How do you get to an eclipse in the middle of the Great Thar Desert in Rajastan?
Not easily. Indians tend to view solar eclipses as ominous occurrences, and prefer to avoid them. Our hotel in Bikaner, mindful of the safety and well being of its guests, sent around a letter the day before with helpful advice for “enjoying the eclipse” that included staying in one’s room with the curtains drawn! In view of this attitude, and the fact that we needed to travel about 70km north from Bikaner to the eclipse path near Lunkaransar, and then at least another 10km into the desert (the air pollution is so severe in any Indian city or village as to virtually preclude any type of astronomical observation), we were careful to secure a car and driver a day early. Unfortunately, the day before the eclipse was the Indian holiday of Diwali, and the celebrating tends to go on into the small hours. Whether because of this or simple superstitious fear, our driver failed to show up at the arranged upon 5:00 AM. By 6:00 (“T” minus 2½ hours) we had succeeded in finding another driver who w
