Solar Eclipse

  1995, October 24 th  was the first time I watched a total solar eclipse. I was in 11 th  grade and didn’t manage to get any company on my trip to South 24-pargana of West Bengal to view the eclipse. So, I didn’t look around for any help. Based on the information I gathered from the newspapers I charted down the time (around 8:50 in the morning) and the exact location of the totality (which was probably a 50 km wide band). The night before was Diwali/Kali Puja in India, a new moon day. Solar eclipses always happen on a new moon day. I crossed the Ganga river on a ferry and went to Khardah to my Pishi’s (aunt) house to stay the night. This considerably reduced my commute time the next morning. For whatever reason my cousin-brother wasn’t convinced as well to join me in the eclipse trip. But I was totally determined to make it to the totality no matter what. Scientific information in those days used to come either through popular science articles in the newspapers or through one or two