Milky Way diary

FROM under the halogen cover of city, one can easily count the stars in the sky. The scattering of light makes sure that much of the night sky remains invisible. Away from urban lights the picture changes however. We choose the Little Rann of Kutch – LRK. By early evening this wilderness reveals the Milky Way in all its glory – star lit night sky that is so cold and clear that one knows for sure there are billions of stars above and the world beyond. The LRK sky makes even tiny man-made satellites crawling through their trajectories visible dime a dozen. To the naked eye!

Rann is featureless. And consequently leaves one directionless. It is perhaps this feature of Rann that might have turned stars – and the night sky – into a source of directions – and time. For anyone crossing the Rann, Polestar is north; Jupiter at the horizon is east; which also means the evening is young; the rise of constellations a give away of how mature the night is. If the Saturn is already visible, it must be past midnight. If Mars is past the zenith, it is probably couple of hours before day break.

Long before it became science that Moon’s luminosity is reflected sun-light, our ancestors had called Chandra the son-in-law of Surya! As it turns out a philandering one, for Moon eloped with the wife of Brihaspati – Jupiter. Is it that smoldering anger that gives the Jupiter the red stripes? I wonder. But Moon would not be the same again. At 250x magnification it unravels warts and all. Any lady who has seen the moon through a scope would cringe at being a muse akin to the Earth’s satellite. Everyone agrees.

As the evening progresses post dinner, it is the turn of chief priest of the gods to shine brightest in the sky. Jupiter – Brihaspati in Hindu myth – little stocky, bulging in the middle, the harbinger of prosperity is up above us. As Zeus from Greek fable, he has been the philandering one, raping Europa, who twinkles by its side. Other three moons of Jupiter – Ganymede, Io, Callisto – become visible with a little focus, though which one is which is not possible to identify. Nevertheless, it makes for a great picture.

Saturn loves physical activity and discipline. Astrology says it is the planet of hard work, renunciation, and the rhythms of life. Again, much before science calculated that Saturn takes 30 years to make one round of Sun, our seers had termed it the slow one – Shani means the slow moving! But our Saturn does not look like angry – the Rudra – destructive Shani deva it is made out to be. In fact it even manages to look cool, prancing with its rings, for the kids to go up in excitement and give a second life to the evening.

Women are from Venus became a cliché recently, but the planet was termed as having feminine energies ages ago. As we wait for Venus in the morning sky, men become excited to watch Mars. For the same cliche! Is it the misogyny of scientists that all of them are after Mars and not Venus? Again, long long ago and certainly much before science termed it as twin planet of Earth with possibility of life, Mangal was termed the son of Prithvi…Bhumiputra! The redness of Mars at its edges makes it look like a distinctly red ball in the sky.

The night sky by this time is choc-a-block with stories. Of the ever changing pole star – Polaris now, it was Theban 10,000 years ago, and would be Vega similar years hence. Orion, the hunter, stands with Sirius the dog in position, being watched by Castor and Pollox – the sons of Jupiter and two faces of Gemini constellation. Sage Vashishta along with wife Arundhati – Mizar and Alcor from Greek legend – twinkle as part of the Big Dipper. Even up to the medieval times, only those were trained as archers in armies who could identify a twin-star like Vashishta-Arundhati.

Along the way we see galaxies and nebulas…millions of stars that are being born…millions that have crossed middle age by the time their first light touches us…stars that are dying…and of course stars that break and fall on earth, making everyone wish for something before the streak of light disappears. Is there are star for each one of us in this world? Makes me recall Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s Jo Beet Gayi, So Baat Gayi. But that’s for another day.