Amdavadis watch celestial spectacle

AHMEDABAD: As the sky turned red after midnight on Wednesday, Pooja Desai and her friends sharing the apartment rushed to the terrace with their mugs of coffee and tea and waited for the rare celestial event. The 24-year old dentist who lives on Ashram road watched the whole eclipse. She told TOI, "I took photos of the visual treat and watched every bit of it with my friends".
Many Amdavadi families came out of homes to watch the lunar eclipse that occurred at 12.52 am and lasted over 100 minutes, an once-in-a-lifetime event for most of them.Watching the moon turn grey and crimson and the night go completely dark was nothing less than a festival. Some people, in keeping with the myths associated with eclipses did charity to the poor for the well being of their families.
"Eclipses impacts zodiac signs so I donated few things to keep my family happy and healthy ", said Nimisha Sharma, 48, a house wife who lives on Ashram road. Almost 70 to 80 people watched the eclipse at Science City amphitheatre with their families and friends, on telescope along with a special show of the 3D movie "Walking On The Moon".This was the first of the 2 lunar eclipses of 2011. "It was fun watching the various phases of the eclipse. We stayed glued to the sky enjoying the night with popcorn and coffee", said Aditi Joshi, 23, a student of architecture.
Antara Ranawat, 49, planned dinner on the terrace of her apartment with neighbors and family, just to watch the eclipse. But there were some like Devika Vyas who were disappointed. "We sat outside our home in Bopal till 1.30 am but clouds blocked our view". Parts of the city saw moderate showers just before the celestial event.
Said Palak Khinchi, an MBA student who lives on CG Road, "I was so excited to see the white glow of moon turning crimson to brick red, that I captured it all on camera. This won't happen again for 47 years".