MUNSINGER CLEMENS GARDEN (St. Cloud)

I did not have my camera with me, even though photography is my hobby. In the runup to the event I had noticed many hobby photographers gearing up with expensive lenses and fancy gadgets. But I had remained cool, and cheap – spending just $10 to get some ISO 12312-2 certified solar eclipse glasses. 

As we waited, I was bemused to see the hustle and bustle of the amateur photographers trying out their gadgets.  I had no such worries.  And later, during the 1:35 minute long eclipse, while they fiddled to get the best shot of a lifetime, all I had to do was just let myself go – and be entertained by the most mind-bending experience I ever had.

Finally, the moon arrived.  I donned the high-tech glasses and settled down in my chair, gazing straight up at the sun.  The sun looked like a dim yellow circle, and the moon creeped upon it.  Slowly, very slowly, the sun first became a concave half circle, and soon a sickle.  But the moon was relentless, and suddenly nothing was to be seen.  I took my glasses off.

I had expected a dark sky with stars twinkling, the birds chirping, and all that.  Instead, I found myself in a twilight world of neither day nor night.  And up in the sky, instead of the sun, there was a strange circle of corona, flickering with a subdued psychedelic flame – mostly blue, purple and pink.  I kept looking at the faint ring of the cosmic flame, taking in every flicker and every subtle change in hue with all my senses.  I have no recollection of all the exclamations around me because I was not there – I was one with the cosmos.  It lasted for an eternity, and it lasted for a brief moment - and both would be true because time had lost its meaning.  The end came with a sudden burst of a dazzling "diamond ring".  I had to look away instinctively to protect my vision.... and I woke up!