Moonlit

I have always been obsessed with the moon and stars. I remember, as a child, I used to stay up all night on my terrace, gazing at the clear sky, with millions of stars and the beautiful moon. My village is far away from the buzz of the city. It is a calm and peaceful place, with zero traffic and pollution. Its pleasant atmosphere makes moon gazing an ecstasy. Full moon nights were the best. The farms, the fields and the roads were naturally lit by the moonlight, and it was the perfect time for me and my cousins to enter a star-counting competition.

But back in those days, in the 80s, we were told to sleep early. With no other source of entertainment, not even TVs, my cousins and I obeyed. But I sneaked out of my bed, and onto the terrace, to do the thing I loved the most – gazing at the moonlit skies, counting the stars, admiring the moon and the natural beauty of this universe.

In my teenage, thanks to the movies, I connected the moon to romance and love. I saw my beloved for the first time on a full moon night and fell in love immediately.

As I grew up, my love for the moon took me in a different direction. My schooling was very basic; a local municipal school where education was aided, but it did not quench my thirst for scientific knowledge. Our Gram Panchayat Library had a lot of magazines and books from where I learned about space and astronomy. I gathered all sorts of tools, spare parts and scarp to work on different science models as shown in those books. My experiments fascinated the villagers too and attracted many other children to join hands in my projects. I worked on a spinning solar system, created different models of rockets, constructed a sundial in the backyard of the library, and painted different constellation patterns on the library walls.

A few years later, I built my own small telescope and a perfect mini-observatory on my terrace to observe the moon and the stars more closely, since they have been my consistent friends on my lifelong virtual journey in space.

On full moon nights, now I have children from all over the village visiting my observatory and learning the specific details about various celestial objects.

I could not go on to pursue any degree in the subject I was so enthusiastic about. With a bare minimum family income, I could hardly complete my graduation from a local college. For me, ISRO or NASA will always be a far-fetched dream, something of which I regularly hear about through the internet now. But for a simple village boy like me, my biggest achievement was the visit of our state’s Chief minister to my mini-space center. He had been touring our district and was appreciatively told about me and my creativity. He paid a visit to our Library and my observatory, and he witnessed my space models and projects. He motivated me with his kind words of appreciation and gave me a huge sum of money as a reward to be invested in further such ventures. Needless to say, I became famous in the area and was even interviewed by the local media several times. A documentary was made on me and my life, which covered all aspects of my passion, hard work, my extensive knowledge with bare-minimum resources and my further ambitions. I made a benchmark for the children in my area and they now look up to me as a role model.

I never aimed for the moon and the stars; I just loved them with all my heart. And as it is said, the Universe returns what we give it. In my case, it is practically true. Thank you, Universe! for this beautiful Moonlit Life.