It has been a month since we said goodbye to Pluto as the ninth planet in our Solar System. For 76 years, Pluto was the youngest (bunso) in the Sun Family – the farthest and the coldest planet.
            But it was not actually a goodbye that happened when the International Astronomical Union decided to demote Pluto from a major to a dwarf planet. The erstwhile planet never actually left for another solar system, or another galaxy. It’s just there, still orbiting around our beloved god sun Ra, albeit encroaching into the orbit of Neptune .

            Somehow I felt sad after reading about Pluto’s demotion. I do not know how old I was, or what grade I was in, when I “met” Pluto. Definitely, it was in my elementary grades, which were aeons ago. I thought it must be very lonely out there. And really very cold. That could be the reason why it encroaches into Neptune ’s orbit – to seek a little warmth. You know, a kind of hug, something we all need one time or another.
            Several years later, Pluto and I met down the road again. It’s my kids’ turn to learn about the planetary system and I had to help them with their assignments to make solar system models.
            My eldest kid Prince has a fascination for things mysterious, like planets. I bought him science books which he devoured  and enjoyed (until Cartoon Network and Discovery Channel came along his way).
            We would have discussions about planets, noting the length of time they orbit the sun. Prince said it would take a very long time to grow old in Pluto because it takes very long for it to go around the sun. You grow one year older after 365 days on Earth. In Pluto, you grow a year older after 90,728 days. That is, if you celebrate birthdays every revolution of Pluto around the sun, like we do in our home planet Earth.
            But nothing can live there because it is so far away from the sun. An internet science website estimates Pluto’s distance from the sun as 5.9 billion kilometers. It must be horribly dark and cold there (Pluto receives only 0.000064 of light as compared to what Earth receives in a given area) that scientists think not even one-celled amoeba or other creatures can exist there.
            With Pluto’s demotion, there must be great things other than changing the science text books and changing the mindsets of people that there are nine planets in the Solar System. Like, what do we do with those small Styrofoam balls prepared by book stores to represent Pluto? Did I lose you? I’ll explain. Book stores have these Styrofoam balls of nine sizes to represent the nine planets, and a big one to represent the Sun. This makes it easier for students who are asked to make models of the solar systems.
            I’m not sure about this, but perhaps many bookstores have prepared such balls just before the classes opened in June. Pluto was demoted in August 24, way long after the classes opened in the country, right?
            Okay, okay! You need not throw the balls at me.
            Really, I’m gonna miss Pluto. He is 76 and I’m much younger, and during all my lifetime he was a planet. Now, he is not, because of some scientific nuts who have nothing better to do than look at the celestial bodies and pinpoint and appoint how they would be called. 
            But like a discarded lover who refuse to go away, Pluto will always be there. Though we have to say goodbye, we can never forget it because, somehow it has touched our lives in its own mystifying ways.