The Longest Dawn !

In general, the length of a day varies throughout the year, and depends upon latitude. This variation is caused by the tilt of the Earth's axis of rotation with respect to the ecliptic plane of the Earth around the sun. At the solstice occurring about June 20–22, the north pole is tilted toward the sun, and therefore the northern hemisphere has days ranging in duration from just over 12 hours in the southern portion of the Tropic of Cancer to 24 hours in the Arctic Circle, while the southern hemisphere has days ranging in duration from just under 12 hours in the northern portion of the Tropic of Capricorn to zero in the Antarctic Circle.

I find the nature at its best when I behold a sunrise or a Sunset from wherever I am. The location may be anywhere in the world. It may be my bedroom window, a non-descript street disappearing at a blank canvas either in the East to greet the rising Sun or in the West to greet or bid adieu to the setting Sun.

I remember when I was a child; I used to get up early in the morning to see the Sun rising from the Far East where the street closed at the park end. At that age, the Sunset used to be a sorry affair for me as I had to return back after playing.

Early in my college career, I had the opportunity to visit Netarhaat some 150 KM West of Ranchi(Jharkhand, India). This place was at a height of over 1000 meter and was famous for witnessing Sunrise and Sunset particularly in the summer. I remember that we perched on the roof of the bus two hours before the sunrise. Every moment was beyond description. I saw shades of color that I had never seen before either in my spectroscopy periods or anywhere in a movie. Every second of the 2x60x60 second had a distinctly different landscape; from dark to indigo to purple and so on. It is surprising that till now no professional video is available on the Utube. The ones that I have uploaded are from some non-descript camera.

My rendezvous with Netarhaat in 1963 enabled me to make up my mind, to pass my best time with the beautiful Sun when it rises and when it sets. At Ranchi, The highest point from my residence was the hillock over which the Jagannath temple was situated. This 100 meter high hillock was four kilometer from my house. The distance was perfect for my morning walk. I used to reach the top of the hillock well before the Sunrise.

My unending tryst with the life giving Sun kept on peaking. Last year, I was in Baldivis (Perth, Western Australia). I never missed a day unless it was highly overcast. The place has a clear blue sky with the long distance of distinct vision extending to the infinity where the Sun peeps up from beyond the mountain range or dips down over the Ocean. The jewel in the crown was the Cape Peron where tourists flock to witness the Sunset over the Ocean.

As if, the nature wished me to hint that I have not even watched a small minuscule of what it has to offer, I was forced to sit in the middle column of the airline that was carrying me to New York from Mumbai. The flight took off at 2130 IST. It was a 20 hours flight which flew over Moscow, Helsinki, Berlin, and London before landing at JFK at 0730 hrs.(New York time).

Somewhere above Moscow , from the distant side window at the left , I found the  wings of the aircraft splashed with crimson red indicating that the Sun was about to rise. To my utter surprise, this state of the morning remained at it was until we entered the US territory some time at 0600 hrs.( Local time).

It was to be the longest sunrise that I ever got a glimpse of.  At around 800 KMH the aircraft (Boing 777) had a race with the darkness at its tail and dawn at its nose. Perhaps, the view on the Moon and on satellites in geo-stationary orbits would provide a more fascinating looksee.

How is it that nobody has thought of putting this marvel of the on the internet or more specifically in websites such as Utube for others to know, learn and savor for eternity?
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