zip by at the speed that they do! 

It doesn't surprise me that I remember all of this like I only went sailing yesterday. It's only because while Jimmy was telling us this, we were also chilling a wine bottle in the sea, I was screaming (of course lesser as time passed by) every time the boat dipped down or swerved, my very awesome friends were having a ball laughing at me when I did so, 2 of them were busy posing at the helm with the sail, one of them was busy showing us the finger (and other such poses) and Jimmy while sailing the boat was also busy laughing with us all!

The two ours passed quicker than we anticipated. The wind, the waters, the sun, the laughs, the shrieks, the conversations… all that and so much more that I won't ever forget!

I returned knowing that we are going back in the winter once sailing resumes and doing this more often and also with the want to discover more such unique experiences and importantly to ensure that every once in a short while, I can continue to ask myself. "When was the last time I did something for the first time?" and know what it was and how recent it was without a moment passing by! 

….I seem to be doing well so far! (more on this soon!)

Here are some of things you must keep in mind when you decide to go sailing!

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. You need to climb down a slope on the jetty to board the boat!

• Carry some thing to eat and more wine and beer when you go sailing! It's fun!

• Do not chill your wine in the sea! Ours became salty and we don't know how! (That did not stop us from almost finishing it!)

• In the summer go for the 5 to 7 slot for sailing. 

• The cost of hiring the boat in the 5 to 7 slot is around 2500 bucks and it can accommodate up to 6 people.

You can reach Jimmy at +91-9987000004 to make a booking.