Symbol of all aesthetics
06/02/2004

“Man on the Moon” was the banner heading that day and I was hardly 5 years old and my impression about moon was nothing different from Ambilimaaman (uncle moon) and his mysterious ways, which were being transported to us through our elders of old who had a rare flair for keeping kids quiet and calm by showing us this golden platter that went the way of all that was mobile, wading through patches and haystacks of frozen cloud; the show of which used to cut in our minds an impression of this ethereal personae sitting bowed on the back of that tusker of the highs and moving with his head waving majestically as if the elephant that was carrying this Ambili is smaller than the Ambilimaman; who in turn is being requested by us children to bring a few things on his way back from the highs; the unbroken crystal bangles found in the hands of that coy damsel who sits in the aerial mansion; and just for that we children simply went quiet and obedient; and onto such a personified moon did man go?

Yes, man went to moon, hoisted a flag up there, made somersaults and went up and down weightless, took pictures and things many that I still do not believe (there is a school that they believe that the moon mission was a make-believe catering to the American Ego, and man never went to moon); facts at times are more difficult to be digested than fiction, I feel.

What all creations we have had of this moon who is capable of deciding the destinies of the ones down; it creates and controls tides-both spring and neap- (we are taught), fluctuates the moods of the mentally challenged, dictates terms and conditions to the farmers; even the seasons take their moods and make in tune with the shape and show of this particular star of heaven; who was God to us; playmate; one with whom we went places during night; the brightest and coolest of all lights; a canoe up on the move, a dish of gold; a vehicle of those gods; the sign of strength and weakness; symbol of all aesthetics; light of all beautiful shadows; and for us children he has been a being capable of becoming whatever incarnations we wanted him to take up to satisfy our wild selves and their adventurous musings spiced up by the back up of those stories and myths we ourselves had got acquainted with by our grandmothers and elders, the main recreation for them those days was not to keep us children story-told, rather they wanted to do this or that as part of their daily life; and the same wanted them to keep us somehow settled out in the open, no matter whether it is day or night; and if the latter is moony, great, that there are stories galore all the while; stories of some mystery they seemed to have born with so as to make children of all worlds enthused by the ways of his coming, taking shape, going, and giving shapes to the very shape of their minds; the storehouse of mischief and monkey-business the children all over the worlds are still famous for and the parents all over the world are not at all fed up with. It is great to be ‘moonmooning’.

Once I was told by my father that the shades, patches and shallow places that we see on the surface of the moon were the aberrations that the chariots of Gods inflicted on it while they got engaged in holy wars waged to settle disputes of the contenders of various powers. And the lunar eclipse was the climax of one such battle fought between the forces of the heavens, the resumes of them are still Greek to me; and I have never tried to go into the details of the job descriptions, profiles and portfolios of these Gods and their retinues.

It is this wary attitude towards the ways of Gods and the inherent interest in finding this Kindest of all stars in human proportion that makes me still-in this age- not to believe that 35-year-old headline, Man on the Moon. If ever man lands on one moon, it is not going to be on the moon we children know, no matter how old we are, no matter how reasonable the explanations are and the details yet another headline of this magnitude is going to bring, no matter when. Moon is of children as he has always been. Words. 765.
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