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!