On most days, a weekday, peak-hour rush reduces commute through the city’s choked streets to a crawl or, often, to a complete standstill. However, Wednesday was not a normal day. The lunar eclipse and its associated superstitions saw even the ‘science city’ of Bengaluru stay largely indoors.
Traditional belief that one should not come out or eat during the eclipse, seemed to eclipse rational, scientific temperament.
The impact was clearly visible on the city’s roads. Some time around 7.45 p.m. on Wednesday, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Hitendra saw Bengaluru’s roads highlighted green on the map when, on a working day, almost every road is marked dark red, depicting the nature of traffic. “We cross-checked with the officers. They said there was no traffic, even on Silk Board or Outer Ring Road. It was like a holiday,” he said.
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) officials said anecdotally, it seemed like there was a dip in commuters on Wednesday evening.
Business down in restaurants
For those running restaurants, Wednesday seemed like a normal business day till 3 p.m. “All of a sudden, people stopped coming. And then, suddenly by 9 p.m., we could see families, freshly bathed and having done their rituals, starting to turn up,” said Chandrashekar Hebbar, president of the Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association who runs a restaurant at Katriguppe.
He believes business was down by 30%. “I think people’s beliefs and superstitions have increased,” he said.
At Marutiseva Nagar, H.B. Rajeev Shetty’s hotel saw less than half the business on a normal day.
Astrology business up
Conversely, business for astrologers seems to have gone up. Most astrologers who talked to The Hindu said they had shut down shutters of their shops due to the eclipse and were instead focussed on pujas to ‘abate the ill-effects of the eclipse’. “On Tuesday, we had a rush of people asking us about the eclipse, and the rush continued even on Thursday. Our clients want to know if the eclipse has affected them astrologically,” said an astrologer in Indiranagar.
The other side
However, on the other side, the interest in astronomically viewing the Super Blue Blood Moon has never been higher. At Lalbagh, where Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) organised a viewing, over 1,500 people had turned up while, there were at least 1,000 people each at the nine viewing points organised by Breakthrough Science Society.
“We made it a point to distribute snacks during the eclipse viewing so that people know that food or water is not poisoned... We encouraged them to take selfies and photos of the crowds outside to show their friends or family,” said B. Ravinder Kumar, Reader, IIA.
However, superstitious belief is on the rise and he said that television channels, with their constant bombardment of the dangers of eclipses and immense screen time for astrologers, continued to drive fear. “We need a strong counter-narrative, but scientists have not been able to push that in local channels,” he said.
This was seconded by Rajani K.S. from Breakthrough Science Society. “Things are getting from bad to worse, and it is the impact of visual media and forwards on social media. But, we also feel happy that the next generation came out in larger number to see the eclipse. Perhaps, for the next eclipse, more people will be on the streets,” she said.
