Indian woman skydives with Tricolour in Finland to celebrate I-Day
Mumbai, Aug 15 : Fulfilling a long-cherished dream, Indian adventurist Shital Rane-Mahajan on Wednesday dived from over 5,000 feet in Finland with a Tricolour to mark India's 72nd Independence Day.
The Tricolour, measuring 10 feet by six feet, was handed over to Shital by Indian Ambassador to Finland, (Ms) Vani Rao after the I-Day celebrations by the Indian community settled in Helsinki.
"From Helsinki, we drove down to the Utti Skydiving Centre, around 100 km away, for the skyjump, which was absolutely smooth and successful," an elated Shital told IANS on phone from Finland.
The 36-year-old, a mother of two, said that the weather was perfect for the adventure and that she jumped off an aircraft from 5,000 feet and landed at the designated spot, with the huge flag fluttering all through the descent.
"It all happened within 100 seconds. I stepped out of the aircraft, opened my parachute and then the flag bag tied to my waist, unfurled the Tricolour and continued with my dive," Shital said.
Awaiting below on terra firma was her anxious husband Vaibhav and her nine-year-old twin sons Vrushabh and Vaishnav, besides a large number of onlookers who cheered her.
Though Shital -- a 2011 Padma Shri awardee -- has performed several demo skydives in India with different flags depending on the sponsors, this was her first-ever with an Indian flag.
Prior to her, renowned Indian adventure sportswomen Rachel Thomas and Archana Sardana have performed similar skydives on various occasions with the Tricolour, making Shital the third civilian to do so.
"Now, my ambition is to skydive with the Tricolour in India, especially since civilian skydiving of certain categories has been banned in the country since 2002," she said.
In February, Shital hit the headlines when she skydived from 13,000 feet over Pattaya, Thailand, sporting a colourful 'Nav-wari Sari' (traditional Maharashtrian nine-yard sari).
Hailing from Pune, Shital has around 18 national and six international skydiving records and has completed more than 705 skyjumps around the world, bagging national and international honours.
She shot to global fame on April 18, 2004, when she made her maiden jump -- without practice -- on the North Pole from a Russian MI-8 helicopter hovering 2,400 feet above the ground in minus 37 degrees temperature, making her the first woman in the world to accomplish the feat.
On December 15, 2006, she made the world's first accelerated freefall parachute jump at the South Pole in Antarctica, from a Twin Otter aircraft, coming down from a height of 11,600 feet.
This made her the first and the youngest woman in the world to achieve the feat at both the Poles at the age of 23.
On April 19, 2008, Rane-Mahajan tied the knot with Finland-based software engineer Vaibhav Rane.
The couple got married in a hot air balloon, with a priest performing the nuptial ceremonies and parents in tow, around 750 feet above Pune city.
Vaibhav is also an avid skydiver with 57 jumps to his credit. They became the first Indian civilian couple to skydive together in November 2011.
However, she is still keen on pursuing her dream of skydiving over Mt Everest, despite two unsuccessful attempts in 2010.
At present, Shital is on a real high -- with dives on all seven continents -- in around 10 years, on Antarctica, Australia, Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America.
Last year, she became the first Indian woman to be nominated by the Aero Club of India for the prestigious FAI Sabiha Gokcen Medal for skydiving in all seven continents.
Settled in Finland since marriage, Shital has set her target this year on a 'family skydive' with her husband and two minor sons
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Sensex, Nifty extend gains for 3rd day on strong global cues, lower US inflation
Mumbai, Jan 16: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for the third session on the trot on Thursday, helped by a rally in global markets after lower-than-expected consumer inflation in the US ignited hopes of more rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Intense buying in Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank also boosted sentiments, traders said.
The 30-share BSE index climbed 318.74 points or 0.42 per cent to revisit 77,000 level at 77,042.82. During the day, it jumped 595.42 points or 0.77 per cent to 77,319.50.
On the similar lines, the NSE Nifty rallied 98.60 points or 0.42 per cent to 23,311.80.
As many as 2,778 stocks advanced, while 1,188 declined and 101 remained unchanged on the BSE.
Unabated foreign fund inflows, weakness in the rupee and elevated global crude prices continue to weigh on domestic equity markets, traders said.
"Benchmark indices continued to trade in the positive, albeit off highs, driven by positive investor sentiment following mild US inflation data, which raised hopes for a potential rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
"Additionally, favourable developments in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and a reduced trade deficit further boosted the market's upward movement. However, weak economic growth data from the UK dampened some of this optimism," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.
From the 30-share blue-chip pack, Adani Ports, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Maruti, Reliance Industries and Axis Bank were the biggest gainers.
In contrast, HCL Tech, Nestle, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, ITC and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards.
IT services major Infosys on Thursday reported an 11.46 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,806 crore in the October-December quarter of FY25.
Shares of Infosys slipped 1.21 per cent to settle at Rs 1,926.20 apiece on the BSE.
Meanwhile, Adani group stocks rallied on Thursday after Hindenburg Research founder Nate Anderson announced that he would disband the firm, which made international waves with campaigns targeting billionaire Gautam Adani that wiped billions from the market value of his group companies.
Shares of NDTV surged 9.15 per cent, Ambuja Cements jumped 3.88 per cent, Adani Green Energy rallied 3.35 per cent, Sanghi Industries climbed 3.34 per cent and Adani Power went up by 2.45 per cent on the BSE.
The stock of Adani Ports advanced 2.03 per cent, Adani Total Gas (1.78 per cent), Adani Enterprises (1.74 per cent), Adani Energy Solutions (1.54 per cent) and ACC (0.77 per cent).
Shares of Adani Wilmar, however, declined 1.19 per cent.
"Nifty has regained momentum, closing at 23,312, buoyed by demand and reclaiming the 23,300 mark, as Wall Street's strong performance helped bulls take charge. Risk-on sentiments were sparked by cooler-than-expected US CPI inflation data for December, easing concerns about rising inflation and boosting expectations that the Fed might continue its rate-cutting cycle throughout the year.
"This, coupled with a weaker US dollar (now at 109) and a drop in the 10-year US bond yield to 4.65 per cent, has further strengthened investor confidence," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.43 per cent while the midcap index climbed 0.92 per cent.
Among BSE sectoral indices, services jumped 1.93 per cent, industrials (1.73 per cent), metal (1.63 per cent), telecommunication (1.61 per cent), capital goods (1.56 per cent) and commodities (1.51 per cent).
IT, Consumer durables, teck and BSE-focused IT were the laggards.
"The Nifty continued its upward momentum for the third straight session, closing 98 points higher (0.42 per cent) at 23,311, driven by positive global sentiment. Asian markets tracked Wall Street's gains, responding favourably to US core inflation data that reinforced expectations of potential Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2025," Devarsh Vakil, Head of Prime Research, HDFC Securities, said.
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory.
Equity markets in Europe were quoting higher. US markets rallied on Wednesday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 4,533.49 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
The rupee depreciated 16 paise to close at 86.56 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.18 per cent to USD 81.88 a barrel.
In the previous session, the BSE benchmark rose 224.45 points or 0.29 per cent to settle at 76,724.08 on Wednesday. The Nifty advanced 37.15 points or 0.16 per cent to 23,213.20.
