A newsletter with subject line, “Partial Solar Eclipse,
Thursday afternoon- Oct 23rd, 2014
from Chris Vaughan –
Geophysicist, member of Royal Astronomical Society of Canada caught my
attention. My heart leapt into a gallop.
It brought back memories of my grandparents and their house
in a small village named Panchthupi, located in Bengal an eastern province of
India. Those days, at the beginning of May, frequent power outages during a heat
spell of 40 degree plus Celsius meant that the terrace was the coolest place to
hang out. The cooling evening breeze was like a soothing balm to our minds
after the heat of the day. Watching the
night sky slowly darken, as the stars became visible to the naked eye, laying comfortably
on a leaf floor mat on the terrace of a house set within a tropical coconut
grove while listening to my Dadu’s (grandfather) nail biting encounters during
the 2nd world war, was quite an enchanting experience. He would tell
me stories of Hindu mythology and I would try to pick out the big dipper,
referred to as “Saptarshi Mandal”, collection of seven great sages in the Hindu
astronomy. On one such evening, he told me the story of Rahu and Ketu. In Hindu
mythology, Rahu is a severed head of a demon (asura) that swallows the sun resulting
in solar eclipses. Even then as a child I
knew it was a tall story but somehow Rahu existed in my “Neverland”. Rahu is one of the planets in the Vedic
Astrology and is paired with Ketu. Rahu is still worshipped in Burma and also
recited by the Buddhist Monks as prayers of protection. Our evenings would end with a
very reluctant me sent to bed inside the hot stuffy house. Those were my
happiest childhood memories.
Sreeja (my daughter) and I started following the weather
forecast very closely. Although the indications were good, however we had our
fingers crossed until “D day”. It turned
out to be a perfect autumn afternoon. The crisp fall weather, blue sky, the
riot of flamboyant, extravagant colours of maple leaves was a real feast for
the eyes. Just on cue, Chris confirmed
that “it’s a Go”, in other words they were going ahead with their plans of
meeting up to view the solar eclipse. We joined rest of the team at Bayview reservoir,
north of Thornlea School a shade past five in the afternoon. There were number
of telescopes, solar gears, compact cameras lined up on the field while Karen
Mortfield and Chris Vaughan shared with us some eclipse eye glasses. We took
our first look at the sun through the telescope and also the eclipse wayfarers.
It was interesting to watch and learn about the sunspots, which are solar
storms as big as the Jupiter and also solar flares. I was reminded of the
enormity of the star at the centre of the solar system. 
At 5:39 PM, Bill announced the first contact, and we watched
the moon touching the first chord on sun’s face. The excitement behind the
telescopes was evident on the spectators as they clapped and cheered. The moon
slowly poised to “take a bite” out of sun!
Partway through this performance the weather turned from cool and windy
to cold and windy. The sun’s dance with the moon slowly went down the horizon. Few
trees, power lines, birds and aircraft transit gave a dramatic makeover.
We were amazed with the cosmic shadow dance and retuned home
with a big smile. Sreeja and I decorated the house with candles and celebrated a
memorable Diwali evening with prawn curry meal followed by a Rasamalai dessert.
Special thanks to Chris Vaughan, Bill Longo, Nicole Mortillaro, Paul and
Karen Mortfield, Phil and Lora Chow (and Skeena), Stu McNair, Paul D'Amelio and
kids, Mike Crabtree, Genevieve, Emma, Melanie, and Coralee Seabrooke, Joe
Ebidia
Photos by Joe Ebidia,
Fatima Kazmi and Debjani
