Beyond the Horizon

This summer I was introduced to a very special breed of human beings. Born the same as you and me but the profession they chose bestowed them with the prowess of rising to significance, unparalleled to human abilities.

Astronomer, the world may call them but I prefer the name ‘Eyes of Mankind‘. Through their eyes we see the universe. They are the flag bearers of man’s relentless valiance of delving into the infinity to dig knowledge out of darkness.

It is indeed true that “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players” but a truth much bigger is “All the universe’s a stage, And all the men and women merely spectators“.

And this truth stands tall, defying all human greatness. The vastness of our universe has belittled us to nothing. We are just like Indians in Football World Cup. The best we can do to let us feel our presence in this great game of gravity is watch. Watch it and not let a shot miss. And there comes our astronomers to the rescue.

I had always believed in “God is Watching“, but now my belief is more heavily tilted towards “The astronomer is watching“. For its through their eyes that mankind has been sailing through the vast emptiness to meet the true brothers and sisters of the elementary constituents of our physical entity. Who knows, the photon that struck the CCD today, might have been from the transition of a hydrogen molecule, that was born along with the hydrogen molecule, somewhere in my heart, billions of years ago.

We hardly ever think of who we actually are. If we go searching for our roots we will be more than just surprised to see that we belong to the Milky Way, the Andromeda as well as all other galaxies alike. We belong to the entire cosmos. Its mere pitiful for human beings to be so narrow minded as to nurture racism, regionalism and religious fanaticism, when our entity is so absolute that it covers the entire gamut of whatever that is. We must realize that we all belong to the entire universe, something by far greater and grand than a mere, region or a country or a race.

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