Today was the Solar eclipse – just ‘another solar eclipse’ for grown-ups. But something so terribly cute for children. Imagine explaining to a child what a solar eclipse means – his eyes get wider and wider with each new revelation. Sometimes it is worthwhile to look inside those big, black eyes rather than at the wonder of the sun hiding behind the moon.
Even after long sessions of explaining what a solar eclipse means and looking up the internet to show him images, I received a panicky phone call from Sitab in the afternoon. Apparently, the maid had gone out to pick up his older sister from her bus stop. Though Sitab is used to staying at home alone for those five minutes every day, today was different.
He knew that today was the day when ‘the sun would disappear behind the moon’.
Sitab’s little world crumbled and collapsed as his imagination took off in frightening directions. He imagined the descending darkness when he is home alone, the demons inside the darkness, the lurking danger ! The next thing that happened was that he was making a phone call to me.
All I heard when I picked up the phone was distressed wailing. It took me about five minutes to comfort him and assure him that it would not become ‘as dark as night’ and the 'sun would not get strangled by the moon', 'Sitab will not get blind' and 'no, of course, the sun would not panic and float inside Sitab’s home and get him !'
I just could not concentrate on my work after that kind of mother-son bonding over the phone. So I managed to rush from the lab for home. Much to my surprise, I found Sitab and Alma absolutely cool and composed, eating their lunch. What followed next was another hour of talking about the eclipse, the superstitions associated with it, with both the kids as well as my maid interrupting me with rather cute, adorable questions, which had me in peals of laughter. So there were moments when instead of answering their question, I would be laughing while they would look at me impatiently, wondering what was so funny about their earnest questions.
I love solar eclipses. Especially when seen through the eyes of children.