A Decade of Sun.

It's 1st June 2020. I have had a long day at work and only wish to rest once I get home.

Ten years back, on 2nd June, NASA had initiated an exhaustive task of continuously recording the movement of the Sun through a special equipment, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), by capturing a specific ultraviolet wavelength that led experts watch the outermost layer of the sun, its corona.

The recording is released at a time on earth when the entire planet has been grappled by the CORONA virus – COVID-19.

While the explicit work by NASA demonstrates the cyclical activities of the brightest star and covers even astronomical eruptions and planet transitions, the world at large is experiencing an upheaval of sorts. There is hardly one nation that has been spared from the climatic adversities that humans themselves have called upon. While the 425 million high resolution images of the Sun have yielded a great deal of data, ~ 20 million gigabytes, which has been aptly made entertaining with custom music by Leonhard, mankind has only begun to experience the devastating sound of nature.

The world at large is conflicted. Nations, political parties, people. As if all of this was buried underneath for many years and is now only coming to the surface for some resolution. A lot of geopolitical amendments are being made. Protests are commonplace – be it for gender equality or racism or even against sudden layoffs which have been a consequence of the corona virus pandemic. Countries like Afghanistan are fighting an unyielding bout for their rights of having a free press while those like Hong Kong and Taiwan are securing themselves from Chinese invasive propaganda. India has also been a target of the CCP attacks and it concerns me that a war is likely on the horizon.

I have been particularly perturbed by the attempts made by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the past few months to bring the world to its knees.

What started as a mere infection in the Wuhan city has percolated the remotest habitats as a grave concern and what is more concerning is that there are reports which attempt to condemn the CCP of the virus being engineered by them for a bio-warfare.

Regretfully, the India - China standoff in the past two months has turned out to be particularly edgy and very often when I am watching the news I look at the beautiful mountain ranges and valleys of Leh-Ladakh where the Chinese troops have been creating a menace, and feel, will it ever be the same again?

Is Leh going to be the next Kashmir?

I have never been to either Kashmir or Leh… Although, have always wanted to visit some snowy region, maybe, Shimla… or… Manali. I am interested in the snow. Never took particular pride in being able to move past the tension that exists in Jammu-Srinagar or the extreme conditions that prevail in Leh. Maybe someday I will…But now, everything seems uncertain.

I didn't move out of my house for two months to avoid contracting covid for fear that I live with my old parents who belong to the highly susceptible age group. Its been six months since the disease first made its access and it continues to kill innocent people all around me. I had never thought I will say this but I feel maybe I won't be able to make it to the most beautiful things in my life…

Like… maybe I will never be able to go to some snowy place…

And somehow… the acceptance seems difficult.

It's as if everything around me is changing to be what it should be and I am standing in opposition to it, trying to hold back something, something very close to me, but what really… I don't know.

I have entered my house and am now leaning on the sofa. I close my eyes and reminisce the subtle hues in the paintings of Nicholas Roerich which I had seen at an exhibit, a collection of the many years that he had spent travelling the world, capturing the beauty of nature and the spirit of humanity, especially in the Himalayas. I feel the violets and the indigos and the mauves and feel a sense of calm. I feel the sunset orange and try hard to remember the color of the sunrise… I feel an innate, unfathomable resistance within me, which, at every night, makes me realize that I need to do something, but what? It's as if I am struggling to stay in the light amidst the darkness that is trying to engulf me and just then I come across the movie released by NASA, 'A Decade of Sun', which brings me back to the reality of the amount of time that has passed…

It's been more than a decade that my dream to be somewhere was shattered for the first time and I tried to make up for it by excelling in my career...

It's been more than a decade I am sort of catapulting in the unknown in search of something not knowing what exactly…

Its been more than a decade …

And then… I open my eyes… remembering one of my friend's words… "You are exactly where you are supposed to be at this time." And as usual I question myself, "Really?", in the hope that at least today my heart gives me a conclusive answer.

But it doesn't.

Yet, I feel contented knowing that the answer now lies only with my beliefs and that, my life will now take a turn depending on the choices that I make in this moment, irrespective of whatever has happened in the past…

That I need to see through the external darkness making an unfailing effort to move past my disappointments without changing my loving and kind self.

That, just like the time lapse images of the sun captured over the past ten years that have yielded promising information, my life would be a beacon of hope, courage and determination for someone.

That no matter what life throws at you, you can always choose to stay in the light!