Missing Missing Coonee

You got it right! Coonnee has been missing for more than a month now. We don't know what happened to her, what we have are only speculations based on how she has become for the last 2 years. Most probably she's dead considering her physical conditions. She was almost fully blind and her hind bones were weak. And any chasing with dogs and monkeys would put to her disadvantage. She could be a victim to a leopard, too. We really cannot say! We have looked for her but there's no trace of any dead animal within a few hundred meters.

Although she was blind she almost always wanted to stay outdoors, which we consented. I guess she has led a pretty good and happy free cat-life.

It has taken me this long to talk about her and yet thinking about her just makes me cry. It's so sad, really sad. Anyone who has a great attachment with pets knows how it feels to lose them....a loved one. We love this cat. We really had a special inter-specie relationship.

She is missed...she will always be in our heart. Sadness will go sooner or later, our life goes on without her. She will be remembered with fondness, that's for sure!

An Update: August 11, 2014
Connee will never come back to us. We don't know what really happened to her but yeah, we assume she's dead. Oh life, it's end will come sooner or later. We just wished we could bury her. It's the "not knowing what happend to her" that makes her disappearance terrible.

The Road Less Traveled

The road less traveled for only 2 or 3 jeeps come and go to a village unknown to my knowledge. It's near yet far and seems at the edge of nowhere but it offers a scenery of jaw-dropping beauty. 

This place is breezy especially in the afternoon towards ealy dusk. The roads here are perfect for contemplation abou the hustle-bustle and chaotic atmosphere of the cities.

Richard Dawkins's The God Delusion

My husband handed this book to me last night to my delight. He borrowed it from 8th Battalion's library. I started reading right away and I couldn't bring it down.

To quote a few lines from the book:
"There is NO such thing as a Christian child; only a child of Christian parents."

And I absolutely agree! Every new-born child knows nothing about God or religion and everything that goes with it. A child's religion is just a by-product of indoctrination. His/Her idea about God or religion is taught and learned from the people and society he/she grows up with. If a child is born to a Muslim family he would grow up as a Muslim. The same happens to a child born to a Hindu parents, etc. Take an orphan baby boy born to a Christian mother and give him to Muslim parents, this boy is very likely to grow up following Islam unless, of course, he would come out of his own senses and question things around him later on. But if not, he would be like the rest of the religious today.

"Children are too young to know what their opinion about God and religion really is."

If they don't grab the chance to think of their own they would remain "religious" and follow the same non-sensical, time-wasting activities of the church or temples.

Another idea that registered quickly in my mind is the "nineteenth century" argument in the context about religion. According to Dawkins, it's a code for,
"You are so crude and unsubtle, how could you be so insensitive and ill-mannered as to ask me a point-blank question like 'Do yo believe in miracles?' or 'Do you believe Jesus was born of a virgin?' Don't you know that in polite society we don't ask such questions? That sort of question went out in the nineteenth century."
He then added that, if you really think about why it is impolite to ask such direct, factual questions for religious people today is because it is EMBARRASSING!....If your answer is yes, of course!

Indeed! Gone were the days when people fear to share their views on miracles and virgin birth. No man in his right mental attributes could ever believe in those things anymore.

And many religious, when their beliefs are pointed out, tend to get offensive, angry, etc. because they are suddenly reminded of their illusion or wishful thinking, they suddenly feel threatened that the entire foundation of their 'happiness' is shaking because reality bites deep and they suddenly have to face the cognitive dissonance that they have been hiding. "How great it would have been  if everybody believes in miracles." or "How nice it would have been if nobody says, "virgin birth? Impossible!" 

This book is very interesting and really a consciousness raiser! Now I understand why moths do tend to commit "suicide".

Evening View From My Window

These are a few of the hills surrounding the town of Gauchar. A small village is visible, which is around 800 meters aways from the town, which can be accessed through the two climbing roads. This place is even more beautiful when rain starts pouring. It would be greener and denser and just below the zigzag road is a seasonal river so it will start to flow by then.

Roads to farther villages are continually being constructed. Road construction is equal to forest destruction, that also leads to the destruction of homes of few animals left in these areas.

ITBP, Seemadwar, Dehradun

The main gate of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force, located at Seemadwar, Dehradun.

Tiger Mess (Officers' Mess)

Towards Officers' Mess

Guests Houses adjacent to the Officers' Mess. We stayed here in April in one of the rooms for a night during the 2013 recruitment for Medical Officers.

The entire campus is huge, well built, with lots of trees, flowers, and plants. It's pleasant to walk around inside the campus.