Night Ride to Sinhgad!

I am one of those people who just like to go out on rides/drives on empty roads, just to enjoy the roads. And yesterday (20-Mar-2007) I with my colleagues went to Sinhgad fort in Pune. The fort was build by Mugals, the strongest Asians of the time. The fort is strategically built on top of a mountain which is difficult to climb from 3 sides. The fort is on the outskirts of pune and so is deserted at night. With no lights on the route and absolutely no one except us, the ride was gonna be good, especially if you are the one who's scared of ghosts, which I might tell you I am.
So we took off for the fort, 4 guys on 2 Motorbikes. As I reached the foot of the mountain I did have second thoughts, as then I remembered my last trip on a hill alone where I had gone for cruise and came back running like hell. But now I had to do this so I went ahead. Little had I cruised that the biker in me kicked in and walla - I was accelerating the bike the mountain. And soon I was too ahead from my nomad friend. And then I thought - masti time. I stopped my bike on the edge of the road on a blind turn and waited. I had to be the ghost to scare them, but I had to kill the plan because if I was too good - they might have end up crashing. I looked around and it was complete darkness and silence. I looked at my right and there I saw someone.... what a ghost???????.... "na, its pankaj" what a relief. Once the other nomad passed by I was back on riding.

Twisting and turning at high speeds was a thrill. When the visibility was limited to my bike's light and blind turns adding to the danger along with gravel at some points - it was fun. Finally twisting the bike for 10 mins or so we reached the top. There was no one at this historical spot except me and my pillion Pankaj. The city lights made the whole scenery beautiful. Stars at the top, city far away and a ligh pole on top of the hill top next to us (for which have to go on foot), It was a beautiful sight. The wind was fast and turning colder by the moment. Soon we were joined by others.

Now it was time to add spice and I started with pointing out a white thing in the shadows. It was good but not good enuf. After few mins we started to walk towards the hill top. I took the lead and made sure there was a distance between me and others. it was a prank time. After going a decent distance I suddenly stopped and started running back - "run... run.. there is something out there" and soon they were behind me running. A decent prank. After we walked up the fort it was good fun to go with almost no light. Luckily for us one of us had a torch in the cellphone. After spending some good 2-3 hours up there we returned. I have to say that my fear of ghosts has come down, not dead though.

If you are in pune, then I do recommend a ride up there at night, but one can also try the day time.