The moon is a large round object that you can see shining in the sky at night on certain days. We know that it moves round the earth every 28 days. When we cannot see the moon, we say there is no moon. On certain days a part of the moon is visible in the sky. We call it the crescent moon.
They say there are moons moving around other planets such as Saturn. However, we are fascinated by the moon that appears at night.
As a child of ten I discovered something strange about the moon. When I went somewhere with my father on a moonlit day, I had a very uncommon feeling that the moon was following us. Even when you ride your bicycle, the moon will follow you.
Sometimes I used to travel in my neighbour’s car. Again I saw the moon following us.
One day a little boy was travelling with us. He suddenly blurted out, “Hey, the moon is following us!” Children do not tell lies like adults. My neighbour tried to explain that the moon was not actually following us. Then the boy said innocently, “But it is really moving. I can see it!”
At ten, I was probably too young to know the magic and romance of moonlight – that is nothing like the harsh glare of the sun. Moonlight is soft and sweet.
It sometimes dissolves into shadows. It heals our bodies scorched by the sunlight. Very often we stare transfixed by the moonlight.
Even after leaving the moonlight, we tend to dream and examine the humdrum state of life. In a hectic confused world, the moon gives us a glint of hope.
When I grew up a little, I wanted to verify whether the moon really followed people. One day I sat in the front seat of my father’s car while he was driving. To my astonishment, the moon was riding with us. It was actually gliding smoothly in the sky. When the car was bouncing over the bumpy road, I saw the moon on my left, then straight ahead.
Silver light
The moon’s silver light was washing over the fields streaking along through branches, finally disappearing as the road wound its way through the hills. When we reached the top of a hill, the moon was there again, grown suddenly bigger and brighter. It was flooding the sprawling light all over the village. I could hardly wait to get back and describe my experience to my little sister. When we returned home, she was watching television. I grabbed her and said, “Close your eyes and come with me. You will see what I have brought you.”
She blinked a few times and looked at me as if I was going crazy. She looked everywhere to see whether I had brought her a puppy or a kitten. I was not satisfied with her response and called my younger brother to show him the moon. He was excited to see the full moon hanging from the sky like a large silver plate. However, he was rather worried whether the silver plate would come hurtling towards him because it was suspended precariously. Little by little, we saw the incandescent moon, even larger and more breathtaking than on other full moon days.
The moon has enriched the English language. If you ask for the moon, you simply ask for something that is difficult or impossible to obtain. One day, a mother could not lull her baby to sleep because she was asking for the moon. She sought the help from a wandering Zen master. He visited the house and asked the woman to bring a basin full of water. He kept the basin in the compound and asked the baby to see the moon’s reflection in the basin of water. The baby was so pleased that she fell asleep.
If you get your dream job, you are over the moon. You will never enjoy such a bout of happiness again. The tsunami disaster happened many moons ago. When you are in love, you will promise the moon to your lover. Sometimes your parents will warn you to stop mooning about and do something useful. When your lover goes abroad, you will sit mooning over his photograph for several hours.
Alcoholic drink
The water in the river will look silver in the moonlight. Some employees in order to evade paying taxes to the Government moonlight after their working hours. They do the second job without the knowledge of their regular employer. In American English, moonshine is a strong alcoholic drink that is produced illegally. In British English, moonshine means nonsense. Sometimes we meet moonstruck people. They are harmless but slightly crazy!
The moon has been personified as a goddess, for example, Diana or Cynthia. Chinese people hold the moon festival in the middle of autumn after the completion of the harvest. The British journalist Richard Adams Locke wrote a series of articles for the ‘New York Sun’ in 1835 purporting to reveal the discoveries of life on the moon. According to him, the discovery had been made by the astronomer John Herschel. The articles described in vivid detail the mountains, forests, winged inhabitants and beavers walking on two legs. They excited great public interest and increased the circulation of the newspaper. However, it was revealed later that the story was a hoax!
‘Man in the moon’ is a mythical person supposed to be living on the moon. People imagined a semblance of a person or a human face on the moon. Later man in the moon became a proverbial expression as the type of someone too distant to have any understanding or knowledge of a person’s circumstances.
Poets have been carried away by the moon’s charming appearance. P.B. Shelley wrote the following romantic poem about the moon. He addresses the night luminary directly and explains the moon’s pallor as a possible sadness due to its having to ascend to heaven alone, looking at the earth with a joyless eye. The moon in Shelley’s poem cannot find a companion who would be faithful. It is surrounded by stars, but they are different in nature and changeable. The poet personifies the moon attributing to it a human desire for mutual feelings and fidelity.
To the moon
Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth,
And ever changing, like a joyless eye
That finds no object worth its constancy?
