Sunday, January 25, 2009

lonely planet.

This pic of an eclipse taken in 1992 and available at nasa's site, I recently saw, struck me with some awe. It is one of those moments when Nature beckons to us, almost shyly, to leave our quibbles aside for a moment and appreciate its majestic presence. The Sun in horizon is on this occasion shrouded by a disc. Yes, it is the moon playing a little trick on us, but we can not help but feel a sense of disbelief as we behold this spectacle. Certainty of events like the sun's appearance on horizon which we take so much for granted is called into question, if only temporarily, reminding us of our own impermanence, of our vulnerability among other things.

But that cluster of palm trees also standing against Suns path seems to have a different story to tell. Life in this painfully lonely planet in an indifferent universe, is fragile and prone to destruction by cosmic elements and yet, it has kept its flag flying, defying nature and has stood tall like the cluster of palm trees in picture. The pic seemed to me a perfect ode to life on our planet, though a mute one. It mocks us at our shattered lives with its unreasonable grit to survive, taking on natures apathy in its own way. Sentimental wish-wash aside, it definitely feels good to forget all for a brief while and gaze at this celestial wonder.

Comments:
I know how you feel; if you had that feeling after looking at this, I have it every time I look at the night sky. The very thought that what we take for granted today is not going to be exist till eternity is scary and exciting at the same time. You just have to read articles like this to realise how fragile our position is in the cosmos. An ordinary region of an ordinary galaxy harbours a very ordinary star around which orbits our home. You just have a look at Carl Sagan's 'Pale Blue Dot' on Youtube, based on the farthest photo of Earth taken from space.
 
Brilliant picture indeed. Liked your interpretation of the palm trees. Quite poetic :)
On another note, one of my innermost wishes is to read some day in the papers that we aren't a lonely planet after all. Yes, I really do wish they find some real sign of extra-terrestrial life in our lifetime!
 
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