This is from some time back, before Covid-19 had restricted international travel. It was a long planned trip to London. We had all the usual things on our itinerary like the British Museum, the Madame Tussauds, the Eye of London, Piccadilly Circus, and the Buckingham Palace. But this tour had some unusual sights in store for the sky watcher in me. That included an unexpected view of an upside down sky, a visit to the place where time starts, and another place where time stood still! Add to it the experience of stepping into past and then back into the future!

Our journey from Mumbai to London started late in the morning. This journey from East to West was with the afternoon Sun. At 40°N, the Earth travels at a speed of about 1200 kmph from West to East. That is basically the speed of the sunlit area travelling on the surface of the Earth, from East to West. Our aircraft was travelling at a comparable speed of about 900 kmph in the same direction as the sunlit area. The 10 hour journey spanned from late morning to early evening, in terms of local times; left the Sun overhead for most all the time. This was no less than flying with the Sun.

This aircraft had a camera in its belly. Every passenger could view the Earth below, from its feed, on his or her terminal. So, there I was, sitting back and enjoying the view of the Earth from a height of @11 km. As always, looking down at the landforms from above the clouds was a heavenly experience! The seas, the desserts, the mountains, the river tracks … all spread over the curved space of the globe. I was lost in drinking this grand view, mapping it to those two dimensional maps that I had always seen. As I was engrossed in this sightseeing all of a sudden, the Sun peeped at me from behind the clouds! The Sun playing peek-a-boo?

All these years, I was the one who was standing on the Earth, looking up in awe at the Sun; at the rising Sun, the mid-day Sun and the setting Sun too. I had seen him through the eyes of the Vedic Seers who described the radiant God riding his heavenly chariot. Seven swift horses pulled his chariot across the sky daily. I had looked at the Sun, with folded palms and prayers on my lips.

But today, it was an upside down picture. I was riding in the sky, high above the clouds, in a fast paced, shining silver chariot. And this time, lo and behold, the Sun was on the Earth, looking up at me! Well, umm to be precise … it was the reflection of the Sun in the clear blue seas looking up at me. Hiding behind the fluffy clouds time and again, the Sun God was watching me in my flying machine! Wondering how I could do that!

Lost in those thoughts, we arrived in London. We were now five and half hours behind. Naren, the time keeper of the family, adjusted the watches and alarms, his and mine. He now faced the hard task of keeping me, a time wanderer and our daughter Sharvari, a space wanderer, on the charted course!

This was the month of May. When, London enjoyed long days and short summer nights. To the dismay of the sky watcher, the long days offered no opportunity to view the night skies. Not even a faintest glimpse of the brightest star. No, not even the Moon. Forget the Moon, the cloudy skies only reluctantly let the Sun out, a couple times. For a tropical person like me, this is hard. Furthermore, a 16 hour long day capped with a one and half hour of twilight on both sides, gave a sky that was drenched in day light for 19 hours. I soon learnt that all star gazing events in London were arranged for the winter months, when nights are just as long.

In its due course, time brought us to Greenwich, the place of Zero Meridian. It is the line that divides the Earth into Eastern and Western hemisphere. It is also the place that can say “the time starts now!”. The Greenwich clock drives the clocks of every nation. Some nations are ahead of the Greenwich Mean Time and some behind. Every clock tells the time with respect to GMT. Every kind of clock ticks in sync with GMT, be it the grandfather clock, an old pocket watch, a digital wrist watch, a quartz timepiece, mobile phone clock app, the MSOffice meeting request, or the Java time API! They all are in sync with the GMT.

From Greenwich, we went to Stonehenge to see another clock that was set in stone. This was one clock that did not run in sync with GMT but in sync with the Sun! This stone clock tells only one time of the year – the time of winter solstice! The place where winters bring bone chilling cold and long dark nights, this stone clock foretold the arrival of summer. The stones brought the happiest news of the year, every year! On a Winter Solstice day, the drama of the rising Sun unfolds itself through the gaps in these stones. It is a fast paced play of shadows and light that mark the shortest day. “From tomorrow”, they say, “Summer is coming”. Who knows, what music the ancients played, what steps they danced, or what they feasted upon to celebrate the rebirth of Sun. Who knows how they celebrated Sol Invictus, the invincible Sun. Who knows how they celebrated the Sun’s journey back to the Northern Hemisphere. Standing about 25 feet tall and weighing about 50 tons each, these stone structures dwarf the man. The stones are standing in a circle, for some 5000 years; dwarfing the civilizations that have dwelled on the banks of Thames.

Ticking off all the places to visit on our list, it was time to go back home. From London to Mumbai, we were travelling at night. The million twinkling lights of London were left way behind. The sky was pitch black, cloudless and clear. Sharvari, who aslways gets the window seat, pointed at the view from her south facing window. A dazzling display of stars of Scorpio and Sagittarius! Bright and clear! Accompanied by the faint clouds of Milky Way in between! At last, a treat for the sky watcher!

We were travelling from West to East. East, to the land of light. East, to the land of knowledge. We were travelling towards the ancient land, into the past; and yet, it was a journey into the future. We were travelling towards the sunlit area of the East. As much as I had missed the Sun in London, the Sun too it seems had missed me. He came to meet us halfway through the night! Speeding through the darkness, shortening the night we stepped out into the broad day light! The humid sea winds of Mumbai enveloped us in a warm embrace, welcoming us home.

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