All posts by BackStory

Believe in the possible.

This map right here is the largest map ever created to be representing the universe. Each dot represents 1.2 million galaxies. This is just a fraction of the entire map:

Daniel Eisenstein told Popular Science( my favorite magazine) this:

“This is one slice through the map of the large-scale structure of the Universe from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and its Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. Each dot in this picture indicates the position of a galaxy 6 billion years into the past. The image covers about 1/20th of the sky, a slice of the Universe 6 billion light-years wide, 4.5 billion light-years high, and 500 million light-years thick. Color indicates distance from Earth, ranging from yellow on the near side of the slice to purple on the far side. Galaxies are highly clustered, revealing super clusters and voids whose presence is seeded in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang. This image contains 48,741 galaxies, about 3% of the full survey data set. Grey patches are small regions without survey data.”

Scientists and astronomers have been studying a nearby star, that is being orbited by the exoplanet Proxima B, a planet that is thought to be rocky and roughly, earth-sized. Currently orbiting it’s star in a habitable zone. It is 25 trillion miles away(how convenient) and is told to have a legitimately not to hot or not to cold. Theoretically to have a tolerable environment for streams, oceans, and rivers to be formed. But there are some things we still don’t know. And those multiple key informational strategic data and statistics are what we need to find out more about the planet in order for us to take the next step in aeronautics history.

For example, scientists, astronomers, and researchers are still filling in the blanks about whether or not the atmosphere can be habitability for water, and maybe environmental colonizing. Aka, living organisms. Scientists are still considering the choice of believing that there are abiotic life forms as well as biotic ones. But they have found that like Mercury it has and orbital eccentricity. Basically it means that if it spins three times on it’s axis for every two times it revolves around the star it orbits, it can possibly support the forming of water.

This is an artists impression of the exoplanet Proxima B:

The planet is located 4.2 light years away from our planet. I know, i know, it does and IS actually of lot if you calculate it. But do you remember when I wrote about the(incredible) movie, Passengers? The passengers were put to sleep for two hundred years. PUT TO SLEEP. Not the kind they do with animals. But it’s basically hibernation. For very very domesticated mammals. Scientists( it’s kinda funny to refer to myself as a female human being now that I had just referred to myself as a “very very domesticated mammal”) are considering that idea, but it’s way more complex then that. But those engineers, scientists, abiotic and biotech researchers, everyone who takes part in these things are diligent, they have been studying for this. I doubt that they will fail to find enough information to help them with this.

Believe in the impossible.

Adventure is like a butterfly. Dare to reach out your hand and let it land on your fingertips.

Now before I continue on I should probably explain one thing. On my last post one of the main words in my title was the word “starfire.” Don’t try to look it up because the word that I embedded into my speech is not an actual phrase used by people. It’s merely a word that I wholeheartedly made up. I realized that there wasn’t a word in the written dictionary that represented domesticated creatures as savage or uncontrollable. In my dream there was the shadow man. I could tell that in his eyes he used to be a kind soul. His eyes looked out of place with his chilling grin. He turned from sweet to savage. So the word starfire was born. I know you’re probably wondering why I named it specifically in that form of speech. Well I think of stars. Before they pass they are just a glowing ball of heat and light, they give people joy and revival. But when they die, it happens so suddenly. The spot where they once radiated is now empty. Just like the hole that is penetrated into a kind souls heart. Turning them into a whole different person. I like to think that after a star dies it turns into a different form thus forming a starfire. It lives on by spreading a fire through a persons heart. But if the person who is gifted with that entrancement and use it unwisely they will change completely. I know all of this sounds silly, but it’s what I want to believe.

  • Part 8 Day 4

I woke up to the sound of Madhavan’s voice.

“Kanmani, Kanmani, Kanmani, Kanmani, Kanmani, hey Kanmani, wake up, wake up, wake up, wa-” I stopped him by whispering.

“MADHAVAN YOU ARE GETTING ON MY LAST NERVE AND YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT WAKING UP A RAVENCLAW THIS WAY IS HORRIBLE AND WILL GET YOU IN A LOT OF TROUBLE.” (Ravenclaw is a Hogwarts House from Harry Potter that house students into that membership, they represent wit, knowledge, intelligence, wisdom, individuality, acceptance, and originality.)

“I need to tell you something Kanmani!” He said. holding in a laugh.

“Well what is so important that you need to wake me up when it’s 3 am?” I said in annoyance.

“Hi.” He said.

“Hi?!” I exclaimed.

“HI?!” I cried.

“SO WHAT YOU’RE TELLING ME IS THAT YOU WOKE ME UP JUST TO SAY A CONTRADICTION ?!” I half yelled, and half whispered.

Well mom and dad are awake and they were going to wake you anywa-” I punched him lightly on the shoulder causing him to land on the cold wooden floorboards. Just as I was about to close my eye’s again, my torso felt as if something really heavy was bouncing up and down on it. Madhavan was not only trying to wake me up but he was also mindlessly destroying my rib cage and cutting of my circulation. “AND I’M UP!” I cried, my hands were thrown up in the air showing my annoyance towards my Hufflepuff of a brother. (Hufflepuff is another Hogwarts House that houses students representing dedication, patience, loyalty, and fairness.)

So much for a few extra hours of sleep. I thought. The night before I was just laying on the bed thinking about my dreams and trying to figure it out. I didn’t want to tell my mother or father either. In fact I told my mom when I was writing the dream for the blog. Here’s how our conversation went:

“So yeah, more than two years ago I fought a maniac circus trainer that was abusing a baby elephant. I even have a scar to prove it. I also fell into a hole that’s the equivalent of a trillion hellhounds and I also didn’t come ba-” My mother was looking at me with a face that said what did I raise?

“We should take you to a doctor.” She finally said.

“I’M NOT MENTAL!” I cried. My arms flailing.

“No I meant the blood you were talking about.” She said.

“NO WAY!” I said.

Then I started lecturing her to the point where I disgusted her with my very descriptive allocation about how the heart pumps the blood and that cut up tomatoes look like the internal organs(that is my way of annoying my mother.)

I started to explain that I probably got the little wounds from cutting myself. Though I didn’t believe my own words as much as my mother did. My mother finds it hard to believe that I have such vivid dreams and actually remember them for more than two or three years. So that night I was just staring at the hotel ceiling and thinking about everything. Sleep did come but not in the way I thought. My mind was just like “I guess I could withstand a night without sleeping.” But then 2 minutes later: “Zzzzzzzzzzz.” Anyway, I walked to the bathroom rubbing my sleepy eyes. “Good morning Kanmani.” “Mhm.” I moaned. “Sleep well?” My dad asked with a ridiculously annoying but funny smirk plastered on his scruffy face. “Oh how ironic that our little conversation became so close to my current fundamentals in night composure.” I sticked my tongue out when he wasn’t looking as my mother giggled. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when suddenly I heard a bloody scream that made all the blood in my body go south. I did a little sound that was a cross between a scream and a squeal.

I turned around to see my brother with a funny grin on his face. I started screaming “I TOLD YOU TO NEVER DO THAT BUT NOOOOO YOU JUST HAD TO SCARE THE BRAIN TISSUE OUT OF ME.” But with my toothbrush still in my mouth it sounded like “HI HOLD HUE HU HEVER HO HAT HUT HOOOOOO HUE HUST HAD HU HARE HUH HAIN HISSHU HOWT HUF HE.” He laughed and ran away to my dad. I rolled my eyes, Sometimes I think I have a Slytherin for a brother. (Slytherin is a House in Hogwarts that represents being cunning, having resourcefulness, and being ambitious. This house is also where evil is known to roam and rise.) I know it sounds mean but thats what I sometimes tend think. I took a shower and wore a really comfortable teal dress that had black designs in the fabric. Underneath the dress I wore a soft light blue shirt. Sure it was a dress but at least it was flexible and absorbent. I brushed out my hair and cleared out the fog that dominated my glasses.

We were going to Sentosa Island to just tour around. We all met up with Deepak, Ganesan mama, and Sumathi Athai, at the hotel lobby room. I saw through the big glass double doors that the sun was blazing down the streets like a lamp beaming down on a desk. I felt like my blood was boiling and my brain would soon start seeping through my body like a lava lamp. We walked out into the baking heat as my brother asked me a legion of questions.

“Kanmani, what color is the sun?”

“Madhavan in outer space it looks orange, but since we can’t look directly at it from here it appears to have no color it’s radiation cause’s it to look like a neon yellow.”

“Uh, okay. Why is the sky blue?” He asked

“Because of the ultraviolet rays the sun gives off, there are multiple atoms that make up different parts of light, one of the main ones are the color blue, thus making the sky having the tint it has.”

Madhavan had a blank look on his face. So I improvised.

“There is an invisible painter in the sky who paints the sky the colors it comes to be everyday. The painter loves the people on the planet so much that he decided to add multiple colors to the sky in the afternoons everyday so people could marvel over his masterpieces.” I said, satisfied with myself.

“OOH.” He exclaimed as he glanced happily at the sky. I smiled and took is hand and we walked along…

  • Later

We just walked into an Indian restaurant with a sign that read: Komala Vilas on it. Inside, it was packed with people. We had to snake around people that were packed around tables, until we finally were able to have found two empty tables. I sat next to my mother, my dad and brother in front of us. We ordered and our food came a little while afterwards. I looked around the, the walls were a pale greenish bluish color, ceiling fans mounted above. The food was pretty good actually and we all left with full stomachs.

  • A long while later…

Bala Thatha dropped us of at the railway station. My dad and Ganesan Mama went out and bought Subway sandwiches we could eat on the island while Deepak, Madhavan, my mom, Jagan Mama, Sumathi Athai, and I went to a nearby MacDonalds and had pancakes. I’m not really into sweet breakfast foods so I handed my plate to Jagan Mama. We were sitting in the train, and I loved the ride. Since we were going to stop at the Sky Train building we decided to go on railway. The ride was much faster and fun. We sat on these bright plastic, purple seats. I tried my best not to slide down every time we moved. I mean the plastic was so smooth that I had to strain myself from accelerating to the floor. The movement of the train was quite fast and more enjoyable than the slow one that I had went on once before in San Fransisco. We stopped at our station. My legs fell asleep so I felt like I was impaired from my feet for a little while. Anyway we left the station and started walking to the Sky Train building. The building was very refined and simple but the architecture and the design was very admirable. We were finally escorted to the area where the colorful box-like cars were lined up in a row like an assembly line. The woman who had taken us here to us all the directions of how to get in and out safely. I was extremely excited. If you couldn’t tell already, I love looking at places from such a high perspective. I stepped inside, I claimed the part of the seat that was beside the door( Wow, letting a 10 year old girl sit right smack dab next to a door in a cable car that is hanging from a metal wire that is connected to a whole different island that is more than 21.7 miles away. Yeah. Sooooo smart). As soon as we all got in the door closed and we started slowly going through the assembly line of other cable cars until I finally felt the compression from the ground release into what seemed like nothing. I looked down below and saw the sea. It’s brilliant mix of green and blue hues shone brightly in the sun.

I looked at my dad, and Jagan Mama. They were taking a bunch of hilarious pictures, my mom and I watched the view. I absolutely loved being able to see everything from such a high area. To everyone else, I seemed to look calm. But really my mind was just like: WOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! WOW LOOK AT THE SEA. OH MY GOD IS THAT THE ISLAND?! IT LOOKS SO COOL FROM HERE! WOW EVERYTHING IS SO SMALL! I LOVE IT! IT’S SO COOOOL!!!! YEEEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!! We moved steadily but we were able to see a lot. At one point as we were coming close to the other building to stop, we were above a vast forest of various kinds of tree’s. I wanted the ride to last longer but unfortunately we had stopped at the area where we were supposed to get off. I stepped down carefully and landed softly on the cement. I trailed behind my father, Jagan Mama, and Ganesan Mama. We looked around for a while and came to a stop in an aquarium.

In the brochure it showed pictures advertising their show with these pink dolphins, I flipped through as we walked through to where they were holding the show. We sat on the long row of benches( or do you call them bleachers? I don’t know.) As I sat down on the metal sectional, the heat from the metal reached my skin. I felt like a cookie baking inside the rack of an industrial oven. The show soon started and all our heads turned, our eyes trained on the creatures in the water before us. As the dolphins moved I noticed that on the sides it looked as if the pink was rubbing away, it reminded me of paint chipping away from a well worn wall. I looked at each one of their eyes, they looked tired and almost… Depressed. I couldn’t bear myself to look into there dismal eyes. I continued watching as they turned and flipped, splashed and swished, jumped and leaped. The show was good, but I wasn’t able to withdraw the image of those dolphin’s eyes from my head. Anyway, we walked along into the main building where they had the tanks and aquariums. I looked at the flurry of fish that swam before us in one of the cylindrical tanks that seemed to be the epicenter of the entire building that held the aquariums. We continued examining each tank and looked at each of the inscriptions talking about the fish. I even saw one plaque that had actual shark sacs with baby sharks actually moving inside. It creeped me out a bit because there was literally no liquid substances that were inside that would keep them alive. THEY NEED WATER TO SURVIVE PEOPLE. DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THE DANGER YOU PUT THEM IN?! HOW DO YOU EVEN STAND WATCHING THOSE POOR CREATURES STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE IN A SLAB OF GLASS AND WOOD?! I wanted to scream.

We continued walking, marveling at the fish that roamed through the colorful corals like snakes in a jungle. I was able to buy a few key chains for my friend, and my brother snagged a toy bubble gun in the shape of a( very unlucky) fish for himself. We sat down for a bit in this little sitting area and talked. As we left, I saw a few signs advertising that visitors could now get massaged by tiny fish in a tub( I know that I make it sound less appealing but it is literally what they were saying on the signs. I found it quite odd that people would want to get massaged by teeny tiny creatures that are probably regretting there life’s choices. Couldn’t you just massage yourself from the comforts of your home?( All of the things in this post regarding my opinionated contradictions are like I said, just my opinions, I am not trying to tell others that my opinion is what they should believe and my opinion only. In fact it would make me more than happy to know that your are comfortable with branching out you’re opinions to others, such as myself.) Anyway we left and ate the sandwiches we had brought.My brother begged my dad to get him this little LEGO watch. That was probably the most annoying part of the day.

Once we were done we went to a nearby exhibition showcasing bugs and a butterfly park. We walked inside and I instantly cringed, goosebumps creeped up my arms. Everywhere I looked, there were poor insects and butterflies in these big glass cases. They seemed to be taped or strung down. As we walked along the graveyard of insects and spiders( spiders are not insects, they are bugs by the way.) We walked into a brightly lit room. I gasped under my breath. There was a colossal amount of butterflies in glass cases. There sizes increasing with each one I looked at. One looked as if it could cover my entire head without struggle. One was so small that it was tinier than my pinkie finger’s fingernail. We then walked into what seemed to be the butterfly park. Butterflies fluttered by as we watched. There were a few benches nearby, my mom, dad, Ganesan Mama, and Sumathi Athai sat down. We just stayed there for a while and then we left.

We then stopped by the beach. My brother played in the sand, my mom, Sumathi Athai, my dad, Jagan Mama, and Ganesan Mama talking. Deepak, and I sat there, I played with my brother, I helped him dig deep into the mounds of sand so he could reach his little hands into the damp, packed sand. At one point we all waded in the water. The cool water lapped against our feet. Excess water trickling through the crevices of our toes. I absolutely love the feeling of cool, crisp, fresh water on my feet. I despise pool water. We stayed there for a while, taking pictures and wading in the water. My brother and I built this big arena( my idea) and in the middle I made an intricate cornucopia. We soon had to leave back to the hotel through the train. But sand was still in my hair, the scent of the sea still on me like perfume.

Besides gravity, nothing can pull me down.

About 4.6 billion of years ago, our solar system was nothing but a solar nebula (dust particles and gas formed into a cloud) Later on a planet was forming, it’s rocky core was being brought to life with strong elements binding into one. Light material floated to the top making up the crust, the denser material sinking back to the core. Our home planet was formed. 4.5 billion years later something forty light years away is catching our attention. Lets just say that it includes a few Earth-sized exoplanets. Specifically, seven of them. And they could potentially be suitable for life.

Scientists recently found a small star located near our solar system forty light years away. Nearby the star, there are seven Earth sized planets rotating around it’s sun. They have named the system the Trappist-1 System. Researchers have concluded that the each planet may be suitable for life, considering the fact that it may have liquid water, gravity, and oxygen. Traveling one light year away would take thirty seven thousand two hundred years to just travel for one year. Now multiply that by forty. So if you were to travel to that solar system it would take you one million four hundred eighty-eight thousand years just to get there.

Though we won’t be able to send astronomers there in our lifetime, scientists are developing an idea where they will attempt to put a set of people to sleep( not the kind they do to animals.) and send them there, they will be asleep until they arrive. Once they awake, they will be able to start there own space colony. Just the thought of other planets that could possibly support life is just incredible. It’s extraordinary to see things like this unfold before us, especially when we still have so much to live up to in our lives.

  • An artist’s depiction of the view from one of the planets.
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So, here’s my backstory…

So you might be wondering. “Why did she name her blog, BackStory?” Well, my blog is based on my past experiences, lessons I’ve learned, basically how I came to be the person I am today.  Everything has a back story to it.  A tree, a painting,  even a piece of music. Without the past, how will you shape your future? How will you learn from your mistakes, if you don’t make any? How will you know who you are, without even knowing your own past… Each country has a religion, a culture. Each culture has come with a story behind it. How it came to be, why it was celebrated, why we do it. My parents immigrated to America, from India, and each holiday, celebration, anything, comes with a legend, story, a tale. It not only brings curiosity among you, but you will learn the purpose of it.