The Geminids – Our First-Hand Account Of Relishing The Annual Meteor Shower

“I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in
magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.”
                                                            – Jack Griffith London

2020 was a tumultuous year for all of us, indeed. With the travel fraternity opening up consistently, we started giving relief to our itchy feet by going on smaller trips. This time we decided to do a combined tour of Manali, Dharamshala and Amritsar at one go. After spending quite a few days in Manali, (Click here to read all about our dreamy Manali Trip) we were on our way to Dharamshala. But, little did we know, a dazzling galactic show was awaiting us!

With the lockdown imposed in the entire country, human activities have crippled to a great extent. That has resulted in clearer skies and we have a jaw-dropping story for those who fancy shooting stars.

One of the most grant meteor showers of 2020, The Geminids reached its peak on the nights of December 13 and 14. This meteor shower is a cult-favourite among all the skywatchers as it portrays the most stunning starry night one can ever imagine. It happens when several meteors originating from different positions in the galaxy travel towards each other. After entering Earth’s atmosphere, they leave a trail of cosmic debris which illuminates the dark sky. The King of Meteor Shower is best visible from secluded spots in the northern parts of the country. So, we were in luck!

On December 14, 2020, we checked out from our hotel in Manali. The drive from Manali to Dharamshala was for almost 7 hours. We both don’t like night journeys. Just to save our day time, Ritesh insisted to leave at night and reach our hotel on time so that we get an entire day to explore Dharamshala. Rinnku was not very happy with the idea but always trusts Ritesh with the plan. So, we both made a move. We left from Manali around 11.30 PM to reach Dharamshala on time by 7-8 AM.

While we were leaving, Rinnku was talking to her sister-in-law. And, she mentioned about a meteor shower and told us we can witness it if we get lucky. She was sipping on coffee in the balcony in Mumbai and waiting for the weather to get clear to see at least 1-2 meteorites. But it was raining in Mumbai and the weather was very cloudy. She asked Rinnku to download an app to locate the exact location to see the meteor shower & enjoy an ethereal sight. Now, people who know Rinnku know that she is a total Bollywood person. Toota hua tara is a buzz line in the world of Hindi cinema. They say, if you see a shooting star and make a wish, it becomes true. That’s absolutely filmy and Rinnku is crazy about these things. 🙂

When we looked up after starting the journey, we saw a sky full of twinkling stars. There was literally no space in the sky. It was full of stars! We didn’t see any meteor at that point in time. After an hour of drive, we took a halt. It was pitch dark and we had more chances to see it. We parked the car on the side and looked up. We kept staring at the vast sky for a few seconds and then, it went like – 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10… We watched so many stars falling and they were differently coloured in orange, blue, purple, green, white, violet, etc. We started screaming and jumping in excitement. We went like “yahaan gira, aye yahaan dekho” (it fell here, hey look at this side) in exhilaration. We could see the meteor shower in the entire sky. We even stopped counting after about 40 shooting stars because we lost the count. It was an astounding gala on the canvas of nature. We just couldn’t believe our senses during the magical phenomenon. What did we see? Were we watching a movie in the theatre of the galaxy? Was it for real? Were we daydreaming? We kept reiterating these thoughts to ourselves in a nerve-wracking thrill. Also, did we tell you that it was freezing outside? We were standing at minus 7 degrees. But while watching the meteor shower, we literally forgot that we were cold and our face, especially our noses became numb. 😀

Finally, we returned to our car after seeing at least a hundred live shooting stars. But our hearts craved for more!

The road to Dharamshala from Manali has a lot of twists and turns. Rinnku has motion sickness. So, we took many halts on the way whenever she felt sick. And at every single halt, the minute we looked up, we spotted candescent shooting stars all over the sky. We felt like God was sending gifts to us. We didn’t make any wish because we were lost in the spellbinding grandeur of the Geminids. We never saw anything more beautiful than that particular bedazzling night sky. Actually, it looked like God was celebrating something with firecrackers (in this case – star crackers :D)!

The meteors kept showering till 5.30 AM. We had taken at least 8 to 9 halts till 5.30 in the morning and saw at least 200 shooting stars.

After a point, we stopped talking to each other and just looked up in the sky wondering how miraculous nature is. We were in awe of nature’s creativity & our hearts were full of gratitude because we were fortunate enough to witness that luminous night.

When we googled about the meteor shower the next day, we read, “Welcome to the grandest meteor shower, the Geminids which will be taking place in the dark hours of the 13th and 14th this year. The Geminids is the King of the Meteor showers and presents as many as 80-100 meteors per hour. With a new moon in the sky, this will be the best Geminids meteor shower in years!”

We can’t pen down what we felt like! It was simply magical. This is the only word that comes to our mind. We see & feel that night even today when we close our eyes and think about it.

I am getting goosebumps even when writing about this right now. It’s been over a month but the memory is as fresh as it just happened yesterday!

Hope we made you all watch the meteor shower through our blog here! Unfortunately, we don’t have any picture or video of the mesmerizing night because we didn’t have any professional camera with us and our phones were not able to capture anything. Yes, not a single picture or video. So, this blog will not have any image but we’re sure our story will definitely transport you to the unforgettable night that we’ll cherish forever!