Mulshi trip at night

May 29th, 2007.

We dropped Divya to her Hostel. When it was time to go back home i casually asked Omkar “want to bike around?”. “yeah”, he replied in his characteristic 'of course, what else?!' style. So we discussed, “Pune Bangalore ghat?”, “not much petrol in my bike”. “What about Pune Mumbai highway?” “yeah, we can go there, but its a straight road.” “hmm, not much fun”. “We could go to Lonavla, about 70 kms from here.” ”hmmm...” “Or we could go to Lonavla on the old Pune highway”, “we could try that sometime later, its 20:15 now!”. “Ok lets go to Pirungut highway. Its a nice curvy road.” “Awright.” ”There is a Shell petrol pump on the way.” “aahh!”

Khehhahak, gudu gudu gudu.... my bike came to life and we started our route towards Pirungut.

We crossed Chandni chowk chowpati, overtook slow trucks, equally slow but sounding fast PMT buses and reached Shell petrol pump. "Namaskar!", greeted the attendant. “Namaskar!” i greeted back with a smile on my face. When was the last time a petrol pump guy greeted you?!

Khehhak, fooroo fooroo, frooooo frooooooo! My bike feels different, no knocking sound. This petrol is good. I've decided. This is the petrol pump from where ill be filling my bikes tank, even if it's around 10 kms from Pune! Off we go from here...

With my bike singing at 60-65 kmph and i hitting the curves with a zeal seen in a 10 year old kid pedaling his first bicycle, we reached Pirungut ghat. From the top the view was majestic. The mountain range in its glory, shaded in deep purple gray. The purplish blue sky painted with stripes of cloud washed in moonlight. Low down a glittery town. And an inviting downhill smooth road with just perfect curves. I raced my engine from to the better side of 60 kmph and took out the best i could from my bike. Accelerate on the short straight, leave the accelerator just at the start of a curve, a hint of front brake, a tap on rear brake, downshift, keep the engine on boil, tilt the bike and a perfect end to end smile on my face... and then you see the next bender. Moksh attained.

At the end of the ghat my bike seeming happy to the treat i gave her (away from the doldrums of city life), i waited for Omkar to join me. “We should go to Mulshi”, i said. “The road ahead is too good”. “he he ok!”. And then we started all over again. Hunt for the curves and hit them hard.

As we moved away from civilized world and in to the world of moon lit landscape, i couldn't satisfy myself with the beauty that we humbly call nature. This is art at its best. The best painter, God, only can create it. It is something that cant be described in words on paper, but ill try :). Imagine this, you are driving steadily. There is a a long mountain on the left, dark and unassuming. Dark blue sky. 3/4^th moon with halo of a saint, graced by her cloudy disciples. On the right you have a vast expanse of land, lovingly showered with blessings from the saint... breeze so pure and fresh it reminds you of your first crush in school. And ahead, you see the road, with your lights off. Bliss. Amen. You cant savor everything in a moment thats called life.

The ride further was different. I could smell fresh turmeric coming out of the fields. An occassional hut giving you the pleasure of home cooked food smell for home-away bachelor boys like me. A glimpse of flickering temple lamp. Smell of mud after early season monsoon.

Then we made our way on top to Mulshi sunset point. Absolutely no artificial light here. You are on top of a mountain. Its misty, cold, breezy. Behind you have the reservoir filled with shining water. A river meandering through the land below. The rays of light of a distant vehicle, probably another enthusiast coming here. Glow worms dancing in trees. You see the dam with its pale orange lights running down its wall. The faint sound of a jet reminding you of life.

My bike equally soaking in natures best. The engine ticking. I don't want to go back. This is life. No morning headache with corrupt politicians bogus on anti-corruption. No traffic woes. No sitting in the same position for 10 hrs in office. No choking in smoke. No running after things you cant get.

This is peace. I' m coming back with my camera in few days... it will be a full moon night.