Darkness at Dawn...

Bangaloreans are a disappointed lot. All the effort of travelling miles and shutting down schools go waste

Swati, a second year student of fashion designing travelled 45 kms,partly by bus, changed autos, just to catch a glimpse of the total solar eclipse. DIsappointment would be an understatement to express how she felt.

Rajshekhar, from Standard nine and Vignesh from Std 1 of St Joseph's School who were dressed to go directly to school have no exciting tales to take back to their classmates.

Morning walkers and astro enthusiats in Namma Bengaluru who had been fasting from last night, had woken up early morning and taken their positions at the Vishweshraya museum and at Lalbagh Botanical Garden came back disheartened. Dense cloud covers marred their view.

L Subramanian(58), a retired officer of the Ministry of defence production, was the first to reach Vishveswaraya museum at 5am. He says he couldn't sleep in the excitement so got ready by 2am and reached the museum early. "It would have been a life-time's achievement, to get a glimpse of this spectacle."

Soumya Salimath(27),who came to watch an eclipse for the first-time was also disappointed. "I came at around 6am. It is the first time, so I had been fasting from last night. I have been looking for a 'perfect point' from where to witness the eclipse. I'll go back, pray at a temple and then eat."

Sri Harsha(30) from Srinivasnagar near Banshankari came to Lalbagh around 5.45am and is still waiting in hope of getting a glimpse. "I thought we could see it from here. But every 10 minutes the weather started changing."

Both of them complained that such an event wasn't organised on a larger scale. H"there were no scientists around to explain the phenomenon.

But the scientist community was prepared for a no-show. S chatterjee, scientist at Indian Institute of Astrophysics said " We knew it was going to be partial in Bangalore. Today's weather condition is just normal and nothing to do with the eclipse. We are not disappointed," he said.

Mutthu Kumar, education officer, Vishveswaraya museum, working for over 20 years, "We just wanted to educate the people that it's a natural phenomenon. They can walk, talk, eat and do their normal daily chores. We can't help it if there are clouds."

But not everyone is acting normal. Some schools such as Clarence school in JP nagar have declared a holiday, others schools like Vidyashilp are starting late. But RV School school is open as usual. " Why should we give a hopliday for a natural phenomenon? " said an irritated teacher who took our call.u00a0

... and after. Astrologers and priests dip into the shastras to tell us why the century's longest solar eclipse will affect us and how

"When the sun becomes ketugrahasta, its rays bring bad luck to the earth. If we go by the shastras, there will be more ups and downs.u00a0 For example, if power goes off in Bangalore for a few minutes or an hour, crores of rupees will be lost. If power goes off in the US for 10 minutes, millions of dollars is lost. Likewise, if the sun disappears during the day for a few minutes, planets and living things will face major problems."
Astrologer Bhanuprakash

"This eclipse was special since it lasted for a long time and it's part of a triple eclipse a phenomenon that also occurred during the Mahabharata. Due to this eclipse, there will be political turmoil in the world. It could even happen in our country. People holding top positions in the country will have health problems or will face problems through others. The effect of this eclipse will be more on the planets close to the sun. People, particularly government employees, under the Kataka, Pushya Nakshatra, Simha, Vrushabha and Kanya rashi will face health problems. The effect of this eclipse will continue for 15 days. The dosha can be reduced by doing Shiva pooja, Sudarshana homa, Rudra homa and Rudrabhisheka."
Scientific astrologer and physics teacher L Satyanarayana Rao

"The temples did not open till the solar eclipse was over. After that period, Abhyunga snana was performed for the Lord with til oil and panchamrutha abshika. There was a special pooja along with which the Navagraha homa and Surya Grahan Shanthi homa are performed.

"This eclipse was not a good one because it occurred in the morning in Brahmi muhurath. There was a similar eclipse in 1999. People coming under the following nakshatras and rashis should be careful: Pushya Nakshatra-Kataka rashi, Anuradha Nakshtra-Vruschika rashi, Ashlesha Nakshatra-Dhanur rashi and Kumbha rashi. These people should have performed shanthi by giving rice, wheat, til oil and horse gram to temples and should have performed pooja."
Gopalabhattachary Purohit of Lord Venkateshwara Temple, Anand Nagar

"Temples coming under the Muzrai department remained open even during the eclipse which was a long one. People of Pushya and Ashlesha rashi will be affected. Pancharatra Agama, Vaikanasagama and Shivagamas took place in the temples accordingly. All temples performed homas and poojas for the welfare of the state and people and to ward off natural calamities.
Harish Bhat, Agamika of Kodi Anjaneyaswamy Temple, Sheshadripuram

Grahana & Graha
The Sanskrit word for eclipse is 'grahana', which comes from 'graha'. While people use 'graha' to refer to the navagrahas (or nine planets), it also means 'to hold or to seize.' It is associated with words like 'vigraha' (because an idol of a deity is supposed to hold you mesmerised). In fact, the word 'grahani' refers to the small intestine because this is where most of the nutrients from ingested food are absorbedu2014in other words, the small intestines seize the nutrition in the food.
Balaji Narasimhan