Chapter-1
The Discovery...
It was a moonless night in December. A burst of cool breeze from the window was enough to disturb the sleep of Indrani Devi. Half awake she felt for the adjoining pillow, although she knew the answer. Duttada was not there.
"So he has gone to hobnob with that wretched Divya! At least he might have bothered to close the door" Even as she muttered her complaints Indrani could not repress her smile. She knew how utterly oblivious her husband was of the practical problems of living."Didn't his doctor tell him to take special precautions against the cold? But he wouldn't remember to put on a sweater even if it was lying on his beside chair! How could he when Divya has put her spell on him?" Said Indrani with her ultimate long-lasting smile.
She picked up the white woolen pullover,wrapped herself in a shawl and made her way to the roof, to break up his tete-a-tete with Divya.
She found them both huddled together eye to eye. At least Duttada was looking into Divya's eyes.
When Duttada acquired this telescope he was so thrilled that he called it Divya Chakshu - Divine Eye. To Indrani the telescope was like a designing woman who had ensnared her husband. So she just called it Divya and the name stuck.
To Duttada the telescope marked the fulfillment of the ambition of a lifetime. As an amateur astromer he had longed for enough money to buy a good telescope and for enough spare time in which to observe the heavens. He got them both after saving a lot and lot of part of his salary. The telescope was duly installed and long were the dark nights that Duttada spent in star-gazing. At least Indrani thought so.
"Here! Put on this sweater or do you want Navin Babu to order bed-rest tomorrow?" Said Indrani to Duttada.
Like every other amateur astronomer, Duttada had a secret ambition that he would one day discover a new comet. For, comets can be new, coming as they do from the remote corners of the Solar System. Like planets, comets also orbit round the Sun but their orbits are highly eccentric. So once in a while a comet comets close to the Sun; it has a longish tail that is lit brilliantly by the sunlight and then it recedes into darkness not to be seen again for years, or for centuries.
What chance did he stand with his eight-inch Divya? Didn't professional astronomers have gigantic telescopes?
Duttada was optimistic...he knew that the professional with their pre-assigned programs would be looking at faint stars and nebulous galaxies. They might miss such an insignificant thing as a comet which they were not expecting to see anyway! Indeed amateurs had often discovered new comets which the professionals had missed.
And, it looked to Duttada that tonight was going to be the big night. For against the background of the same old stars Duttada had detected a faint stranger. He re-examined the charts with him, checked his Divya for any smudges on the optics, did some calculations on his pocket calculators in torchlight--- for, though absent-minded about daily chores, he was meticulous in his observations.
Yes, there can be no mistake. What he was looking at had not been earlier and it did look like a new comet.
Chapter1-The Discovery-is done
Chapter2-And the introvert became Extrovert
Edited by anusha009 - 13 years ago
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