Weather’s Double Turn Around

Total Solar Eclipse 2009

It was a day with tremendous drama…a day which would bring me and thousands of others an excitement without being an active part of any drama. It was century’s 1st Total Solar Eclipse (TSE) to be visible from India and also the longest TSE of the century…and it was an end to a long wait for me!!

I still remember the kind of mixed feelings Shishir, Abhay sir, myself and many others had during TSE of 11^th Aug 1999 when we were badly hurt by the denial from clouds to see the Sun-Moon duo during those crucial 63 seconds of TOTALITY on that cloudy day and at the same time, we were ecstatic because of the great experience we had due the complete darkness.  Since then, it was a long wait of 10 years…till 22^nd July, 2009.

Owing to the fact that July is the peak monsoon period for India, selection of an observation site was a bit tricky.  Almost the entire India is expected to have a cloud canopy and hence selection became extremely crucial to have just a better chance of clear eastern horizon. History of average rainfall in July, proximity of a location from the central line of totality path, lodging – boarding facilities for the members needed to be checked. Altitude of the Sun during totality added another crucial dimension to the selection criteria since totality was scheduled on early morning. Considering all these facets, Jabalpur – central place of central Indian State Madhya Pradesh -was fixed as an observation site.

With 2322 up Mumbai-Howrah Kolkata mail, we 70 enthusiasts left for Jabalpur on the night of 20^th July.  Morning of 21^st July turned out to be a dismal experience with dark monsoon clouds pouring on rain from all the sides…what a sight – an absolute nightmare!! Soon, we reached Jabalpur in the afternoon. It kept raining intermittently and there was no sign of dark clouds leaving Jabalpur sky at least for next couple of days.

In order to have better chance of seeing Moon’s shadow just a few seconds before totality, an elevated place is always a preferred site. Hence, Shishir and I wanted to check ‘Madan Mahal Fort’ as an alternate. The fort was fantastic with artistic ancient structures, greenery around, a small pond adding to the scenery, clear view of eastern & western horizon and most importantly, it had a decent elevation we were looking for. However, it lacked the space to accommodate 70 people – allowing them all a clear eastern and western horizon at a time. And since it had about 250 steps, it could have also been a bit hard for elderly people to climb those steps. Shishir and I were desperate to observe eclipse from the fort but finally we decided to observe the eclipse together. We both, along with Mandar, Sunil, Mangesh and Vijay checked the earlier fixed observation site near Geeta Dham and returned to the lodging hall.

In the mean time, few monsoon showers ensured that our hopes of clear eastern horizon – at least during 3 minutes of totality – never go up. In fact, when Vaibhav, Sunil and I checked online weather report at about 11 pm, presence of thick cloud cover all over India (except for few places of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal) sunk our hopes further. Sunil and me just looked at each other – saying nothing much and conveying our feelings completely!!! We almost gave up our hopes of clear sky on next day morning.  However, being a plain region like Jabalpur, deep in my mind, I always felt that weather can turn around any time …literally any time. My mind traveled fast 14 years back and I could see the shining Diamond Ring, followed by the serene Corona making its appearance in a flash on the Diwali day of 1995!! I was desperately hoping to have the same Diwali this July…I wanted nature to give some justice to our desire…to clear the eastern horizon only for 3 minutes the next morning …only for 3 minutes!!!

I knew that if weather is to show any drastic change, if clouds are to leave Jabalpur sky, then next few hours of night is the best time. I went to sleep at 11.45 pm to negotiate one of the most anxious nights of my life. And weather turned around – sadly, not just once but twice; leaving all of us in a total despondent condition!!!!!

When I got up at 3.30 am, the excitement of the event, the hopes of clearance of sky drove me directly out of the room to look at the sky. And to my great pleasure the entire sky was free of clouds. All the stars, Venus, Jupiter planets made their appearance – even they wanted to be the spectator of the Special Celestial Drama. I was euphoric looking at the sky… Shishir and I exchanged our joy with unsaid words … in a style, as if we had conquered something…as if we had managed triumph over monsoon clouds!!

However, it wasn’t to be so…as our buses left for the observation site at 5.00 am, some clouds started stigmatizing the show by making their appearance from the east.  They came fast and hurriedly. The eastern horizon belonged to us that morning but, clouds made a wicked encroachment…not to go away for next 5-6 hours. We were helpless now!!

Partially eclipsed Sun, along with Moon, rose at 5.40 am behind thick curtain of clouds. Reaching the observation site near Geeta Dham, we all now waited for 6.22 am. I earlier had experienced the similar situation during TSE of 11^th Aug 1999 and I was convinced that the sharp drop in day-light, an absolute darkness during the totality, the feeling of night during a daytime – possible only during Totality – is also going to be an exciting moment. Finally when the Moon grasped the Sun completely, people started cheering…they all started clapping with a great joy…they all were enjoying their one of the life-time moments…they all were experiencing century’s longest Total Solar Eclipse!!!

Event was over in 2 min 58 seconds. This is one such event which lasts for just few seconds or few minutes but marks its memories for a life-time. This is one such event which draws thousands of enthusiasts from all over the world, in a restricted narrow path of the Moon’s shadow.  My Aai & Aaji, Mangesh & Rahul (the Phatak brothersJ) were ecstatic as it was their first such experience…and they never expected it to be so sensational, so exciting. However on the other side, I could see and read Shishir’s not just the face but also the dejected mind.  For a moment we both strongly felt as if nature had played one of the cruelest games with us.

For me, it was one of those events which I had been waiting for long…for last 10 years!!! It was also the event which I desperately wanted my close ones to experience and be part of.  By all the possible means of communication at different times, I tried whatever I could to persuade them to experience this phenomenal event.  After all, in a life-time, you don’t get to see such events often…do you? Apart from being the longest TSE of the century, practically for us, it was also the last chance of watching the TSE from Indian soil (next one due on 20^th Mar 2034 is from Kashmir region and we don’t know what conditions will prevail there after 25 years). One major problem which I could foresee was that hardly anyone of them actually had experienced it before. And hence they perhaps might not have able to realize the unparalleled quality of this event. Many of them also might have felt that Moon anyway is going to eclipse 96% or 98% of the SUN from rest of the India which is so close to 100%.  But sadly, this is not the number game. There is absolutely no other alternate to 100% and hence you have got to be in the totality path to experience those priceless few moments of life offered by the life-creator itself.

While returning back, I couldn’t send back the disturbing thoughts entering my mind – thoughts of not being able to persuade my close ones to see the TSE. Thought of missing the unexpected totality, the Diamond Ring, the Corona simply cannot be explained in words.  I may have felt that nature behaved with cruelty by showing double turn around in hardly 5 hours but at the end this is what we always were going to get in July. I felt that sometimes expecting too much is a crime. Even in a normal scenario we don’t always get what we expect….and here, we were expecting something unusual to happen…we were expecting those innocent monsoon clouds to stay away just to fulfill our desire (or was it a selfishness???)

Finally, I have no complaints, no remorse. The tour gave me a satisfaction of at least giving me what was expected at the beginning…satisfaction of being the sincere spectator, for the third time, of a fascinating darkness created by the precisely calculated display by two unseen celestial performers…and the biggest satisfaction of making my Aai and 74 years old Aaji experience the grand celestial show !!!

— Abhijit

26.07.2009

“In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are only consequences!!”