Under A Blanket of Stars

It was two months ago that I was having the "not so good" times of my life. The world was topsy turvy and I was paralysed and frozen, eventually. They say, when you are sad, life loses all its colours, leaves on the trees sway no more, the birds no more sing sweetly to one another and it seems like a pandemic gloom. Well, in my life, the trees were all bright, sparkly green, the birds sang all over the place and in my head too. I could feel every colour; every reflected and refracted ray of light hitting hard into my eyes as if i were photophobic. Well, all you emo people that's something new for you eh? Anyway, sorry to disappoint you this is no wrist slitting, sanguine teared and black and white striped story.

Insanity is a thing you can't run away from, it grips you and then once you are bitten, you begin to see. So I set out to meet it. I would visit the Coppersmiths, chat with the Bulbuls, stare in wonder at the Robins and cherish the memories with the Golden Oriole. Then I wanted to meet The Stars and, yes I did. I met them one fateful night. There was this great bloke called Orion. Seemed like some hunter to me. He'd hunt for chicks, no not those belonging to the hen. They say he wooed some of them, The Seven Sisters living in the North. Quite a sight he was that night - with a sword at his waist and a huge shield in the hand striding proudly to the North. The sword I saw, had a fascinating hilt. It shone brightly yet was like some hazy white cluster of light. A closer look and I was all head over heels! ;)

On walked Orion to the North and suddenly came a bull, so red with anger in his Eye, literally! The eye is known as Aldeberan. He called himself Taurus. I don't think he had quite a liking for hunky romeos who sired beauties of the skies. Well, that's all I know about Taurus. Oh yes! He's got really huge horns too! I can say his favourite pass time is intimidating creatures coming across him.

As I gazed into the dark sky, there was a faint wisp of twinkling light that my eye caught. And there they were, The Seven Sisters together merrily shining and gathering admirers from all over the Universe. They were all eternally happy but one. The faintest one of all, she hid herself under her delicate veil. Perhaps all sad and ashamed of her love for the mortal Orion. Maybe regretting or repenting her actions all alone. Merope was her name. Here's a picture of the Seven Sisters AKA Pleiades. Merope is the one with a spreading hazy     light all around her, more swirling downwards.

How can one forget the brightest star in the sky? Say hello to Sirius, the Dog Star. So, what do we know about a dog? Yes, it's a man's best, loyal and "Follow where you go" friend. That's what I saw Sirius did. He looked on at the Northward walking mortal Orion. Aptly called the Dog Star, Sirius is the first star visible at twilight. Indeed loyal to the star gazers. :) That's The constellation you see. It's called Canis Major in technical language and ofcourse the brightest of them all is our Sirius.

And there were oh so many more stars I met. But I really don't remember them now. Alas! I fell asleep, cold and hungry. Well, things don't always go very great for me. I seem to have some affinity for trouble. So here I had one. It was nothing more than a teeth chattering, spine tingling cold along with its ally, The Wind. I lay quivering on the cold ground, craving for some good night's sleep. I made myself a nice soft bed of fresh red soil and some old newspapers. Tried hard to be contended with it. And then I also had a blanket, full of a zillion stars embedded in it! Yeah, but I really missed my warm blanky back at home. :D