A celestial ballet

What happens when the Sun and the Moon decide to play hide-and-seek?

The rooster crowed his usual morning song, announcing the break of dawn. Armed with the little parcel of parathas, which their mother handed them every day, Vihaan and his younger sister Shirin set off to graze their goats. After herding the animals all the way to their favourite spot by the pool, they sat in the shade of an acacia tree, cooling their toes in the water while they munched their parathas.

“Bhaiya, why are the goats bleating so restlessly today?” Shirin asked.

“Perhaps they are just tired,” Vihaan answered uncertainly, tracing his toes around the dappled shadows of the sun falling on the water’s surface through the leaves of the tree.

But Shirin was not satisfied; something strange was happening. The goats stopped chomping on the grass and lay down, as if they were about to go to sleep. “Are they not well?” she wondered.

Even as she spoke, the weaver birds that had been twittering excitedly became silent. They stopped weaving their nests. Even the cicadas that had been filling the air with their shrill calls stopped abruptly. Instead, the chirping of crickets took over.

“It is as if night has taken over once again,” Shirin muttered to herself, beginning to feel afraid. As she looked around, she caught sight of another puzzle. “Why is that Giant Wood Spider deliberately breaking down its web? Is something ominous about to happen?”

Vihaan, however, was not afraid. Instead, he felt his blood racing with excitement. “Look!” he exclaimed, thrilled. “The patterns in the water are changing. Instead of dark spots, I can see silver crescents. I know what’s happening! It is a solar eclipse. Dadima had told us about it, remember? The Moon is hiding the Sun.” Vihaan turned his head skywards.

“Don’t!” Shirin cried, covering her brother’s eyes. “If it is a solar eclipse, it is dangerous to look at the Sun directly. Remember, Dadima said you could go blind.”

Tell-tale signs

Even as she spoke, it went pitch dark. Shirin shivered and drew closer to her brother. Suddenly, bats began flying out of nowhere, while they hunted for the moths and other night-time insects. In the far distance, an eerie cackling announced the call of a hyena, as though it were on its nightly prowl to scavenge.

The water in the pool was now covered with silvery rings with a sparkling blob on each one. “The Sun looks like so many diamond rings now.” Vihaan’s eyes were full of wonder. “I know how these beautiful rings are formed. The Sun is trying to peep out from behind the Moon’s shadow.”

Then, as if the Sun had had enough of this game of hide-and-seek, an orange glow appeared along the horizon where land met the dark purple sky. A ray of sunlight fell before them and spread slowly, dissolving the darkness. All too soon, the drama came to an end.

The bats went back to roost on the trees, the Giant Wood Spider began spinning a new home, the crickets went mute, the cicadas resumed their song, the weaver birds began weaving their nests and the goats began grazing. It was as if nothing had interrupted their day.

Shirin and Vihaan could not wait to herd their goats back home so that they could tell Dadima what they had seen that day.

(A total solar eclipse will occur on April 8, 2024. It will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.)