The Night It Rained On My Parade

/ August 8, 2017

Popat ho gaya (phrase; Hindi slang): When someone gets fooled.

So we know last night there was a Partial Lunar Eclipse visible from Asia, Africa and Australia. A rare phenomenon for us Indians, this one, because it coincided with the festival Rakshabandhan after a considerable number of years. While that is not anything special, in my impious opinion, a Lunar Eclipse by itself is a pretty special thing.

The last Lunar Eclipse I had seen was in 2008 or 2009, I can’t be sure. But it did strike me as beautiful. It was a Full Lunar Eclipse too and the moon looked like it was wearing a veil of orangey-brown. It got considerably darker too, since a full-moon night is particularly bright.

Lunar Eclipses often don’t generate that kind of interest in the public because they are not as spectacular as Solar Eclipses. But they are precursors to Solar Eclipses, and the next full Solar Eclipse is coming on 21st August. Unfortunately for us, it will only be visible in the US. Why do all good things like Alien discoveries and sightings happen in the US? Hmmm…

Hoping to catch the eclipse this time on camera, I readied myself for the event. First off, trying to do anything with a toddler is difficult, mate! Especially when it’s that toddler’s bed-time. But since I was on a mission, I had prepared myself. I had ensured that my daughter had been fed, washed up, had her teeth brushed and changed into her night clothes well before the event. In order to put her to sleep asap, I had even bribed her with her favorite TV show and the poor thing, bless her, did doze off without much fuss.

As soon as she went to sleep, I dashed to my balcony where I had laid out all the necessaries for watching a celestial event – the camera had been fully charged. My phone was right next to it on the makeshift table so I could tweet the pictures to the world (as if I was the only one). A bowl of chips was going to be my nutrition for the hour long wait and then there was the glass of juice (gotta counterbalance the negatives of eating something unhealthy, right?)

At first, the clear sky made a beautiful sight. The moon and it’s surroundings looked serene, clear, perfect for a Lunar Eclipse. Among the several pictures I clicked, this one was the best among the worst.

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I know, I suck at photography. But this was from my phone’s camera. The actual camera pictures were far worse. I told you this was the best of the worst, didn’t I?

There were a few clouds that sometimes blocked your view, but I wasn’t bothered about them. They were thin and wafery. They would go away. What I was more bothered about were the mosquitoes that were feasting on me!

Smack! Smack! I went…

I don’t know how many I killed but I did manage to hit myself pretty hard a couple of times trying to kill those buzzkills (pun intended). So I went back inside to get myself some mosquito repellent.

I came back outside to this unpleasant view – A lizard was on the table in very close proximity to my bowl of chips. If you know me you will know how I absolutely HATE lizards! I’ve talked about it in detail here. Their pale, jaundiced skins do something to me. Yuck!

I knew that I couldn’t hazard eating those chips anymore. Yeah, yeah the probability of the lizard having touched the bowl was small but who knows, we’re talking about city lizards here. They could’ve adapted themselves, and besides, it’s a bowl of chips, ya know! Who can resist chips?!

So I shooed it away with a jhadoo (broom). And waited… and waited… and then it started…

You could barely see it at first, the change was that small. But it definitely had started and I quickly tweeted about it to the world, at 10.57 in the night…

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A friend Whatsapped me just then and I quickly shooed her away, shamefully lying to her that I was trying to put my daughter to bed. (I still have to apologize to that friend). And just when I started getting all pumped up about catching it for real, a huge dark cloud swallowed the moon whole!

I COULDN’T BELIEVE IT!!

I waited a full hour for the real deal, let go of my nightly Netflix binge-watching ritual, had myself sucked dry by vampirish mosquitoes, battled an icky reptile and sacrificed an entire bowl of good chips only to watch a big, fat cloud swallow the moon?!

I rushed to the other balcony. No change!

I rushed to the windows overlooking that part of the sky. Nada!

I finally tiptoed out of the house, and went into the open verandah. No frigging change!

I waited for the next fifteen minutes for that cloud to float away, but more came and then some. Suddenly it began to look like it could rain. And it did.

Stupid cloud rained on my parade! Popat ho gaya!

18555851_100676450514066_4494546682437471084_n.jpgCopyright ©2017 Pradita Kapahi.

All rights reserved.

All images are subject to copyright in the name of Pradita Kapahi.

 

 

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54 thoughts on “The Night It Rained On My Parade”

  7. Interesting no doubt. But why do you lament that the next solar eclipse would not be visible in India? Our ancestors were not comfortable with solar eclipses. (Neither were they cheered by a lunar eclipse) There were innumerable cleansing rituals to be followed after an eclipse. Even temples were not exempted.

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    • Thank you for reading Sir 😊 I know out ancestors disapproved of eclipses altogether but you have to admit, they are quite a sight. I for one can’t resist one when I can help it. That’s why Im not happy that the solar eclipse won’t be visible in India.

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  9. That’s. that’s surely a bummer.
    The picture you took is good however……
    Reading your post now I realise, I’ve never watched a lunar or a solar eclipse, which is awkward because it’s been 20 years of me being here. 😞😞
    I am surely going to catch the 21 august one……..

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    • Yes Shaggy, it definitely was. You should definitely watch these celestial events. They’re quite something. Unfortunately the solar eclipse won’t be visible in India, but you can always watch it online. I’m sure someone will cover it live. I remember my first one which was a partial solar eclipse, and I dared to see it with naked eyes. Got one smack in the head from my Mom. Lol! Don’t do that whenever you do get to see one.

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      • Oh it’s available online as well!! I will check it.
        Haha I remember, we had to take a bath after every eclipse and mum would mop the whole house. Never really understood why.

        Okay, I will get myself glasses……
        🙂

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        • Lol! Yeah well my mom used to make us hide at home. We Indians are weird. It’s a natural phenomenon, what’s so wrong about it? Please get yourself Eyewear only meant for watching eclipses. Or quadruple some x ray sheets. That should do the trick. Btw, if you are watching it online you don’t need em 😎

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  10. Enjoyed reading “chronicle of Pradita’s Lunar Eclipse”!

    Looks like all work and no result! It happens….with all of us. I never knew it was a lunar eclipse, yesterday. Even if I did…there’s nothing I can do about the overcast sky..so what difference does it make?

    In my opinion, females are generally scared of either of these three (may be two or all three also) – lizard, cockroach and rat! Take your pick….

    BTW, great write up, Pradita! better luck next time!

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    • Thanks a lot for your encouragement. Yes, it was a bummer of a night for me. Even if I’d managed to see the eclipse I wouldn’t have been able to take a decent picture. I just don’t know how to take pictures of the moon… Maybe you could give me a few tips 😁 I’m not scared of the other two, but lizards…. Yuck! And snakes! Big yuck!

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        • My husband does have a tripod but I don’t know how to use it. He also has a zoom lens which he uses for his scale model photography. But again, I don’t know how to use it. Basically, I was just shit scared that I shouldn’t drop the camera while he’s still sailing, or else I’d have had it 😀 He LOVES his camera.

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    • Thanks a lot Dahlia. Mosquitoes? Really? Well I can’t say I don’t hate them, because they suck and their bite itches like anything… But at slats you can kill them. You can’t kill lizards… It feels wrong 😕

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  15. It’s the daughter wrecking revenge on you for bribing her..just kidding. There are days like that, I know, mosquitoes feasting on your eatables. The bites make one so itchy and uncomfortable…I keep odomos by my bed. I am so clumsy with photographs but still, you managed a good shot.

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  16. I don’t remember what I was doing at that time but I missed it too. I must mention that I wasn’t too excited about it in the first place, so maybe I didn’t even notice. As for nutrition and mosquitoes, you got yours, they got theirs. 😀
    Maybe you will get to watch it complete the next time round. Till then, keep away from lizards or you might develop some superpowers like them. Long tail? Wall-crawling,maybe? 😀

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