Mysterious Stars

It was an autumn evening in the town of Darjeeling. The sun had just set behind the hills. The sapphire-blue sky, with rafts of tiny white clouds tinged with the vermilion of twilight, floating by, and the dark green, velvety hills formed what many a poet might describe as the canvas of nature – filled with every detail of a riot of heavenly hues.

Akash looked up at the sky from the courtyard of his home. The full moon, pristine white and ageless, greeted him with a smile as darkness fell. Then one by one the stars came out. Akash’s granddaughter, little Alka, came to him and looked at the star-studded heavens in utter amazement. With a curious expression on her face and shining eyes, she began to recite her nursery rhyme.

“Twinkle, twinkle little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high. . .”

o o o

Akash remembered his own childhood days. He went several decades back in time and recalled his earliest memory, when the mysterious heavens had beckoned him and he had keenly yearned for knowledge about the wonderful stars and the laws of nature.

He remembered when his grandfather had pointed to the pole star, calling it Dhruba, an ardent devotee of lord Vasudeva. Then he remembered how his father had said to him that, “Dhruba was a devotee of lord Vishnu, and the moon god was blessed by lord Shiva, they are in our mythology. But today, science has other things to say.”

Thereafter, his father related the fascinating story of the stars and the planets and of space exploration while Akash listened eagerly. “Man may soon land on the moon, such has been the progress of science and technology in our world today,” said his father, while drawing his story to an end.

On yet another occasion, he recalled that he had pointed to the celestial river of light or ‘Akash Ganga’ [Milky Way] and had asked his mother about the cluster of stars forming the band. She had told him how young Nachiketa of the legends had joyfully accepted the curse of death given by his father and had departed from this world. He had travelled to the next world [the realm of the dead] by following the ‘Akash Ganga’ and had brought back to this world the realisation to transcend the limits of mortality. Tears had rolled down his cheeks as he listened to the touching tale of the virtuous child and his righteousness.

His indomitable desire to unravel the mysteries underlying the stars, planets, galaxies and the universe, inspired him to enquire about the marvellous heavens throughout his childhood and compelled him to take up astronomy and its related sciences for research as a young man. Akash had always been an intelligent and hard-working student and had a keen insight into every concept. Thus he could easily fulfil his aim.

Akash’s research abroad proved to be fruitful. He discovered much about the mysteries behind the formation of nebulae; of the origins of cosmic rays, giant stars and black holes. Often he would spend night after night inspecting the data collected by optical and radio telescopes in Canada. He would also be busy during the day, performing complicated calculations on supercomputers. His publication on black holes and how they trap light and curve space, and how the possibility of time travel arises from this concept, sent ripples through the scientific world and became a breakthrough achievement in the field of astronomy.

His love of the heavens was primary to Akash. His marriage to Asha, the birth of his son, Ashoke and all the happy moments making up a family were secondary to him. Still, he managed to keep his family happy.

o o o

Among the tamarisk trees, Akash noticed the glimmer of a ‘sky lamp’ looking towards the heavens. People lit these lamps during this time of the year in memory of their ancestors presumed to be dwelling in the heavens. Remembering his relatives and friends who had been very near and dear to him but had passed away, he sighed and softly quoted from Tagore – “You leave your memory as a flame to my lovely lamp of separation.”

The stars twinkled again, as a thin mist which had veiled the skies, cleared. Akash thought about the myths and mysteries regarding the heavens and also about the scientific discoveries made about them which had only led to further questions. Through the ages people have wondered about extraterrestrials, space travel in the future and space wars. Some have wondered about the future of the universe and the fate of the heavenly bodies, while others have imagined the heavenly bodies to be divine beings looking down upon the earth influencing the fates of mortal beings. Since time immemorial mankind has wondered about the heavens, and will continue to do so forever, he had finally realised.

“For eternity man will be filled with awe and wonder at beholding the stars which are truly – poetry of heaven.” He remarked rather philosophically. Little Alka could not understand his words. She continued reciting.

“. . .like a diamond in the sky.”

- Somdev Mukherjee
Kolkata, West Bengal, India.