Landing On Moon

Prafulla Kmar Mohanty

Sun, Moon and Stars are the only luminosities in human myths and reality which have permeated our imagination since the birth of man. Moon is always a lovable curiosity, for, it is beautiful yet has dark spots and patches, as Eliot wrote  'a washed out smallpox cracks her face'. It is serene and its beams induce desire in the lovers. Poets, painters and gilted lovers stare and  look at the moon for hours. In my early youth I used to spend the whole night , once in a while , on the Gopalpur sea beaches singing at the Moon, songs of slow rhythm. My mother , I remember, sang  "Come you Moon Uncle , Fall in the hands of my Kanhu" while playing with her grandson. The Moon for most cultures in India and abroad is feminine. For us Moon is male , our mother's brother. But for the west she is a woman, Greek myths make her Phoebe. She is a paragon of beauty. The full moon night is a metaphor of grace, prosperity and peace. Her silver rays are symbolic of cool resplendence suggesting royalty of life's peaceful synergy. Poets use the moon as a simile. A beautiful woman is always  compared with the moon. Lovers see their absent beloveds in the moon and write poems of sorrowful melody. But the moon is also an enigma for it waxes and wanes. Its fortnightly growth into full from  and its slow decline into total annihilation are also used in poetry to indicate rise and fall, glory and ignominy in human affairs.

Astrologically the moon plays a significant role in the natal chart of a man or woman. It shapes the body, gives splendour and fortune. In Indian sexology the moon moves in the body of a woman. According to the tithi the parts of the body become erotic zones and lovers ought to know those zones in sex play. The Odia poet Upendra Bhanja has given elaborate erotic descriptions of such zones. In classical feminist theories the menstrual cycle of a woman is controlled by the moon. The moon takes 27 days  and six hours to orbit the earth and a woman's period follows it. The Earth is a Woman and the Moon is a Male who moves around her in sexciting vigour. The Moon is a great lover in our myths. He enticed the wife of Brihaspati, Jupiter, and fathered Mercury. Tara although a married woman, fell for the charms of the most  handsome Chandra. Such myths abound in world literature and their charms have not diminished over time. But Aero-space science and technology have challenged these myths to almost insignificance.

Man has already landed on the  Moon in the last century. Niel Armstrong and others have walked on the  Moon. Now the Indian Chandrayana 2 also has attempted to land on the moon. The mission however has not been completed. The Moon is just a satellite of the earth. It is no one's Uncle or Aunt. It is not a supernal beauty like Aphrodite (unseen) or a modern Miss Universe. It is not even a beauty brand. Man has seen its craters, its rocky dusty face. The NASA scientists suspected that the moon is dry, waterless like a ruined piece of dried earth. There is no possibility of life. There is gravity but no water.  But the Indian Chandrayan I in its moon photographs raised a modicum of hope that yes there is water- not rivers, streams or oceans- but dried out substances suggesting its presence. The Indian moon craft has landed on the dark side of the moon, a first for mankind. The Rover will start its movement and search for water and other traces of life sustaining materials. Some venture capitalists have already planned  for  setting up honeymoon hotels, pleasure trips and all other mad chase of exotic pleasures. If the presence of water in the moon could be established beyond all reasonable doubts, it would be a great leap forward for space science. But what will the poets do? What will the lovers do ? Will they stop looking up the sky sniggering at the moon? Can the moon be ever wiped off our historical memory? Can I myself stop looking at the moon for hours on end slowly moving in a boat in Chilika? ...

No one will wait for answers. The unmarried women will sing praises of the Kumar Purnima Moon. The girls will wear new dresses and observe their Janhi Osha- a festival of the Moon. Poets will ride the moon with their lady loves even in New Moon nights. The seashore would be crowded as ever on the Autumn Full Moon nights. And I will always see my love as the moon- Full and glowing in the night, stiff and angry at noon and smiling in the evening- waxing and waning as the mood takes her on.