STARS!

There I was, lying on the grass, hands behind my head, thoughtlessly gazing into infinity. The dewy layer on the grass did not shine enough that winter night – it was moonless. The only sight that caught my attention that night was that of small dots of light, piercing through the nothingness of the bluish-black sky. “They are called Stars” – I said to myself. They did not speak, nor did they react to what I just said. All they did is – twinkle. And that brought a smile to my face. It was that night when my amazing fascination for these cosmic beings came to existence. I was six then.

As I grew up, so did my interest in the world beyond ours. As I learned more about the Universe, the first thought that struck me was – How infinitely big it is. The fact that I was a part of this limitless cosmos gave me a great sense of enormity – a strange sense of pride. There was a sense of excitement, when I thought about the places far away (really far away), which are still untouched, unexplored, unknown. And the embodiments of this fascinating idea of distance and obscurity were the Stars. These distant, innocent looking points of white light are actually, huge, intensely hot masses of gas and radioactive elements – home to the most explosive nuclear phenomena in the Universe - Fusion. ‘Outward appearances are surely deceptive’. Stars are majestic. Our own Sun is a middle-aged star. Millions of kilometers away from the earth, the Sun is the source of all heat and light on earth and all of the Solar System. This might give you an idea, of the amount of energy a star produces.

Like all creations of nature, stars also emerge from dust – space dust. Randomly scattered planetary dust and gases, are attracted towards each other under the action of Gravity, and under specific conditions and temperature, they form what we call a ‘protostar’ – the infant in Mother Nature’s womb. Along the course of billions of years, stars pass through different phases in their stellar lives (yellow dwarfs, red dwarfs, red giants, white dwarfs, neutron stars!) and exist for different lifetimes, depending on how massive they are. Just like humans, some stars just fade away into darkness, while others have spectacular deaths. When a sufficiently massive star uses up all its fuel for nuclear fusion, its constituent particles, start collapsing into each other under the effect of its own Gravity, resulting in the Supernova explosion – a burst of radiation that can outshine a galaxy, and produce as much energy as the Sun would produce in a lifetime. The remnant of a supernova is a Black Hole – an infinitely dense dark void in the cosmic fabric which attracts everything into itself, even light. Ironically, the same universal force of attraction is responsible for both the birth and the death of a star – Gravity.

But stars are much more than mysterious objects of Astronomy. We all want to ‘reach the stars’ or ‘be a star, a superstar!’. Stars have always been associated with success and recognition. They are thought of as the ultimate sign of glory. That is why stars hold immense importance in every culture, and are the symbol of the triumphant spirit of man.

For me, stars have a very personal meaning. They are a representation of all virtues and ideals I stand for. They relate to what I am and what I would want to be like in the future. Being as glorious and mighty as they are, stars appear to us as humble luminous specks across the night sky. They are physical embodiments of life energy, which they radiate through the entire Universe. But the virtue I define stars by is unending resolve. The light from the stars flickers and shimmers. It seems as if it fights a relentless battle against the darkness, and finally manages to pierce through, overcoming all odds.

Whenever I feel low, I look deep into the night sky and see the stars twinkling away shedding their light upon me. I have them, when I have no one else. What I feel at that moment is beyond expression. 

 

‘The Night Sky so infinite,
Where the beauty of contrast abounds,
 Stars are points of shimmering light,
Which cosmic darkness calmly surrounds.’

The Curve of life

NOTE: I wrote this essay, as an answer to an essay question in a university application .....

The chilly breeze, coming from the bordering sea, swept across the street in a uniform gust. This was perhaps the most well-known street in India – the Marine Drive, also known as the Queen’s Necklace. I was in Mumbai – the City of Dreams. It is the city which represents the diversity of India. The place where people from all religions, castes, and social classes, live each day, in relentless struggle to transform their dreams into reality. For the past few days, I had known this city only as my SAT Examination center. As I walked along, I pondered upon my reason for being here this evening. I soon realized there was none, except for my random fancy.

I had no idea about what I would see, hear or experience. Lazily passing the buildings that rose steeply from the ground, my eyes fell upon a child on the footpath playing with a spinning top. He spun it again and again, gazing at its dizzy motion, with curious eyes. It seemed like he was aware of nothing beyond the top. Little did he care about who or what passed him. The cars, the sea or the street, nothing interested him as much. At this moment, the swirling motion of the top was the most mysterious, enigmatic and fascinating phenomenon of the Universe for the kid. Such was his innocent curiosity.

As I moved along the curve bordering the extensive sea, I saw a procession of people approaching me from the opposite direction.  The parade consisted of a majority of youths, like me. They held banners in their hands, shouted slogans and the look on their faces expressed fierce determination – Much like the emotion of all Indian youths after the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Their footsteps were bold, yet unsure. These were people who were experiencing life very closely, trying to figure out what occurrences meant – if they had any meaning. They yearned for security, stability and also unrestrained freedom. I could identify with their insecure yet passionate outcries.

As the voices of the procession, faded into the distance, a BMW-530i sped past me and came to a halt a few paces in front. A man stepped out of the car talking on his mobile phone. His corporate suit and the lines of anxiety on his forehead suggested that he was some rich businessman. Ironically, this sight reminded me of the beggar I had just passed a few moments ago, begging for alms from each and every pedestrian he could get hold of. He needed money to make arrangements for his family’s meal tonight. He had the same lines on his temple.

Moving forward on the street, I reached a construction site. The sound of machines drilling a hole into the earth, and hammers thumping against the steel bars, drowned the voices of a group of workers, relishing a break from work, perhaps discussing what their wives would have prepared for dinner tonight. There was nothing glorious about their life, yet there was an enviable sense of tranquility. As I was noticing the contrast between the grandeur of the unfinished building, and the unremarkable lives of the workers, I stumbled upon an old woman, who tripped over her own stick, only to land in the safety of my arms. As I helped her cross the street, she blessed me – her countenance revealing more helplessness, than thankfulness.

Seeing the sinking Sun, setting the sea ablaze, I realized that the evening was coming to an end. As I again turned my view, towards the street, I saw a group of men clad in white, reflecting the sanguine color of the sunrays. Four of them were carrying the dead on their shoulder. Amidst the sounds of mourning, what could be clearly heard were the chants of “Ram naam satya hai” – meaning ‘The Almighty is the only truth’. They turned into another street and disappeared from sight. I thought to myself, whether everything I had seen, heard and experienced this evening, was a disdainful lie, compared to the absolute truth of Death. We travel through the different phases of life (childhood, youth, middle age, old age), only to experience the same finale. Death is the ultimate leveler.

By the time I took the taxi back home, cosmic darkness had covered the sky, and it was night. Everything I had witnessed today, answered a few questions, but gave rise to many new doubts and dilemmas. But it further established my belief in the idea that – ‘it is not what you become in life that is important; it is how you live your existence that matters’. All our lives will come to the same conclusion. It is how we spend these cherished moments, which will make each one of us different from the others.