I’ve always enjoyed looking up and gazing at the sky, be it the day or the night sky. During my childhood days, I lived in the suburbs of Mumbai, where there was less light pollution than in the cities. And that meant clearer skies.
We lived in a bungalow, so I had the entire terrace to myself. I used to lie down and gaze into the night sky with my pet dog for company (Remember Sweety? I’ll link up the posts related to her here, if you want to know more about her: https://twinklespark.wordpress.com/category/dog-days/ ). I remember one day my mom told me about a meteor shower that was about to occur the next night. She read about it in a newspaper. I was so excited and couldn’t wait! When the time had come, I went up to the terrace, spread the mattress in its usual spot, lied down and waited. Nothing. My mom joined me after a while. After sometime she pointed at a shooting star, I missed it. She pointed at another one in a few minutes, this time I saw something pass by from the corner of my eye, but only a glimpse. There was nothing for a long time after that. Just as we were about to get up, I spotted a shooting star! Ah, I was so happy! That was the first time I had clearly noticed a shooting star. I was about 7 or 8. I remember how I was glad to have seen a shooting star, but dejected to (apparently) not having seen a meteor shower after waiting for so long! Maybe we were looking in the wrong direction? Or maybe I had imagined so much more- I used to think meteor showers were more like a visible, horrific attack of meteors and asteroids on the Earth!
When I was a little older, say 10 or so, there was news about how a crescent moon, Jupiter and one other planet I don’t remember which now (possibly Mars?), would be so close to each other and in such a pattern that these three together would be resembling a ‘smiling face’. I did observe it and grew so fascinated by this marvel of universe that I asked my mom to call up my cousin so that he could watch it too, from some other part of the city.
When I was 12, my parents got me an Encyclopaedia and I remember jumping directly to the Astronomy section first, reading and gulping down everything I could and then moving onto the other sections.
These were some of the earlier days about how I got interested in the study of astronomy. I’m planning to post my experiences related to this field in a form of a series. Would you like that, or do you prefer some other way? Do let me know.
Do you like gazing into the sky? Does the workings of the universe fascinate you as well?
-Suri
P.S.: I crossed 1k followers on this blog last month, yayy!! Thank you so much for the love, you guys! I know I had been really inactive past couple of months, but I’ll try and make up for it!
TwinkleSpark 
Lil girl & her universe… ❤️
Pleasure reading your sweet experience… stay curious…!! keep posting your experiences & knowledge of the fascinating universe ….🌌
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sure. Thank you, Shrutika. Glad you liked reading those experiences. ✨
LikeLike
Hi Suri,
It seems such a long time since I visited your blog for which I apologise. I hope you are well , all is ok here.
I really enjoyed reading this post.
The night sky fascinates me and brings back fond memories of childhood holidays visiting mum’s r.i.p extended family farm in Ireland pre electricity days especially.
Night time visits to neighbours just over the bridge in Northern Ireland with my uncledidn’t require use of a torch on good moonlit clear nights and the stars were in abundance.
In 2012 I witnessed that same moonlight and stars in a bright sky in a village in Gambia, West Africa where I visit regularly.
I look forward to future posts.
Take care.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Wow, such a beautiful story. And yes, I absolutely love the feeling when the moonlight is so bright that you don’t even require a torch light or anything!
Thank you for reading this and sharing your thoughts. 😊😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome Suri 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊😊
Take care. ✨
LikeLiked by 1 person
I loved your nostalgic account of your childhood experience with the wonders of the sky.
I think you would love my recent post, ‘I be the Universe’. I look forward to you reading it!
Have a great day.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much. Heading over your blog to check the post. 🤗
LikeLike
This was so beautifully written ❤️
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks you. I’m glad you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re so lucky. I was at all strategic places during a meteor shower, and saw later that people within a block on either side of me had commented on how beautiful it was. But I saw nothing. Still chasing though.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Hahaha, I totally get you. 😂 Keep looking up though. You’ll see something that’ll amaze you some day. 😊
LikeLike
You’ll surely see*
LikeLike
The night sky is a fascinating thing. I’m still awed by it whenever I go under it. 🤩
LikeLiked by 2 people
You should be awed. 😍✨
LikeLike
Also for me, the rain of shooting stars have left me with neck pain when I looked up too long.
After two hours under the dark sky came disappointment. I learned to believe half the meteorite rain enthusiasts.
Greeting
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha, I understand. Don’t stop looking up though. It’s a pretty, pretty sky. 😊✨
LikeLiked by 1 person