When the Stars Appear

 I went out on a walk with my Baba today. It was not quite 6 in the evening. These days we hardly go out, as it is sweltering hot out. But, "Indradev" promised some respite, and the welcome drop in the temperature in the midst of summer, felt like the "Jayabheri" for the upcoming rain. Having exhausted my metaphors, let's move ahead. 

One moment I saw kids playing at this park in our colony, and the next moment the mothers in the park started shooing their kids back home. With them gone, we finally found a bench to sit on, Baba and I. I wondered why the kids were already back home. Was it the heat? Was it study time already! But isn't it summer vacation time!

Suddenly, I got reminded of what my mother used to say when I was a teeny weeny kid. "Come back home when you can spot 4 stars in the sky!" It was my grandma's cardinal rule too, Maa says. Funnily I hardly went out to play, so I hardly followed that rule. But I loved to ride my cycle, a Hero Jetmaster around the quaint IIT KGP campus (they don't make cycles like that anymore, all we get is pink, ditzy, overpriced messes in the name of "ladies" cycles).

But, I liked that odd saying, "Come back when you can see 4 stars in the sky." What a privilege it was. Back then, it wasn't so difficult to spot the stars. Today, not only do I not go outside, but even if I were to, the stars are also all distant to me; so distant that I can't even see them. It is weird how near they seemed when I was a kid. 

Everything felt within my reach. All I needed to do was dream, study hard, and enjoy the process. Why does that suddenly feel so undoable these days? I wonder. 

On summer nights in Hyderabad, we used to sleep on the terrace. There was no one to raise any fit, we all used to just chill upstairs. On unbearably hot nights, the terrace below and the stars above were a source of solace to us. 

For me, the terrace was an escape zone. Deeply troubled by the "jhamela" called life, I will walk around, and look at the stars to clear my head. Baba always says, "Looking at something big like the sky and the distant stars makes your problems look smaller."

It did. Whenever life seemed hard, sitting on the terrace parapet, dangling my feet and enjoying the breeze, and of course looking at the stars made things better, and living that much more bearable. It used to clear my head right up.

Now that I think of it, we associate so many things with the stars. We call our loved ones, "aankhon ka tara", we use stars for navigation, and revere certain stars even like the Pole star, for being the source of unwavering direction to so many lost boatmen on the sea. We connect the dot like stars, make random shapes, and call them constellations. Meanwhile the unbothered stars, just gaze upon us, unaware that they hold so much meaning and touch so many lives with their twinkling presence. 

I guess I need to go back! I can see four stars in the sky.

Until then, 

Goodbye!!

Iridium.

P.S.: Today is the day of the moon, Eid Mubarak and look at me here chitter-chattering about the stars. Dear Moon, the spotlight is on you today, don't worry. I am not trying to take that away. Hope you don't mind me shedding some light on the stars. Moon, you are plenty beautiful already.