All posts filed under: Nature

The celestial harbingers

“Beauty and Wisdom make a rare conjunction” – Petronius The news bits from past several days about Venus and Jupiter coming together had raised curiosity in me (more about jupiter-and-venus-conjunction here). I am no sky-watcher nor had I ever tried to imagine how two planets far away from each other by hundreds of millions of miles, in entirely different orbits can come together and appear aligned to us earthlings. I tried to learn more. Curious to behold the phenomenon tonight I ventured out onto to watch the skies. It was a treat to watch the full moon on one end of the sky while planets Jupiter and Venus catching up with each other in their brightest best on the other end. Just a couple of hours after the sunset the western sky had the dazzling planets Jupiter and Venus stand side by side – easy to spot as they were the brightest objects in the sky, besides the full moon. The astronomy fraternity calls this phenomenon as ‘Conjunction’ when two planets line up in their …

Batman on a mission?!

“I’m not saying I’m Batman. I am just saying no one has ever seen me and Batman in a room together!” This fruit bat has been clinging on to a mango tree branch overlooking my room’s window. He has been there for past few days. The branch he is clinging on to is just an arm stretch away from my window. He seems to be so determined to cling on to that branch (or perhaps determined to watch over me? ;)) that no force can distract him – till now I have seen him weather the forceful breeze, heavy rains and my attention over him. When the breeze unsettles his position, he adjusts himself. When it rains, he closes his eyes. When he notices me watching him, he is not shy. He seems to respond through his eyes. He opens his eyes wide open when he knows I am talking to him. He remains calm and unperturbed by loud conversations from my room. He is the only one on the tree. What is he up …