Totality

The Prelude

I’ve seen solar eclipses before in India - partial ones that brought nothing more than a slight dimming of the sky. Honestly, it was always just an “eh, whatever” moment for me. That said, after some reading, the allure of a total solar eclipse got to me. The excitement was real – to the point of a sleepless night from anticipation and the fear of missing the early start to Vermont.

We drove 4 hours up to Lake Eden, Vermont, on a perfect day – clear blue skies, bright and sunny weather, with the scenic Vermont hills rolling by. It was a great prelude and life felt amazing. We grabbed lunch and found a spot by the lake, eagerly anticipating the moon’s rendezvous with the sun. As it started to slowly eclipse up the sun from below, the light began to dim, but it felt underwhelming – was this going to be another “eh, whatever” moment?

The excitement waned a bit in the crowd, replaced with idle chatter. Disappointment crept in – was this all?

TOTALITY

Even at 99% coverage, the sun was too blinding to gaze at without eclipse glasses. But then gradually, like the shutters of an old camera, everything changed. Totality had arrived. Daylight confusingly gave way to a pseudo – “night”, and conversations were forgotten in an awestruck hush as everyone collectively held their breath. We acutely gained awareness of the enormity of both the sun and the moon. The sun’s radiant corona straight out of a child’s drawing of sunrays out of the spherical surface of the sun, and the stunningly pink solar flares morphed skepticism into wonder and disbelief. We felt chills – the temperature had likely dropped 15 °F. Stars and two planets adorned and embroidered the fabric of the “night” sky, underscoring our insignificance in front of the grand cosmos.

The whole spectacle lasted just 3 fleeting minutes before the moon moved away and the sun’s rays peeked out, illuminating the world and blinding us again and reminding us just how bright and luminous the sun really is. The shadows were bizarre – casting eerie patterns on the white snow resembling anything from strands of hair to serpentine figures, as some describe them. Daylight reclaimed its dominance and rightful place at 3:30 pm. It’s no wonder how deeply embedded an eclipse is with religion – if this was not a divine encounter, what is?

Back home, my attempts to describe the transcendence of this experience fell on skeptical ears. Photographs, I argued, could never capture this majestic phenomenon. My dad thought I was exaggerating, labelling it as a “been there, done that” boast. But, that moment by Lake Eden in the middle of nowhere in Vermont (that I will never forget), almost brushing with the Canada border, left me feeling incredibly fortunate to be alive and lucky to be in that place, at that time to witness such a moment.