Eclipses are not so lucky

There must have been a time, quite a number of years ago, when having an electric bulb light up a room in your house, howsoever dimly, was a status symbol. Now, having a smart phone in your hand has become “sooo… yesterday”. I was thinking of this as we are going crazy over the lunar eclipse that is on today (I am starting to write this on April 4, 2015, IST 1853).

What bothers me the most is that established and supposedly science-supporting or -cultivating organizations like planetariums across the country are making a big fuss about today’s eclipse. Their claim? Inculcating scientific temper in the people.

Bah, humbug!

Eclipse is “sooo…. last century”, to be generous about it. It is like being surprised at finding a room with electrical outlets; finding a teen ager without a smart phone; a boss not shifting the blame from herself to her subordinates. It should be treated as a surprise only if the situation didn’t exist.

If there has been a very long time, beyond what our calculations show, without the moon’s shadow from sun light falling on the earth (solar eclipse), well, that would be a fit occasion to check on our science and consequently our scientific temper.

Now I ask you a question. You are walking under the shade a tree offers. That shadow is caused by, surprise, the rays of the sun! Are you fasting? As soon as you get out of the shadow, do you do any religious rituals? Do you take a shower? Do the planetariums invite you look at the shadow of the tree? Now, don’t get me wrong. A lunar eclipse does not happen as often as you walk under the shadow of a tree (of course, seeking this shadow itself is becoming a thing of the past as you zip across town in your air conditioned car). Yet, the moon passing under the shadow of the earth is as predictable, indeed more so than walking under the shadow of the tree.

OK, when you have the solar eclipse, day becomes night, ever so briefly. But a lunar eclipse will go unnoticed, particularly in our urban areas as the air is so polluted. Then, whence all this kerfuffle about today’s lunar eclipse? The hold that  religion has on the minds of the people. Will the efforts by the planetariums dilute this hold? Fat chance. People will find some religious explanation or the other (there are many who would willingly and at profit provide such explanations) that ostensibly justify the excitement. The efforts at “inculcating scientific temper” are doomed because they do not address the root cause. Do you want me to spell this out?

MANIPULATION THROUGH RELIGION.

Unfortunately for religion, the light bulb and smart phones have escaped the clutches of religion. But eclipses are not so lucky.

Raghuram Ekambaram