Monday, March 12, 2007

Lunar dreams



It was on my mind for a quiet a while to photograph all phases of the moon. It's certainly an amazing feeling to observe the moon from here. And it makes me want to go to the moon and explore. It would look like a cold, desolate place with no one else around.
I might not even like it there. But I would certainly like the earth as seen from there! The other side is always greener, isn't it?
Well, The series started from the 4th of March 2007 at 2130 hrs. IST. That was the night after the eclipse. Technically, the eclipse started on 4th March 2007 at 0230 Hrs IST. The moon looked totally fresh and glowing after the first full eclipse in almost 3 yrs! And ready to be photographed, and looked at.
The next night, the moon rose a little late, and it came up clear above all trees and buildings in the horizon at 2230 hrs. So, there I was on my terrace, romancing the moon again... How I just wait for the Moonrise...!
The moon started receding a little from the top, slow and shy, and I kept capturing it as it rose every day, for the next five days, anticipating it's augmented beauty every next night! It is truly one of the most dramatic sights, as the moon recedes, and disappears.
And what makes it even more captivating is the return to its original beauty. Full and bright, enchanting one and all, it goes on displaying the wonderful sight. Mother Earth got envious of all the attention to it’s satellite, and she sent a stratum of clouds to impede my vision of the moon. But it was no use. It shone brightly, between the skeletal layer of low clouds, giving me a near-perfect image of the moon. The sun still smiled on it’s children, benevolently yielding it intensity.
And with that, it completes half of its chapter, one that it reads over and over again, every month, posturing for me, while it was at it, and for countless others, around the world. I’m just one small microbe in this pool full of organisms, much superior than I. I’m waiting to evolve, to proliferate myself into different spheres of astral knowledge.
Countless generations of human beings have been witness to this wonder of nature. A wonder of time, gravity, light, and movement. But it takes more than an ordinary human being to understand it all. I wish I was one of the few who could. I wish I was one of the few to stand on the moon, walk, run and explore on it. See the earth from it and not feel the sheer agony for not being able to do so.

And consequently, as I reconcile in my limited understanding, and close my tired eyes for the day, I dream… my LUNAR DREAMS