Eclipse chasing in Surat

I made a short trip to Surat yesterday/today. Really short. Took a bus to the city late last night, reached there at dawn, was back in Bombay by train by early afternoon.

The purpose of my excursion was to view the solar eclipse, which was going to be visible from Bombay as well, but only partially - Surat was in the path of totality.

There are two aspects of a total solar eclipse that make for really interesting viewing - the sight (through eclipse glasses, of course) of a dark circular disc encircled by a bright ring as the moon almost covers the sun, and the transition from daylight to darkness and back to daylight in a matter of minutes. The cloud cover of the past few days made it extremely unlikely that I would be able to see the sun eclipsed, and so it proved to be.

But I experienced the other effect very vividly. Around 5:50 am, dawn commenced. By 6:15, it was quite bright, despite the dense clouds gliding in the sky. Then it began getting darker. Unnoticeable at first, the effect soon became clear. By 6:25 the sky was totally dark. For 5 minutes, night had befallen again. It is an amazing experience. Since my bus had reached Surat late, I went through the entire experience sitting in its front cabin (thankfully, with very large and clear window panes). Almost as soon as it began, the total eclipse was over. By 6:35 the sky was normal again. It was my first experience of a total solar eclipse, though not the last, I hope :)

Not much else to report from Surat. I was impressed by the series of flyovers that connect the city centre to the national highway via the "Ring Road" (One, a really long one, is still in the process of construction). And the design of many of the shopping complexes (shops lining up on each floor with a balcony-type passage connecting them) reminded me of Ahmedabad. Is it a Gujarat thing?