Kal chaudhvin ki raat thi...

Shab bhar raha charcha tera,
Kuchh ne kaha ye chand hai,
Kuchh ne kaha...
Chehra tera

The moon looks really beautiful tonight. I find it a little hard to believe that it is nothing but a normal celestial body. It can't be just another pebble in the debris that makes up our universe. The moon is special. Every night, I crane my neck, force my head out through the gap in the grill to take a look and it never disappoints me. All its forms, be it the slender curve or the full moon, have a beauty of their own. Even when you can't see it, because it is covered by the clouds, its soft glow lights up a part of the sky. Though hidden it may be, but it is always going to be there. Nothing can change that.

I am reminded of the full moon night a few years back. It was a night trek. We had started from Maheshwar at about 10pm and the plan was to reach Sahastradhara, where the Narmada breaks into a thousand little streams, by daybreak. When we came close to the river, we stopped and lay down on the ground.

The view of the sky in all its grandeur with a full moon and millions of stars with the faint music of the river falling on our ears is unforgettable. A little distance away was the river, its waters shining in the moonlight. There were stars above and stars below me, and I felt like I was floating in between.

If space travel becomes cheap in the coming few decades, and if people start going to space for vacations, I don't think I'd like to go to the moon. I'm afraid that it'll be a let down. Only grey dust and barren land. From here, it is an object of beauty. On the other hand maybe I'll find out how beautiful our earth looks from space. I've only heard of the blue and green ball seen by astronauts. I'm sure it'll be a sight worth a thousand moons.