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Interview with Sharmila Bijoor
'Who Dares Wins' participant
Sharmila, a mother of two kids, has the distinction of having
performed the toughest-ever dare on the "Who Dares Wins"
show on AXN. For this amazing 'Dare Devil Lady', life never gets
boring!
 Hello
Sharmila. We are so glad to have you with us at DCW. Let's start with
getting to know you. Please tell us about yourself.
I am basically a family person - a mother of two lovely kids
Shimul (7) and Rohan (5); and my husband and soulmate Ashutosh. I
come from a middle class family. With us two sisters and my mother,
we are totally a woman-dominated family. I am told that I am a
rebellious person constantly out to prove my independence – and I
think I agree. I started my professional life in films, advertising,
corporate and television programmes. When Shimul was born, I quit to
become a full time mother. The next highlight of my life was when we
adopted Rohan – a dream which both Ashutosh and I had been
harboring since we met. Having played mum for 3 years, I was restless
to find my identity outside the family. This was my chance to try my
hand at the million things that were on my “one day…” list. I
did a bit of cell animation, pottery, jewelry design, illustration,
graphic design … learnt to swim, play squash, trekking, instructed
an outdoor educational programmes… it was a period of self
discovery for me.
Am I curious to know more! What about your childhood? Were you
as keen on having an adventurous life since you were a child? If not,
when did you your date with adventure come about?
Well, as a child I was always up to mischief. My mum has many a
tales to tell. I was the tomboy in the family. Was very active and
physical though never in the extreme - always thought myself as one
of the boys than the girls. So I guess I always had a wild streak in
me.
With adventure flowing deep down in your veins, how does Family
Life fare in your life? In short, how do you balance family and
adventure?
Frankly I don’t know. It sort of works out somehow. With Ashu to
share the responsibilities of the kids, it gives me the freedom to
explore new frontiers. And I’ve infected them all… so Ashu and
the kids are as keen on doing wild things too – like we went river
rafting in the Ganga with the kids – they had a blast playing in
the sand at the camp while we roughed it out in the rapids.
Your views on Matrimony and Motherhood? How did they affect
your personal and professional life?
I don’t really analyze the effects of marriage or motherhood on
“my” personal or professional life. Marriage just happened
naturally without me having to make a conscious effort towards it. So
it just shifted my personal life into “our” personal life. Having
kids was a conscious decision. I willingly took a break from my
professional life to raise the kids. But I do make the space required
to let me be my own person and pursue my professional yearnings.
For the kind of fitness and strength required for such
purposes, what kind of a fitness regime and diet do you follow?
I don’t follow a particular diet or fitness regime for I’ve
always been physically active. But yes, as I grew older, I have
become more aware of my fitness level. I want to be a fit 60 year
old. So I have started yoga thrice a week for an hour. And I try to
work out in the gym or swim whenever possible.
 And
now let's come to the question that everybody has been waiting for -
your experience at 'WHO DARES WINS'. How did it happen?!
Ever since I saw the TV show “Who Dares Wins!” four years ago,
I nurtured a dream to be on the show, doing the main dare. It
remained a dream till I wrote it down in my diary. That very day, I
received an Email, enquiring whether I would be interested in
participating in “Who Dares Wins – India Special” where six
Indians were to be chosen to fly down to Australia to take on a big
dare! Suddenly, my dream became a possibility! After the initial
selection rounds, I found myself on the flight to Sydney, Australia.
I would love to hear about your experience in your own words.
What were you required to do? How did you go about it? What happened?
Of course, we have the screenshots to illustrate it.
I had absolutely no clue of what I was required to do till the
last minute. I remember it was a lazy Sunday morning when I drove up
to the location of the dare – an abandoned runway. Tanya Zaetta,
the host of the show, welcomed me and explained my dare. I was to
drive a car at over 100 kms/hr, take it on a ramp that would send the
car up into the air, spiralling in mid air and land back – and
survive it. I couldn’t believe it at first. “You mean the car is
going to toss and turn for sure?” I asked. It was something
straight out of the movies – unimaginable for me. So I went ahead
and did a few practice runs on the side of the ramp to get the speed
and the position of the car right – for these were the critical
factors that would keep me alive through the stunt. Time and again I
was warned of the dangers involved and asked whether I really wanted
to go ahead. I had no hesitation. I had decided to do it, and no two
ways about it! I got into the safety gear, helmet, harness and all.
While I sat in the car waiting for the final signal, I felt no panic
or fear – I wonder why.
On receiving the signal, I just pressed on the accelerator all the
way – don’t know how fast I was going – all I could see was the
ramp and the speed at which it was approaching me. And then the
impact of hitting it! That’s when I first asked myself “Why the
hell am I doing this?” The car corkscrewed in mid air before it
crashed on its nose – scraped the ground sending sparks, shattered
glass and metal flying in all directions – then somersaulted four
times before coming to a halt. I was surrounded by smoke and silence.
I thought – this is it! I’m on fire! But the crew came rushing
and got the jammed door open and me out of the car. I was shaking all
over and when Tanya hugged me, I just burst into tears! Couldn’t
believe that I had actually gone through with it.
All this in just 3 seconds after impact.
How did the experience affect your life?
More than the actual dare, when it was telecast on AXN, the
reactions I got from people everywhere was just overwhelming! There
was a huge shift in the way they related to me. Within a matter of
minutes I had been rediscovered as a daredevil instead of a
"mother-of-two-average-woman-next-door".
Sharmila, I have always wondered about the kind of preparation
that goes into such stunts. And now that I have you here, I would
love to know about the practice sessions and other preparation that
goes into this.
The most important thing about these stunts is that they are very
well planned. Every detail is weighed, calculated, tested and then
executed. Right from rigging the car – reinforcing it with pipes,
shatter-proof windscreen, smaller petrol tank so that the car
doesn’t catch fire, etc. You have the best stunt supervisors around
and they don’t cut corners anywhere. The risks are reduced to the
minimum. There are no practice sessions of the actual dare. Once the
car goes through the dare, there’s no more car in it anymore.
What safety measures are taken to prevent any unfortunate
accidents and mishaps?
Apart from testing the entire stunt before hand, there are
paramedics and an ambulance at hand to deal with any emergencies. The
contestants are also insured but at the end of the day it is a choice
that the participant makes. He/she is free to refuse to do the stunt
and walk away. There is no compulsion or pressure. The show is about
the contestant and what drives him/her. There is no monetary reward
for executing the stunt - only what one makes out of it for herself -
a chance to be more than what you thought you were. A larger than
life feeling and a tremendous sense of self-achievement!
After this mind-blowing adventure, what's coming next? Your
future plans?
India Today approached me in February to do a minor dare for their
photo shoot, the feature story being ‘The Adventurous Indian’. I
planned and executed a stunt where I rappelled down a 14 storey
building in South Mumbai. For me now, adventure is a way of life.
Like one of my favorite quote by Dr. Stephen R. Covey says - "We
are limited but we can push back the borders of our
limitations."
 What
about the next generation coming up? Are they taking after their
mother?
They don’t know any other way. We take efforts to do activities
that are not the run-of-the-mill children’s activities. We are
exposing them to a whole range of experiences – outdoors and
indoors. They need to be free to make their own choices and be
allowed to learn from them. They enjoy the wild holidays and don’t
miss the material luxuries that normal holidays would provide. They
sure are taking after their mother!
Sharmila, you offer customized adventure holidays for families.
Please tell us more about it.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s the reactions that people gave me
that made the biggest difference to me and my life. My example made
people come up and ask me whether they too could do something
different and adventurous. That’s what prompted me to start
organizing customized adventure holidays for families like ours. I
want to get rid of the myth that adventure is only for an elite few
or merely for the young. So I thought, why not? Why not organize
adventure travels that were off the beaten path… There is a range
of activities to suit every enthusiast – irrespective of age or
physical condition. From non strenuous adventures like camping out in
the wild, to the more demanding ones like high-altitude trekking,
river rafting expeditions, rock climbing or canyoning.
With my network of adventurers across the country and a 100%
safety record, I find it a great joy to bring a thrill into
people’s lives. I find that designing the right kind of adventure
for the people and their expectations is the key element to make an
adventure holiday a success. There are adventures suitable for groups
of 3-4 people to large groups of over 80 people. You can even pick a
place and the kind of activities you would like, and I can design the
perfect holiday for you.
The best thing is that in India, we have a range of environments
to choose from – we have the Himalayas for high altitude treks, the
Sahyadris for smaller monsoon hikes, great rivers like the Ganga and
Zanskar for river rafting and other water sports, and great beaches
all around that make a great seaside trek through the varied rural
cultures of India. Activities and places can be combined to suit any
length of holiday. Well and needless to say, I know where to find the
best bargains too!
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