I kept adjusting the lens… Back and forth, varying the exposure, adjusting the shutter speeds, desperately trying for a perfect picture of the brightly lit moon on Karwa chauth. I realized that I need to spend some more time with my camera, for I have started loosing my skills…
The moon was brightly shining in the clear sky, and the
craters made it more beautiful. It reminded me about a story which I had read
as a kid, more of a folklore, I guess, In which a tribe wanted to defeat their
enemy during dark hours on a full moon
day. After a brainstorming session, someone came up with the idea to smudge the
face of moon by throwing dirt and make it dark. And that’s how the moon got is blotches.
I don’t know whether the tribe survived the battle or not…I don’t see any
chances, though…
I desperately looked at the photographs i took, one after the other. Some
of them were bright, like an evening sun. Though it was a feast for the eyes to
see the moon burning bright against the pitch black sky,(yes that’s oxymoronic.
Moon doesn’t burn.) I soon realized that it doesn’t look like a
moon at all. It took me a while to get a good picture of the moon with those craters..
As I kept looking at the moon, enjoying its beauty, a beautiful thought filled
my mind.
Its customary for the Hindu wives to observe fast from
sunrise to moonrise, engage themselves in puja on the day of Karwa Chauth, a
festival which falls on the fourth day of the dark fortnight or Krishna paksh
of the month of Kartik. Once its moon rise, the fasting wife looks the risen
moon through a sieve and then looks at her husband and prays for his long life.
I look at this festival as a festival of self
realisation. You look at the moon. It wont
look like a moon without those craters on it. It may burn or shine bright, but
it wont be a moon, anymore. Its those imperfections that makes a perfect moon.
Now you look at your life partner. You see imperfections…Just like a moon who
is not always around, they wont be there when you need them; buy you know that
he or she will show up very soon. Sometimes they are full, sometimes they are
half, sometimes they are not to be seen…Someone tried to smear their
personality throwing dirt at them, but now you know that its not the real story…Your
life partner is just perfect the way he or she is.. with those
imperfections.. The moment you accept
it, the chants you utter for their long life will help you confront even death…and
to stay happily married… forever…
