The Quest For A Star-lit Sky

 

As I stroll leisurely outside my flat, a power-cut plunges the surroundings into darkness. I immediately look at the sky, hoping to view the stars. Unsurprisingly, I can’t see a single star.

My mind drifts to a dark and cozy evening, somewhere in the 90s, as a thirteen-year-old me and my best friends Meera and Chitra lie beside each other on the terrace of the apartment where we used to live. This used to be our favorite pastime – lying on the terrace and stargazing. We had newly learnt about constellations and zodiacs and were very excited to test our knowledge.

Oh, I forgot to mention a key fact – we could see the stars then. Innumerable stars scattered all over the sky. Wherever you looked, the stars were there.

The only constellation we could identify was the Great Bear. Most days, the fourth star in the constellation would be duller compared to the other six. On some rare days, all the seven stars would be visible, gladdening our hearts.

There was also that set of three stars that we nicknamed Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwar. It was only later that we realized those are blue giants named Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

The hobby of stargazing lasted throughout my teens.

My father had a bungalow in a small town at the outskirts of Chennai. This place became our summer home. My cousins would gather there and all of us would spend late evenings at the terrace. Sometimes we slept on the terrace, under a star-lit sky. Best. Sleepover. Ever!

My son developed a liking for astronomy when he was around 5 years of age. I bought some picture books based on the solar system, and we both would spend a lot of time reading the same and gazing at the pictures in awe. In my teens, my interest in astronomy was only limited to watching the sky in wonder and awe. As I read the books with my kid and learnt more about the amazing Universe we are a part of, my love for astronomy deepened.

But the stars? They slowly drifted away.

I haven’t seen a star-lit sky like that of the 90s. They say the stars aren’t visible in cities due to light pollution. I have travelled to many hill-stations where the lighting is minimal and have spent evenings and nights gazing at the sky searching for stars. Not a single star could be seen.

Where are the stars? Why have they hidden themselves?

It’s not just the stars. I am absolutely fascinated by our bigger home – The Milky Way galaxy. I badly want to have just a glimpse of a tiny band of this majestic form, the closest we can get to seeing a 'tiny' fragment of infinity.

Sometimes, as I stood outside the room of a resort in a hill-station and observed the sky minutely, I could sense that some things like the vision of the Milky Way are only to be pined for and never to be achieved. Perhaps dreams like this keep life going. They give you something to keep hoping for. And where there is hope, there will always be the desire to wake up another day.

Every year I plan a trip to a hill-station. Every year there is that dream – that may be this time I will get to see the stars. And if the Universe is in a really good mood, maybe it will grace me with the vision of an arm of the Milky Way.

Till then, there are the power-cuts, the early morning darkness, the videos of space and the research for places where we can still see star-lit skies. Someday my hope will be rewarded, and the stars will smile again at me, hopefully beside the arm of our home galaxy.