The sheer joie de vivre was a spectacle to behold. Eclipses come and go but people have been known to be nervous about them. Blame it on the received wisdom of ages or the lingering superstitions. The fact is eclipses are never such great fun in India as the Americans made it out to be with millions racing to the 70-mile swath of land cutting through USA in which the totality of the eclipse could be felt best as it would be 100%.
I still remember ages ago when I was newly married and reporting the Jubilee Test match in Mumbai. A solar eclipse was to make its appearance on the second day of the Test in 1980 and hence they declared it the rest day. A bit of crazy scheduling that was but that didn't stop Ian Botham from celebrating with a mighty all-round performance of a century and five-for twice in the match with 13 wickets in all. And one cricketer can't do much more than that. Maybe, the eclipse had something to do with it or was he merely fodder for subs saying “Botham eclipses India” in the headlines?
Pictures taken by Madhavan Rangaswami at Madras, Oregon show the lit up scene before the event during the eclipse.
As for me, I was ordered to stay put inside my room and not venture out on the eclipse day. There is no appealing to the courts when Home’ orders and I stayed in the guest house room, prohibited even from leaning out of the balcony and looking at the natural spectacle. So, let's just say Donald Trump was more fortunate. He could even glance at the Sun without the funny glasses. It may not matter much for the world so much if he goes blind a few years down the ages. But by doing what he did, Trump once again signalled that no one tells him what to do. Not even the Sun.
There was a funny family story out of the eclipse too. An uncle who was born when it was called Madras migrated to the US to make his fortune in venture capitalism. He found out that Madras, Oregon was the best spot to take in the eclipse. As the saying goes, you can take a man out of Madras but you can't take Madras out of a man. If the rooms cost a bomb, it probably didn't pinch, but the irony was had the total solar eclipse passed through Madras or Chennai he might not have been allowed to go out and look at the shadow planet Rahu, his throat sliced by a discus from Vishnu, failing at gobbling the Sun.
Not all superstitions are to be scoffed at though. For instance, take the month of Aadi that just went by and why they used to send brides home in that month. It was explained to me that there was a gynaecological reason for this. If a woman conceived in Aadi, her child would be born in the summer month of Chithirai, the hottest part of the year in Tamil Nadu. So, there is some logic to the custom then. But why spoil the fun of an eclipse, provided, of course, that we would follow the sage advice of science and not look directly at the Sun. There is already talk of the glasses not being thrown away in USA but gifted to South America where the next total solar eclipse show will occur.
Ancient beliefs may lead to temples shutting down but there is little reason for people to fear from a perfectly natural phenomenon as our Moon blocks out the great star of our galaxy briefly once in a few years when their planes of movement coincide and brings them in a line. Like all early school physics experiments were done by viewing the Sun's reflection on water rather than staring at it directly, so too should the same precautions be taken at eclipses. But then the date of the next total solar eclipse to feature over South India would be on January 5, 2057- far too late for many of us mortals.
Maybe, it's time to catch the next stop of solar eclipse tourism. Much like the Australian, who was cheerful even when it seemed his luck had run out as clouds gathered over the region in the US he had chosen to view the eclipse from, was in luck as the cumulus nimbus lifted just in time for a peek at the great celestial show overhead, we could hope to get lucky in South America or wherever.
The sheer energy displayed by these people in chasing a total solar eclipse was awesome. In the modern era of total communication, you can expect the next total eclipse to be similarly welcomed with warmth and joy.
