News
Student, 19, late for college exam in India, paraglides to avoid traffic, reaches in 5 minutes
It would have taken 30 minutes to cover the 14.5km distance otherwise.
February 24, 2025, 02:55 AM
A 19-year-old college business student in India realised at the very last minute that his postponed exam was rescheduled while he was out working to earn some extra money to support his family.
In a state of panic, he decided to take the most unconventional route to his exam hall: By paragliding.
What happened
According to Times of India, Samarth Mahangde was busy serving tourists at his juice stall in Panchgani, a hill station southeast of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India, when his phone suddenly started buzzing with a flurry of texts and calls.
His friends were urgently asking where he was and why he had yet to arrive at the exam centre.
That was when he realised that his postponed exam was rescheduled to that day itself.
The biggest problem was that the exam centre was 14.5km away from where he was and traffic was congested as always.
Driving would take at least 30 minutes.
Approached paragliding expert
Samarth then enlisted the help of a local paragliding expert Govind Yawale, who was in the area with his team.
The Satara district where the student is from, is known for its scenic beauty and is a popular paragliding destination.
Govind was initially taken aback by the unusual request and gave Samarth a scolding.
But Govind yielded when he realised Samarth was really desperate.
The best part?
Footage of Samarth soaring through the sky, with his backpack on, before landing near campus, was caught on video and uploaded on Feb. 17.
A Panchgani student paraglided 15 km to make it to his exam on time as the traffic was very high on the roads. 100 marks for creative problem solving! #ExamHacks #OnlyInIndia pic.twitter.com/YzFYKRWnSx
— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) February 17, 2025
Footage of his stunt emerged as early as Feb. 12.
Allowed to take exam
The student managed to cover the distance to the exam centre in 5 minutes just as papers were being distributed.
He was allowed to take the paper.
Samarth explained why he failed to be notified of the change in examination dates: “The first-semester paper for Natural Dissolution Management subject of the university exam was earlier cancelled and I was not aware of the changed date as I could not get my hall ticket updated."
"While I was at work, I got to know about it from my friends," he added.
It was also explained by local police that the traffic situation was not unusually congested on the day of Samarth's exam.
It was just that the area is a tourist destination and traffic is usually heavy.
Top photo via @hvgoenka X
