Full moon in the Himalaya ⋮ Full moon love & love.
I am convinced. Nothing in this life is as beautiful as the sight of the full moon in the Himalaya.
Each sight so special and heavenly — for the moon makes me wait, every day of the month. I wait for the first waxing crescent glimpse in the sky just as I wait for it to become full. I wait when it’s absent during the day and I wait when it’s absent at night. I wait for it through eclipses and clouds.
Like how I was waiting for it tonight, from the swing on my porch. A few minutes past 9, I’m sitting on the swing in the porch of my mud house in Vashisht. Beyond my mud house starts the jungle of the mountain. I’m waiting for the slightly distant trees branches to turn green with moonlight. Suddenly, the moon rises above the mountain. A lovely white fruit brings a spectacular flood of light. The dark sky is no longer dark, no longer frightening.
The moon in the mountains is so beautiful, so real that I can’t believe it’s real.
While it is still rising, while I’m still seeing it through the branches, moths and other little insects come to light, flying around the branches against the moonlight. I dream of a garden coming to life around the trees, with butterflies of the night and colourful fireflies — welcoming the moon, welcoming the light. How nourishing this sight to my eyes, how pleasing it is to my heart.
I have always loved the moon, always. But never so much as when seeing it from the Himalaya. It has never been as clear as from here, never stuck as deeply to my heart as here. When I saw it the first time, above the snow-capped mountains, it was as if I was seeing it for the first time in my entire life. I immediately forgot the hazy sights of ever seeing it from polluted cities at the sea level.
I frequently go to the swing on my porch and sit staring for several minutes. On one occasion, a few minutes past midnight, the moon is right before me. When I lie slightly on the swing facing south, it falls directly on my big eyes, which open up bigger and bigger as if agreeing with me that this is truly something to see.