Space

Nitin was playing with his dog, Moti, in the garden. The sun had just set. All of a sudden he turned his head upwards and lo and behold, what did he see? In the evening sky he saw a bright object. He did not know what it was. Was it a star or a planet, he had no idea. He ran inside and beckoned his mother to come outside and see the bright object and tell him what that was. It was too much for the ten year old Nitin for his head to behold. His dog, Moti was feeling very frisky the way his little master was behaving. Because the more Nitin became active, the more Moti became lively. His mother came out and gazed upwards in the open sky. 

'' My dear, it may be the planet Venus which is generally visible in the evening sky sometimes,'' 'Nitin' s mother said with confidence. '' But wait, I will confirm with your Dad as he knows the sky better, '' continued his mother. 

Since, the geography teacher started teaching about outer space, Nitin felt very intrigued. His teacher also made the subject very interesting. His teacher has said that he will discuss about the various star formation in the outer space observed in the evening sky. Nitin also decided to discuss the interesting sighting he had done with his geography teacher. 

Just before the street lights were turned on, Nitin would stare blankly in the open sky upwards and try to discern the various formations there. After the lights were turned on, then a haze would form and in the distant horizon where the sky met the ground and everything would be partially visible. 

Then, later in the night, the space became clearer and objects became more easily visible. Nitin was now very interested in viewing the open space above his head. 

As per his school project work, Nitin had drawn a chart of the evening sky and put that chart on the board in his study room. His father had kindled the interest in him in observing the sky. 

Now, Nitin was seeing space even in his dreams. Today after seeing that bright object , Nitin was thinking of it when reading English literature. He started seeing fairies flying in front of his eyes in strange carriages through the sky. The sky turned many colours simultaneously. Then all of a sudden, Nitin found himself traveling through space in a strange vehicle. He flew in between many objects that were flying hither and thither. Nitin became more engrossed. Then he could see big objects, stone like structures in the space. They lay suspended in the space and were neither falling down or rising up. Then clouds were appearing and smoke was billowing out from a strange pitcher. But the space was devoid of any creature or living being. Nitin found himself lonely in the vast open space. The surroundings looked similar to a desert which Nitin remembered of visiting with his parents two winters ago. 

Then, suddenly, Nitin found that his speed was increasing. He was travelling very fast. He had no control over the vehicle. He had no control over it even before but then it was hurtling ahead gently but now it had increased its speed as if trying to catch some thing.. Nitin was feeling dizzy as the speed was increasing exponentially. 

Then vaguely, Nitin found that he was going headlong to a wall and was about to crash. Then, he realised, even, Moti was not beside him. So there was no one to rescue him. 

Just before the crash, Nitin became aware. The crash was avoided. He had gone to a deep sleep reading the English literature book but he had found himself in deep outer space. The wall he was about to crash was the board where his chart on space was hung. Then he heard his father's voice in the distance. 

His dad had returned after two months. '' Nitin, my dear, your dad has become an astronomer, '' he called out animatedly. His father was working with the space department and was a scientist and now he became an astronomer. He came with a block of stone and presented it to Nitin. It resembled just like the objects he saw in his dream. 

Nitin was truly fascinated with the story of the space.