The bronze moon

Have you ever seen a bronze moon? When there is a full moon it sometimes appears bronze colored. Today it was almost golden. The most gorgeous sight amidst high rises without trees. Even more gorgeous is the sight of full moon rising above the sea. That view is simply breathtaking! The silver reflecting off the dark waters - the beauty has to be experienced.

I always loved the moon. I have watched thousands of full moons, half moons and crescent moons rise over the coconut tree from my terrace in Bangalore. But it was in Chennai I first saw the most spectacular show on earth - the full moon rising out of the ocean and I was hooked.

I was lucky to have people around me who appreciated these matter of fact yet magical moments. And they have made these moments even more memorable.

There was this one time when in Chennai a few of us from the hostel decided to watch the moon rise. So we noted the time and decided to go to Marina beach for the show (!) But as usual we were up against deadlines and seemed almost impossible to get there in time. Somehow just five minutes before the given time we managed to get into an auto and get there just in time. Once we got there the five of us were like little girls shrieking away with joy. Fifteen minutes later we were heading back to college in an auto that was blasting the latest Tamil Hits.

Later the same year I went to Marina with another friend of mine. He had apparently never realised that moon could rise. "It is just there at night" is what he told me. (V also had similar thoughts!) So I made it a point to take this friend along. And we sat there quietly for almost an hour and watched the magic unravel with hundreds of shrieking children (they were not shrieking at the moon but at the waves hitting them.)

There was this other friend of mine who bonded with me over the full moon too. Infact we bonded over sunset, rain, hot & sour chicken soup and rajnikant too. We messaged each other everytime the other couldn't see the full moon describing it.

V of course has not got to see the moon rise yet...we never managed to be near the east coast at the right time. But once we stayed in Alleppey at a beach resort. I knew it was full moon that day and so kept alarm at 3 am and woke V up and dragged off a groggy chap to watch the full moon set into the Arabian sea (as good if not better than the rising) Usually nothing can shake off his sleep but that day he was all bright eyed.

Over the years many things have changed. I don't get to watch moon rise over a coconut tree (any tree for that matter) any more. Some of the friends with whom I enjoyed these moments with have either moved away or become strangers...but the moon is still as beautiful.