A night under billions of stars

I have always been fascinated by astronomy. As a child, I used to wish and wish that there was some way to comprehend the mysteries of the night sky. Loved the little bit of astronomy we learnt in school and like most children at some point in their lives, I hoped to be an astronomer. But beyond learning to identifying the Orion and the Big Dipper, there was no great progress in my knowledge of the night sky for a long long time, mostly because nobody in my family was interested in the stars much. As I progressed from primary to high school to junior college, this interest in the night sky had to take a back seat, as studies, medical school, post grad and generally life got in the way.
Fast-forward to many years later, the hubster and I were at a pretty remote  location and and were looking up at the sky. We were totally awed and vowed to learn more about the night sky. As we live in extremely light polluted suburbs, actual star gazing proved to be quite difficult. But as a result of a marvelous coincidence, we met a couple through my cousin. And guess what? They were members of the oldest amateur astronomy club in India called Jyotirvidya Parisanstha! This organisation has been in Pune for ages and we weren't even aware! I was beyond ecstatic when I learnt that this organisation conducts regular star gazing sessions for muggles like me!! 
The first star party was everything that I hoped it would be. I had goosebumps when I looked at the Orion nebula for the first time. It is the birth place of new stars. And that is not even the best part. Since it is thousands of light years away, what we see in the sky is an image that is thousands of years old! Mind= f**king blown! 
As we left day that, I remembered an illustration by my all time favourite cartoonist, Bill Watterson, where Calvin and Hobbes are standing under a star-studded sky and Calvin says to Hobbes something on the lines of - people would live their lives a lot more differently if they just went out and looked at the stars each night. 

 
The sheer size of the universe is enough to remind us that we are just a speck of dust within the galaxy. On the other hand, the famous quote of renowned astronomer Carl Sagan "We are made of star stuff" makes me feel pretty awesome. 
Every star party that I have attended since has always inspired me and got my creative juices flowing. Viewing the planets in our solar system through the telescopes, viewing some of the oldest stars and some of the youngest stars, and the naked eye star gazing sessions are so remarkably mesmerizing, that I keep craving for more. 
Team JVP deserves a special kudos. They are a Not-For-Profit organisation and the level of dedication and the knowledge of these bunch of amateur astronomers is truly amazing. The sessions conducted by the volunteers are both entertaining and educational(even though most of the technical stuff goes over my head ;)). Huddling close together in the cold night while looking at the beautiful sky overhead, late night tea sessions, the awe-filled and sleep-deprived eyes as the over- night session ends, sleeping at six or six thirty am and waking up for lunch and strong filter coffee.. this experience is truly beyond compare..
I am glad that I was introduced to this activity through an extremely welcome coincidence. If you live in Pune (or even if you don't), this is a must try.