Memories painted in moonlight

A few days ago, while witnessing the exclusive full moon popularly known as the Hunter’s Moon in the cloudy night sky, my mind sailed back to the enduring memories of the 1980s when we were school-going children.

My father was posted in a quaint town, and we were settling down in our new house. Our next-door neighbours were a large, interesting family with several children of varying ages, with some of them being college students. As one would expect, their house was always abuzz with unique activities, including science experiments, lively games, and amusing ingenious ideas. To our pleasant surprise, they had a fascinating ritual of enjoying dinners in the open air on full moon nights. They called it the ‘moonlight dinner’. And pretty soon, as we got along, our family too became a part of their beautiful ritual of dinner al fresco.

Come full moon nights, special meals would be cooked in their house, wherein my mother too readily offered to contribute some dishes. Certain fun events were arranged as well. At nightfall, we would all gather on their terrace beneath the vastness of the open sky with great enthusiasm. Remember, it was the 1980s. Back then, there were no high-rise buildings, and all lights would be out by 9 or 10 pm at the most in our sleepy little town.

Lying low, bright and full, the moon would be in all its glory, the looming central figure in the sky, hogging all the limelight. It is a distant memory now, yet I can vividly recall appreciating the moon illuminating the dark sky and the gentle light dispelling the darkness around. With no other sources of light in the vicinity and no other distractions, the glow of the moonlight would cast a soft silvery hue upon the surroundings. Sounds magical, doesn’t it? It truly was. And then, as planned, all the songs, dances, and games would ensue, followed by a sumptuous meal in the soft glow of the moon. What a celebration of the monthly celestial event it was!

Memories are making me smile spontaneously. As long as we resided in the town, we looked forward to the full moon and to partaking in and rejoicing in the moonlight dinners. After leaving the place, though, we did not have or create any such opportunity. Years, in fact, decades, have passed since. I realise now, though the full moon rises every month, we cannot recreate those moonlight dinners in such an ambience because of the towering constructions and the city lights flooding the sky.