Shower Power

I came back from work around 6:30 last evening, and after trying to figure out my new Internet connection which was not what I had bought (it is fixed now though), I went off to sleep. Woke up about 3 hours later, had some food and then prepared to head out to catch sight of the Geminids showering down the horizon in the east. Not that I prepared much actually, and not that the sight actually resembles how one would usually picture a typical shower, but all the same, what a night! Fuck the naysayers who spoke of a cloud cover over Delhi. In fact, some newspaper quoted someone who said something to the effect that the shower will be visible everywhere in India and the world except Delhi!

The drive itself was quite nice, to start with. Living in the city, not everyday do you get to average upwards of 60-70 kmph. Reached a high of 118 but I think my co-passenger was less than amused. So anyway, when I saw the end of street lights finally, I felt a sense of great delight, stopped the car briefly and looked up at the sky where the stars were already quite visible. Nice change from the usual patch of dust and city lights, where the luminosity of the stars is lost in various forms of pollution.

We finally reached a spot we figured was remote enough. Three local men, who were sitting by a fire a little way off the road and had noticed the car's lights die down near them, decided to come around with torches and asked if our car was alright. I explained to them why we were there, and while I was at it, saw my first meteor of the night. The locals were quite taken in but I guess the cold was enough incentive for them to go back to their fire. Plus, I guess they see shooting stars often enough anyway. Either way, we changed our own spot a couple of times before we properly started to strain our necks upwards. Two hours later, give or take a few, counting the small ones and the big, we must have seen about 50-60 meteors. Some streaking across the sky, some falling downwards, some going in semi-circular paths, and almost all interestingly coloured in hues of orange, yellow, green, blue and white.

About 2 hours later, it was close to 3:00am and the cold ground was getting to out feet even through our shoes. After waiting for another 5 minutes in the hope of catching another big one to end the night, we started on our way back. I had to be back at work in 5 hours. But it was surely the best night I have had in a very long time. Oh stars, even those that don't exist any more but still continue to shine upon our planet, thank you.