I am one of those luckiest people of the earth today who witnessed this century’s longest duration solar eclipse. Solar eclipse was observed between 5:30AM to 7:30 AM i.e. in the morning just after the sunrise. I usually do not wake up early in the morning but my mother does. She woke up early and she says that it was breezy sun soaked mornings until 6:15AM. However suddenly sunlight began to vanish and it started to get dark. She rushed to wake me up as she knew I wanted to witness this cosmic event. I woke up and rushed to the window and what I saw was unbelievable. It was getting darker and darker every second. Suddenly day turned like dark evening and people in my neighbor began to scream with joy to celebrate the eclipse. People were anxiously waiting for it to happen. It was dark for at least 4 minutes however sun could hardly be seen clearly due to some cloud. People were gazing towards sky with x-ray films. There were lots of misleading campaign by unscrupulous pundits and astrologers about this eclipse. But hats off to all those news channels which campaigned against such superstitions. In India Taregana near Patna was hotspot for watching solar eclipse. Scientist gathered from days before to record this moment and perform experiments which may help in revealing few more mysteries of the Sun. Taregana is also crucial because it is the place of great Ancient Indian Scientist Aryabhatta. Though his home and findings were all flushed by the floods long time back, but what a moment it was to remember this great ancient star on whose name our first satellite was launched in the space i.e. ARYABHATTA.
As against the superstitious ritual or myth, I and my mother had tea. Actually no one cooks or eats during solar eclipse as it is said to bring misfortunes. But I was delighted to overrule such crap ritual. Even my mother who is a Theist and die hard worshiper of god does not believe in all these. Overall it was a wonderful morning today. The world getting darker and darker and then again our own Sun dominating the moon and enlightening the whole world with its light is of course a splendid phenomenon and worthwhile to watch. Those who consider it as beginning of misfortune should be pitied upon as they really need to get out of sick and superstitious mentality.
