Story- A Night at a Fort

“Guys, I am feeling hungry…”. I said. It was 12:00 midnight & we (GG, Sam, DK & me) were doing our assignments in the hostel that was situated in the college campus.”

“Lets go to Thadi ..we can grab something there??”

10 mins later …we were sitting at Thadi having “Keeda” (made of fried eggs along with breads) & Tea. I don’t know where this name “Keeda” came from, but I liked it so much.

Me- “Lets go back & finish the assignment. Prof. Chaddda is going to ask for this in his computer lab tomorrow.”

Vinay (who was passing by ) - “Prof Chaddha is not coming tomorrow; I overheard, HoD was telling to Prof Bakshi today.”

DK – “That’s great…No need to do the assignment. Can do it next week”

Sam – “lets go out ….. ….lets go to Jaigarh fort” was his proposal. He used to give such ideas at the most inconvenient time of reaching the place.

As usual DK & GG agreed instantly and It took a bit before nodding my head. “OK, but we will come back within 2-3 hours”

“Yeah definitely, we will”

We started on our bikes to the fort that is apprx 40 Kms from our hostel on the Jaipur delhi highway.

Sam & DK were on one bike & I was with GG. We were hitting 80 KM/H. There was no traffic on city roads which are normally overcrowded in the day time. “People are not mad like us to come out from their comfortable homes at 12:30 midnight.” I thought.

We lost Sam & DK on the way, but did not stop, thinking that they would meet us at fort itself. We crossed the city roads, hit the high way, after 15 minutes ride on highway we took a turn to the left, fort is on a small hill & the road was a bit narrow. We have been to that place many times before, so I knew that it’s safe to drive here even at midnight. Still, I was a bit scared, “what if someone comes out from behind the trees…??what if we gonna meet a ghost…..& ghost will become our friend? He will help me in the exam time…. will help in winning the gals’ hearts …...no need to study. …a new date every time…wow ... I wont gonna give a damm to those stupid gals of our college (Stupid?? Yes, they are, coz they don’t give me a damm) , I would go with hot babes only…. He will help me in reaching gals hostel & ……”

“Get down…Man…we are here??”

GG’s voice forced me to land my imaginary plane to the ground.

“Crap……These guys can’t see me being happy even in my own dreams”.
I got down …and he parked the bike near the boundary of the fort from where we could easily see the whole city view.

“Beautiful”
Watching the whole city from this height, it looks wonderful in the night, street lights shines like stars. Everything looks so calm here, A cool breeze whispers in the ears, what one could hear is his own breathe. No thought in the mind, a feel of calmness inside. It was this amazing feeling that kept bringing us to this place again & again.

“Hey guys…..you took so long reaching here??” It was Sam’s voice. DK was also following him.

“Ahhha you already here, when did you reach??”

“We here since a long & waiting for you…We also got these beers & pakoras “

Me- “Where did you find these at this hour of time?”

He said nothing just smiled. I thought what a silly question it was. I myself came several times just to get beers from liquor shops on the highway.

1:30 AM – we all were sitting on the wall, having beer with hot pakora and watching the beautiful city.
Me- “GG, you know I wanna kick your ass, coz you interrupted when I was about to enter in gals hostel….you Idiot”
I told them the whole my imaginations about ghost & his friendship.

GG – “Hey there is nothing like ghost. This word just framed to scare people”

DK – “No man, I am 100% sure that ghosts do exist. But people have a wrong perception about ghosts. They think all ghosts are harmful. But you know some of them are really not bad.”

GG – “Ohh So you have done PhD on ghosts.” Ha Ha Ha Ha ha…. “Have you ever seen any??”

DK, - “No I haven’t, but I know that ghosts have this power that they are seen to those people only whom they want to be seen by.”

GG – “I don’t agree, if they are not harmful then what the hell is their purpose in this world, I think they are meant only to scare others.”

Sam – “No man, some of them still want to be as live men, They enjoy talking like live people do & doing the thing what a live man do.”

“then why all the dead not become ghosts?” “Why only a few people become ghosts after death?”

GG found it an interesting topic; he loved arguments. He could talk 3 hours nonstop on any alien topic.

“It’s their destiny that brought them to sudden death & they become ghosts”

And the discussion seemed never ending. No one wanted to be convinced. I was a silent listener in this whole conversation. But I was equally enjoying the beer & Pakoras & admiring the beauty of the city.

3 AM - GG, Sam & DK had all the beers & their argument was still not over. I still had the last bottle with me, but did not feel like opening it.

I – “Hey guys, stop this nonsense. let’s go back”.

DK – “hey ..carry on….I am enjoying it…”

“No man it’s very late, we should leave now”.

They agreed & we were all set to drive back. I wrapped my beer with the newspaper that Sam brought with the pakoras, & kept it in the side bag of GG’s bike. GG started his bike & I sat on the pillion seat. Vroooooommmm ……. I knew that this time he won’t allow Sam to reach hostel before us. We left them far behind before we hit the highway. Though, GG was drunk but to my surprise he had a good control on the bike & hitting 80-90 Km/h.

We crossed the high way & just about to enter the city when we saw two figures standing in front of a petrol pump & waving hand to us. I said “No need to stop here as they could be criminal & there is noone around to help us.” He nodded.

As we came nearer we could figure out that it was Sam with DK. We were surprised & stopped there:

“Guys, you took a lot time to come back.” Sam said.

“Heyyyy….When did you overtake??”

“Overtake??”

By this time our heartbeats raised…

“My bike broke down as soon as we left the city & there was no mechanic around so we had all the way to push it to this petrol pump, after 1 & half hour we reached here. Thank God, this petrol pump was open & we found a mechanic here, it took him another half hour to fix it & we could not make to the Jaigarh. Well, how was your trip??”

“You kidding me??. We just had drinks at Jaigarh & discussed about ghosts”
“Ghosts” – this word shaken me from inside, I ran to check the bag where I kept the beer.

There was no bottle inside…but there was this newspaper I wrapped the bottle with.

I took it out, my hands were shaking; it was the inner page of Times of India, dated last month. I tried to read it under the head light of the bike.

“Two boys killed in an accident near Jaigarh Fort”, was the heading on a column.

GG & I looked each other’s pale faces & the words in my mind were...

“They enjoy talking like live people & doing the things what a live man do”

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