Celestial Shadow

Coded Message

Pradip was newly admitted to infantry in a battalion of the Indian Army. Last four years he went through rigorous training. He completed almost all the preliminary to advanced stages of the training. The hectic and tough training schedule almost carved his mind to be more firm and fearless. In his village, every villager to sarpanch calls him ‘soldier sahib'.

Last year Pradip was pressed into the duty of security in an election booth in Himachal Pradesh. Within a few days, he visited a nearby temple. Beside that time there was a tree, where devotees used to tie a piece of clothes as offerings for wish fulfillment. In the backdrop of hilly sunset the cloth ridden tree looked very magical. Still, within the dusky glow of the afternoon, the shadow of the clouds on the mountain was contrasting to the eyes of the onlookers. Pradip was staring at the shadow on the mountain, which was appearing like an invisible cloak as if it was wrapping the whole area.

“Those shadows are making you comfortable now!”

A voice he heard from his backside. He saw a sadhu was smiling at him. He proceeded towards that sadhu. The sadhu was having a very mighty frame. Although he was saffron-clad, he was almost six feet tall like Pradip. Pradip came to know that sadhu in his earlier life was also happened to be a soldier in the sixties during the Indo-China fight. Later on, he renounced his material life and now he used to spend his life as a simple sadhu. Last talk he had with that sadhu—

“When Rahu puts its shadow multiple times on the planet earth, then be ready for the real fight!”

“I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to.”

“Please clarify.”

“You will naturally come to know when the time will come.”

The Fight

It was the 16th of June 2020. All over India, there was the raucous over the fight that happened between Indo-China soldiers yesterday. According to the local sources, the fight took place at the Galway valley situated in the Line of Actual Control area at the midnight. Some Chinese newspapers claimed that the tiff over the removal of an illegal structure ensued into a skirmish. Both the Indian and Chinese soldiers were engaged in a hand fight for the whole night. Official records claimed the death of twenty Indian soldiers including one Colonel. From the Chinese side, there was the news of many more casualties. The fight flared up amidst the de-escalation talk happened between India and China.

Rahu's Shadow

Pradip took temporal leave from his infantry. He returned to his village for a few days. Although there were twenty-four hours red alert in the disputed border areas of the country. Particularly Indian soldiers were put on extreme vigilance and duty these days. He was not included in that infantry which had hand fight in the Galway valley. Still, he was an active jawan of the country. He might be called back to his duty if any emergency situation arises. Multiple times he was also checking his cellphone to get updates in the border area and surveillance activities.

Last Monday he visited the village market for some household shopping. He spent some valuable hours with his familiar village friends. In no time he was to accelerate his motorcycle, he heard a grumpy voice—

“If Rahu puts his shadow on your fate, your whole life will be a mess! Just like my business is running down in this lockdown period. Means I’m pretty sure that Rahu is not pleased with me.”

A local shopkeeper was seen to be cursing his fate, as the ongoing lockdown and pandemic situation made a serious downfall in his profit and sale nowadays. Pradip again accelerated his bike and went towards his home.

He took his lunch. He positioned himself in a long armchair. He switched on the tv. He was constantly changing the channels. Suddenly the word ‘Rahu’ took his attention. He got the visual halt at an unfamiliar devotional channel. One viewer asked to shed some light on Rahu. One old spectacled man was answering in a mild voice—

“Rahu is considered as one of the nine planets in astrology. It doesn’t represent particular physical planets. It represents a certain karmic hub or universal energy center. So Sun is represented as a self and Rahu is karma or obstacles. Whenever Rahu puts its shadow on anybody’s luck, it just creates a lot of obstacles or karmic debt in him. It just sucks out the intelligence level of that human being.”

Pradip was listening to the whole talk with rapt attention. He even didn’t respond to some missed calls in between. Amidst the scorching afternoon, the ceiling fan was running quite smoothly in the drawing-room. The old man in the tv continues—

“That’s why Rahu has been depicted as a devil in our mythology. Whenever an eclipse occurs, our ancestors used to call it as the Rahu just ate up the whole sun.”

The Reckoning

Pradip inhaled deeply. He somehow chalked out the link of the eclipse with the Rahu. In a lunar eclipse, the moon moves in the shadow of the earth and in solar eclipse the moon blocks the sun to cast its shadow on the earth. He could remember that sadhu's message whom he met at Himachal Pradesh. He assumed that ‘Rahu’s shadow’ had a deep connection with the celestial shadow which means it’s an eclipse. The macroscopic play of the shadow causes the eclipse. The sadhu also told its reoccurrence. He again assumed that it was indicating to the eclipses which occurred several times in a year. He checked the internet and found out that the year 2020 is having 6 eclipses of 4 lunar eclipses and 2 solar eclipses. He got startled at the coincidental discovery.

What is awaiting in the near future?

Isn’t that Rahu also not quite symbolic for the earth right now?... During this COVID 19 pandemics, the whole of humanity is undergoing through some sheer aberrations.

The sadhu told about the real fight.

Is this disputed border clashes going to be much bigger in the upcoming days?

Pradip was staring blankly through the window. The sense of urgency and excitement was poignant to him, as time will reveal more.