Celestial Hide and Seek

An alignment of the celestial bodies,

a game of shadows,

a bite of the Sun or Moon,

a bit of hide and seek!

Lasting a fraction of time,

taking a breath away,

a kind of darkness you would want to look at,

in awe and wonderment.

The Universe sways to the laws of Physics. _/\_

"There is no science in this world like physics. Nothing comes close to the precision with which physics enables you to understand the world around you. It's the laws of physics that allow us to say exactly what time the sun is going to rise. What time the eclipse is going to begin. What time the eclipse is going to end."

Neil deGrasse Tyson

P.S.  Just viewed a partial lunar eclipse :)

Surprise yourself !

Things never go the way you would want them to,
but if you knew they did as you wished for,
Life would be without surprises! :) 

Being a Woman

Being a WOMAN

I am not perfect, I was not born so.
I am not beautiful by my looks,
but by my thoughts.

I mess my hair up,
I wear shoes even with a dress,
I walk fast, I fall down.
I can eat more, sleep less.
I may not wear that make up,
but I would always greet you with a smile.



I am a simple girl,
with simple beliefs and high dreams.

I cannot cook the most delicious of meals,
I cannot be the best daughter or best sister,
a best companion or a best friend always,
I come with a lot of mood swings and a few tantrums.
I may not be as pretty as her,
But definitely have a beautiful world inside me.
I may not be as multitalented as another,
But I put in the sincerest of efforts in work.

I may not always express how I feel,
Yet I can have the truest of feelings I assure,
I may not be around all the time,
but can be a patient ear to hear whenever you need,
I could go a hundred steps ahead for you, 
for a step of yours,

I am not the strongest of woman,
but hardships do not tear me apart.

Don't judge me for what I appear to be,
give me a chance to be.
For what I am,
for what I can truly be.
Being a woman is hard,
in this man's world.

Feet on ground, head held high,
I am proud to be a woman.
An imperfect woman.

If I were a bird!

Carrying freedom on your wings,

sweeping the clear blue sky,

singing a song

all day long!

Resting on a branch,

savouring the winter sunshine,

soaring above clouds,

sometimes cartwheeling around!

How do you chirp all day?

In bright sun or in clouded sky,

building a nest or about to fly.

Little birds you teach so much!

Carrying freedom on your wings,

sweeping the clear blue sky,

singing a song

all day long!

Comet close-up

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science."— Edwin Hubble

A 2.5 mile little dark body of rock, ice, dust, frozen gases, uneven and pitted, hurtling at a velocity more than 30,000 miles per hour. Bold enough to catch it? 

Start with a vision. Put in the best science and engineering skills at work. Launch a spacecraft. Let it play with the gravity of a couple of planets and swing far away. Wait for 10 years. After a lot (lot of) travel, and a quick sleep (hibernation) of three years, you get a rendezvous with a cosmic snowball! Definitely after nerve cracking moments that might seem Eons for the team behind such a mission. 

Yet again, we witness a whole new level of science and engineering. 10 years and four billion miles of travel, Philae Touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Jupiter family of comets with periods of less than 20 years). Philae bid goodbye to its mother spacecraft Rosetta and took a seven hour drop to reach its target. Rosetta was launched in March 2004, using the gravity of Earth and Mars to sling and achieve the required velocity. A decade long journey brought it close to its ultimate destination. A destination so far, that signals take approximately 30 minutes to reach home. Rosetta was named so after an engraved stone (black basalt) which led in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics. While Philae, is named after an island (now submerged) in the River Nile, on which an obelisk was found that gave clues to decipher the Rosetta stone.

While the probe has landed and is reported to be stable, it has not securely anchored to the surface. While millions pray for its well being, let us wait and watch while Philae readies itself for some science. A science that will take us close to the origin of the family of the Sun by studying the fundamental building blocks of solar system. Philae is intended to study the structure and composition of the comet through its suite of ten instruments. These include an alpha proton X-ray spectrometer, cameras, isotopic composition study, radio and electric sounders, gas analyzer, magnetometer and plasma monitor and an instrument to drill upto 8 inches,  Meanwhile, Rosetta continues to reveal information of the Comet as it would escort the comet as it travels towards the Sun and approaches perihelion in August 2015. 

There was a time when comets alarmed people and today humanity dares to reach upto them. Some one did think of catching a comet. Well, literally.

Audacious. Incredible. Exciting. 

Comet 67P                                                                       Rosetta/ESA

* The first comet I saw through the telescope was Ikeya-Zhang 12 years back, I could only be awed by its sheer beauty! Truly heavenly. 

Some Links:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspaceagency/sets/72157638315605535/

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Sort=Target&Target=Comets&MCode=Rosetta&Display=Dates

Time

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare. - W. H. Davies

Time - a very complex thing to talk about, yet spoken of daily, by one and all. Quite sure, understood by none. While we blame it for every cause, saying it was harsh and difficult, we also expect that time will heal us and time will change.  

It is strange how we all get the same amount of hours and minutes and seconds per day. But what we do of it is a matter of choice.Often called as priorities.

There is no time to meet friends. No time to water the plants.

No time to lay down under the sky and watch the stars.

No time to savour each moment with your loved ones.

And within a wink, it would be a past. Casting its shadows, lingering on the present. 

People are separated not by distances but by Time.

Whatever it is, is now.

For the dance you always wanted to learn, for the flowers you always wanted to nurture, for the book you wanted to write, for catching up with a long lost friend. For being with the one. For falling down and starting again. It is here. This lifetime. To dream with open eyes, to care carelessly.

Life is too short for fights and shorter for regrets.

There will be no music, the flowers will wilt, friends would be gone.

Time does not stop, it does not return, it does not repeat. It has a mind of its own and just flows.It cannot be chained. It is free yet priceless.

Sooner than you realize, it will be late.

Time has existed since billion of years, no one has made it so complicated as the human species. 

Let there be light!

Let the light be from within.