A World Without Sunlight : Exploring The Unthinkable

 What if the Sun just "Disappears"?

You open your eyes and feel the warmth of the sun caressing your face. Step out to your balcony to feel the majesty of the morning and the commotion of the small birds and animals playing in your lawn. The sun rays penetrate through the canopies as you realize that the sunlight is the promise of beauty and wonder and it freshens up your day.

"Sun is the ultimate source of energy. It sustains life." That's what we were taught in schools. But actually, if we think deeper, Sun is the source of everything. I cannot think of a day without sunlight. But what if it happens? What if sun casually disappeared altogether from the sky one day? This is not meant to be a professional point of view. But as ordinary people let us imagine together of a day without sun.

Imagining...

I remember reading a poem, "Darkness" by Lord Byron in my childhood. 

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.

The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars

Did wander darkling in the eternal space,

Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth

Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;

Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,

And men forgot their passions in the dread

Of this their desolation; and all hearts

Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:

This poem imagines the scenario of a day when actually the sun burns out. People turns mad and does everything they could to survive. They start putting fire on everything and take refuge in cannibalism.

Our scenario is a bit different, as it is set up in the modern times. Also, humans could never survive without sun. The Earth's rotation would slow down, axis might shift and so on.... But let's put it aside and just imagine that we could live..

Let us consider a girl, say, Lilly, who is going through the day when the Sun just "disappears"...

Lilly's Episode

Lilly stood looking out through her window. It was a lovely morning in May. She smiled blissfully as the sunlight brushed through her skin. She closed her eyes, one moment of serenity. She opened them and was startled by what she was seeing. There were no clouds and yet the sun was receding. She stood in awe as she watched the sun fade away.

She couldn't believe her eyes. She stumbled inside to tell her parents. They were watching the news on TV. It explained the agony of the scientific community at this catastrophe. The event was totally unpredicted and the scientists were immediately set on finding a solution. The whole world was terrified. People started yelling it's the Doom's Day. 

As time went by, darkness shrouded the whole Earth. Lilly sobbed in her bed. "Please come back dear Sun. Please do!" She never wanted this. The world seemed as if it took a pause, she felt lost and alone. All she could do now was to pray.

People gathered together for a meeting. They needed to sustain and share whatever they had. The world was being turned into a chaos. The warm blue skies turned cold and desolate. Everything has been disrupted. 

As days passed weather grew extremely cold, food and water started becoming scarce, economies started to collapse. Scientists worked day and night to find the cause and cure, global panic and anxiety increased the immoral crimes. Lilly witnessed all these devastations. She saw crops whither and die and people running chaotically in the darkness. 

Days turned to weeks. Scientists started coming up with alternate forms of energy like hydroponics and people worked together as a community. Innovators developed new technologies like high light emitting devices. Lilly saw that people were adapting and wanted to be a part of this movement. She had always taken sun for granted but now she longed for it more than her life.

Weeks turned to months. Everybody was quite used to the planet without sun. Life was never the same but they tried to cope, adapt and hope. New technologies evolved faster and world was being shaped in a new way even in total darkness. New arts and cultures were developing and within years humanity will change.

Lilly was proud of humanity and it's resolve to strive. She aspired to learn and grow and give her share in this quest of development. She wanted the legacy of the Sun to live forever in the endurance of humanity.

Image courtesy : DALL-E