Loony!

I miss my father whenever there is an eclipse. He'd have been amused by the media hysteria around this 'triple' phenomenon or 'three-for-the-price-of-one' hype which is all around us.

When there was a total eclipse of the sun in India in 1980, there was no internet or satellite television. We didn't even have 24 hour telecasts on our lone TVchannel. There was a special telecast of a very popular Hindi film to keep people indoors that afternoon.

My father thought it was ridiculous to create fear and keep people indoors during a solar eclipse. Delhi only had a partial eclipse, but it was exciting enough. We assembled a couple of simple 'eclipse viewing kits' and he said we could get some customers to watch if we wanted!! Only, the streets were deserted on that February afternoon in Delhi. I was quite happy to stand outside with my father and watch the reflection of the eclipse in water. Many years later, my wish to see a total solar eclipse came true.

In tea gardens, if a thing is heard or seen on television, it is accepted without question.

I put on one of the news channels this evening to check the time of the eclipse. I couldn't help but feel a little superior, as one who's known all about these things since childhood. I put on my coat and went downstairs to take a look at the sky. From the stairs, I heard screaming and metallic banging sounds coming from the workers' colony nearby and froze. The first thing that comes to mind is elephants - but there are none where we live. It had to be the eclipse! It must be whopper of a show, I thought.

Out in the open, the sky was dark, with not a glimmer of light anywhere, not even a star. The shouting and metallic banging continued. The sky was covered with clouds!

Half an hour on, status quo.

One hour later, the celebrity hadn't shown, but appeared to have cancelled without notice. Pink Floyd wasn't playing Dark Side of the Moon tonight. We'd got 'Obscured by the Clouds' instead!

The bawarchi came in for his evening shift. I asked him what was up, since the sounds had died out. They must all have gone home, he said. He was in social commentator mode today, shaking his head sadly. 'Baap re! Anyone would think a wild animal had entered the village. They didn't see a thing, but they screamed and shouted!'

Totality

I've always wanted to see a total eclipse - and to think that one took place right where we live!

We had a cloudy sky today, with pretty dense clouds in the east from 5.15 in the morning, when I first looked out. Just last night I'd thought I wouldn't mind missing the total eclipse if it rained heavily. It looked like we would have neither! Anyway, we had a plan ready - we would drive towards the south, taking the road to Gairkata, from where we might get a different looking sky. We started at around 6.15. By the time we'd driven for a few minutes, the sun had moved behind a thinner layer of clouds. There were little breaks in these clouds. We had welder's glass with us, and I saw the 3/4 crescent through it, so we stopped. There were some puddles on the ground, and we kept looking at the sun in them. We were the only two people there.

Just before totality, the sun came out of the clouds and we saw our shadows on the grass in that weird light. The wind dropped and it was very still. When totality began, we couldn't see the eclipsed sun at all. The clouds ate it up. But it became really dark, much darker than I expected, and two or three trucks went past with headlights on. We could barely see each other, and the trees around us had become shadows. It felt strange - scary, even though we knew it was going to happen. We never saw that blacked out sun, but it wasn't a total washout either.

Back home, the night watchman looked relieved to see us again. He told us it had become dark suddenly and that he had run and switched on as many lights as he could.