Monster Eclipse (22nd July 2009)

Well, many of us got a chance to experience on of the longest total solar eclipses of the 21st century on the 22nd of July 2009 early morning. Its was experienced in many parts of the world including India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. Here in India also it was seen at a number of places including Surat, Varanasi, Vadodara, Bhopal, Patna, Lucknow and so on. Thousands and lakhs of people actually waited the entire night at places from where the eclipse would be easily seen. I too stayed up the entire night to catch this site, even though not live, on the television.

Atleast on T.V, the people that actually gethered there were more of the middle class and the lower middle class people. It was really cool to see the way the waited there even in the rains. However, many people were least interested in being a part of this phenomena, outside and even at homes. Im sure that a huge sum of people would have not even taken the trouble to wake up and switch on their T.V.'s. I even happened to come across people, the day before the eclipse who said " Whats so great it seeing it!". Its a known fact that such an occurance will only happen next after another 100 years, by then not many would actually be alive to see it. I understand that it was just a normal solar eclipse with the moon over shadowing the sun, but the main part, why even some channels called it the 'Monster' eclipse was the duration for which the moon totally overshadowed the sun. Was around 3 minutes to 6 minutes, depending on the location you would view it from.

It is very important for people to understand that not only are wars, president elections or may be terrorist attacks a part of historic moments, but such phenomenons should also be given their dues. The are naturally occuring and a beautiful site to watch. I was not lucky enough to view the eclipse live in the sky, as it wasn't seen where I reside, but sure am happy and content I atleast got a chance to see it on T.V.