artwork by Andrew Forrest, New Zealand
XVII.
The Glorious Robe all-bespangled
With sparkling splendour of colours:
With Gold and also with Beryls,
Chalcedonies, iris-hued [Opals?],
With Sards of varying colours.
To match its grandeur [?], moreover, it had been completed:
With adamantine jewels
All of its seams were off-fastened.
[Moreover] the King of Kings’ Image
Was depicted entirely all o’er it;
And as with Sapphires above
Was it wrought in a motley of colour.
The solar eclipse of 22 July 2009 was the longest total solar eclipse.It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia, causing tourist interest in eastern China, Japan, India,Nepal. This was the second in the series of three eclipses in a one-month period, being book-ended by two minor penumbral lunar eclipses, first on July 7 and last on August 6. during the 21st century, not to be surpassed until June 2132. and
ICKI-pedia
This was the day i chose to strut about (figuratively) on 6:00am on the streets of Kolkata. I was enroute to my college, the early hour of the act being an ugly choice due to didi's and dada's testerone wars! My father drove me to Sealdah, and thus was the eclipse envisioned by yours truly while on 2nd Hooghly bridge!!
Kolkata wasn't on the list for pure eclipse, that and the gloomy overcast.
It was me who first asked my father if it was time for the eclipse already; and he said it was. The sun seemed no less bright though, and shone through a strategic hole in the enemy's defenses. Then a wispy cloud covered up, and this was the perfect eclipse!!
The sun was already more than half covered, and I watched through my naked eyes as the cloud passed over the sun. No xray plates, no 20 bucks-for-a-paper-glass, i saw the perfect eclipse people!!
And then there was Kolkata, herself. Anyone who has seen the 'city of joy' in the mayabi (forgive my bong- means magickal with a hint of mystique) tuffets of light on a wintry morning would know.
And then the beauty of it all hit me suddenly; the fact that this was a momentous event in all of history (correction!- 2nd millenium history) and I was a part of it!! Pardon the glib cliches of generations past, but I felt overwhelmed that day!
Kolkata wasn't on the list for pure eclipse, that and the gloomy overcast.
It was me who first asked my father if it was time for the eclipse already; and he said it was. The sun seemed no less bright though, and shone through a strategic hole in the enemy's defenses. Then a wispy cloud covered up, and this was the perfect eclipse!!
The sun was already more than half covered, and I watched through my naked eyes as the cloud passed over the sun. No xray plates, no 20 bucks-for-a-paper-glass, i saw the perfect eclipse people!!
And then there was Kolkata, herself. Anyone who has seen the 'city of joy' in the mayabi (forgive my bong- means magickal with a hint of mystique) tuffets of light on a wintry morning would know.
And then the beauty of it all hit me suddenly; the fact that this was a momentous event in all of history (correction!- 2nd millenium history) and I was a part of it!! Pardon the glib cliches of generations past, but I felt overwhelmed that day!
