It had seemed that clouds would wreck India's date with Mars, but soon the despair of hundreds of stargazers was swept away.

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After months of waiting for Earth's enigmatic neighbour to come closest in over 60,000 years, sky-watchers across the country on Wednesday kept their date with Mars as the red beacon outshined all celestial bodies in the night sky.

Cosmology enthusiasts in Kolkata spent anxious moments after Mars rose in an overcast southeastern sky at 1518 IST.

"At one point of time, we had given up hope as the steady downpour refused to die down. But then we began to see stars on the horizon. Slowly Mars made its dramatic entry -- in full blaze," said an elated Dr Debiprosad Duari, senior scientist and head of M P Birla Planetarium's research division.

Hopping from one sky-gazing camp to another, Duari spread the 'cosmic cheer', peeking through rooftop telescopes and regaling over the euphoric turnout at the planetarium's special show, 'A Close Encounter with the Red Planet'.

"Over 600 calls since morning and jam-packed auditoria for every show... this is the success of science, which has won over superstitious beliefs," the elated scientist said.

Echoing his views was the Director of Delhi's Nehru Planetarium, Dr N Rathnashree, who dismissed astrologers' reading of the celestial rendezvous as bad for the country's political scenario. "It is just a coincidence. The change in the distance of the two planets is miniscule."

Director of Positional Astronomy Centre B K Mandal said, "Mars was a spectacle to behold."

"Though today was a historic day, the planet will also be visible during September, outshining Jupiter and rivalling Venus and not twinkling like other stars," Rathnashree said.

Western India was comparatively unlucky. Director of Mumbai-based Nehru Planetarium Piyush Pande and Pune-based Inter-University Council for Astronomy and Astrophysics's Arvind Paranjpe had not had a good view of the red planet till late evening.

"For the last few days, we have failed to see Mars in its full splendour. And amateur sky-gazers have also been disappointed," Pande said, adding there was no need to loose heart as the planet would be up for a fortnight more.

At a distance of only 55.8 million kilometres away from the Earth, this rare cosmic 'opposition' of Mars, as the phenomenon is called in astrophysical terms, revealed polar caps and large features on the Martian surface.

"It appeared like a jewel shining in the sky," Amitabh Pandey from the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators in New Delhi said.

"We have been able to view syrpis major planetia as a V-shaped dark colour patch. It was one of the first features viewed by the famous astronomer Cassini through telescope."