Droolie: A Himalayan Jungle Cat?

Meet Droolie, our youngest kitten so far. Her mother left her to us after realizing that there is food in our house and that she will be safe with us. Mother cat always does this. Before the time her kittens are old enough to be on their own she will find a place where food is available and safe for them then she'll vanish and leave her kittens in that place. This is the story of Droolie. We named her Droolie because she likes Drools (cat-food, urhrmm, dog food actually) very much. She was a feral and hardly we could touch her but now she's our pet and a friend to Coonie, our third cat.

Alaknanda River @ Karnaprayag

(Shot at Pokhari-Karnaprayag Road)
Alaknanda River (river that is visible) at Karnaprayag (the town in the middle), which is situated at one 
of the five confluences of Alaknanda River (Alaknanda and Pindar River). The road (left) goes to Badrinath and the snaky road on the right goes to Pokhari Nagnath.

Community Health Center At Pokhari-Nagnath

What you can see is the area where the government hospital at Pokhari-Nagnath is situated. It's quite outside the small town of Pokhari. This area is on top of a hill over-looking the other hills nearby. It is managed by ! doctor (Dr. Madan Bonal), 2 GNM, 2 pharmacists, 1 Ayurvedic pharmacist, 1 optometrist, 1 Lab Technician and other hospital staffs. Pokhari CHC is in Chamoli District, 28 kms. from Karnaprayag and around 64 kms. from Gopeshwar.
Doctor's Quarters 1 needs total repair!

Uttarakhand State Gov't. Hospital: Badrinath

~government hospital, no admission...
only OPD and emergency cases~

This is the government hospital situated in Badrinath. It is quite big but there's no admission here only OPD from 8 am to 2 pm. Aside from this, the state government has put up a dispensary near the Badrinath temple adjacent to Punjab National Bank for the convenience of pilgrims and tourists. My husband worked there for 6 months last year, 2011. One doctor, Dr. Sachin Rana, two pharmacists and other hospital staffs are working there right now.

108 provides emergency cases and carries referral cases to higher centers for free!

~doctor's quarters~

This is a two-floor building housing for state government doctors. Each floor has two bedrooms, one receiving hall, two bathrooms and toilets, one small kitchen, one storage room and two extra small rooms (1 is receiving area). Ground floor has a small area at the back where one can bask in the sun (considering the weather, you will need to go for tanning...lol) or grow a garden. It has a good view of the back mountains, too!

~taken on closing day, hence the big ambulance (very left) to carry staffs down to their designated area of assignment after this 6-month assignment~

Update:

Since the heavy floods in June 2012, roads have been washed away and many areas are still under construction. Though yatra is going on this year (2015), it seems that the number of pilgrims and tourists has declined. Many business are closed.

Doctors and other hospital personnel are on a one month duty this year. Every month a new doctor and a few other staffs are coming every month replacing the previous assigned medical staffs.

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is around 210 kms. from New Delhi and around 6-hour drive by bus or less by private vehicles. It's entrance fee is Rs. 20 for each local tourists and Rs.250 for foreigners. One can always find a long queue at the main gate (opens at 9 a.m.) but there is another gate, which not many know, that collects the same amount of entry fee only that most of the times someone will tell you about this gate and will collect ten times the amount so one should be careful.

We were here on 12th November 2012 and in the middle of the day and it was hazy (smog?) and, obviously, sunny.

There were many people, locals and foreigners alike.