We can now confirm, beyond all doubt, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a thing for flying. “It was a wet day and though the rains had taken a break, many tourists were skeptical and backed out,” Roshan Thakur says, recalling that day from 1997, when he was running tandem paragliding flights from the slopes of Solang, Himachal Pradesh. “We didn’t want to risk it either, so we didn’t insist. But Narendra Modi-ji wasn’t nervous at all. He wanted to go gliding.”

No fear of heights for Modi

The story dates back to when Modi was yet to become a prominent figure on the political circuit. “He was visiting Atal Bihari Vajpayee-ji who has a holiday home 12km from our paragliding institute. Modi-ji was touring Himachal Pradesh as [BJP’s] state in-charge,” Thakur continues, the pride in his voice hard to miss even over the phone.

“The flight lasted about half hour. Even mid-air, Modi-ji didn’t show any signs of fear. In fact, he wanted more. He wanted to return for a longer session but couldn’t make time for it.”

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Modi spoke of his first paragliding flight while campaigning for the upcoming elections in Himachal Pradesh. To underscore his local connect, he spoke of Thakur and his paragliding adventures in the valley. Thakur, who was in the crowd, was touched beyond words. “He remembered me! That’s a big thing by itself,” Thakur says. “I wanted to meet him or wave out, but it was impossible.”

Roshan Thakur himself is a bit of an icon on the Himachal Pradesh tourism circuit. The 50-year-old is the president of the Upper Manali Tourism Foundation and also the secretary-general of the Winter Games Federation of India. His Himalayan Institute of Adventure Sports, which started in 1991, is the only licensed paragliding school in the region.

Championing adventure sports

“[Modi] wanted to promote paragliding even back then. He asked me to visit one of his friends in Ooty, an industrialist and a tea garden owner. He wanted me to recce the region and gauge prospects for paragliding. We did find a place but somehow things didn’t materialise. I met Modi-ji again in late 2000, just a month before he became chief minister. He had invited me to scope out Gujarat for paragliding. In January 2012, he invited me to set up an institute in Saputara, Gujarat, but I had to be elsewhere. Though I did help them put together a blueprint for adventure sports in the state.” As a result, gliders from Himachal Pradesh now fly in Gujarat at the annual paragliding festival.

Thakur however, hasn’t been able to meet Modi since he became PM. “He has enquired about me to my colleagues who met him in Delhi. I tried meeting him a couple of times, but it hasn’t worked out. Now that he mentioned me just a day ago, I’ll try again,” Thakur says, his voice full of hope.

Mr PM, time for another flight?