Total Eclipse of the Heart

This morning, there was a solar eclipse around 6 am. Have you ever seen a solar eclipse? I doubt it. This was my first.

I took a boat out on the Ganges with some friends for the best viewing experience possible. Solar eclipses are considered very auspicious events, so there were lakhs (Indian word for 10,000) of people who came out from all over to see it and bathe and pray and whatever else they felt like doing. The shores were crowded with Indians and foreigners alike. Because Varanasi is such a holy city, tourists from other parts of India came here to watch the eclipse.

I took loads of pictures, but I can't upload them now because I'm using an internet cafe. Unfortunately, my computer is still broken, and now Pierre's is too.

All I can say about that eclipse is that I completely understand why everyone thought the world was ending when they saw them a long time ago. They look very eerie, and everything just goes dark suddenly in the middle of the day.

You're not supposed to look at the sun during a solar eclipse (something about the darkness tricking your eyes so that your pupils contract, leaving your corneas unprotected), but I just couldn't resist, and now I'm afraid I'll go blind someday. I kept sneaking peeks and then looking away very quickly. Pray for the the quality of my vision, alright?