I remember sleeping under a star lit sky when I was a little girl. Ohhh the thrill it gave me! Blue sky with sparkling zillion stars. Half of the night was spent wondering at the God's creation. The sky looked mesmerizing and so soothing. The night view calmed the nerves and eyes. All the day's tiredness evaporated after lying down under the stars. I and my brother spent our nights figuring out the constellations. There was a magic in looking at the stars for so long and sleep descended so quickly and peacefully. The childhood days offered contemplative nights under the sky. Stargazing was the favorite thing to do and we used to look forward to the night so much. And then everything changed…

The college days were wasted on frivolous things like clothes, makeup, phones, sitcoms, and fake friendships. The nights were spent on phones or televisions. Soon, the frivolous and silly things were taken over by work pressure. The glamorous life of IT world enslaved our mind and routine. The eyes were fixated to the computer screens and fingers danced on the keypads. The nights were engulfed by late night office parties and little was left for the eyes to feast upon. So many years passed away and the clear blue sky never beckoned. Earning money casted a black magic spell on our lives. 

It was only when my life was blessed with motherhood, I remembered the starry night of my childhood. I wanted my kids to experience the same starry magic. 

So, one night I decided to camp up on the rooftop to sleep under the blue sky with my kids. But Where Were The Stars?? Where was the clear blue sky which had once made me spellbound with its sheer white beauties. 

The sky that we see now looks barren and distant. It is no more enchanting and inviting. My kids were left disheartened. They had listened to my childhood stories with so much trust. They felt cheated when they saw an unglamorous sky. Only the Moon to comfort them. So, what had transpired in all these years? Where was the sparkling clear blue sky?

Of course, the stars are still there,  it is the urban artificial lights which has invaded the night sky. The light pollution and artificial lights have made a permanent afterglow, thus obscuring the starlit twinkiling sky. The more light pollution we make, the more distant the stars appear. 

Only in the distant wilderness, you will be able to see the sky of your childhood. The city dwellers like us can certainly do our bit. We can try to cut off the lights for sometime in the night. We can try dark sky initiatives like buying dark sky friendly appliances. Turn off the lights when not in use. 

These are the small steps which we all can incorporate in our daily lives, if we want the coming generation to witness the magic of star filled sky.