The Cat

I was not at home for a few days. She was alone. A girl came to give her food and water everyday, stayed with her for an hour or two. But it definitely did not make Minu the philosopher happy. Since I came back she made my body her bed, my face her pillow. She has her own bed, she has three soft blankets, pillows. But she doesn’t want any of those things. She wants to sit on my body, stand on my body, walk on my body and sleep on my body. She just doesn’t want to leave me. And she doesn’t want me to leave her again. When she needs to pee or potty, she runs to her toilet and comes back to my body.

Who says cats don’t love?

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The Cat.

She is Minu, my adopted daughter.

She is an extraordinary cat. I wrote books on her. A famous film maker is going to make a film about her life. Many articles were written about her philosophy. She had a solo TV show. It was about her football. She was an excellent football player a couple years ago.
She is curious, courageous, fearless, adventurous, undaunted!
My friends say, ‘she is your daughter. Her characters are exactly like yours. It’s all about genetic inheritance.’

I am having chondromalacia on my knee joints. In the meantime Minu started having knee pain. She has been limping on her back legs for three weeks. Some X-rays are done. Her vet says, she has some degenerative changes in her knee joints. Obviously, she got my genes.
It is now terribly painful for her to walk.
I can have pain killer whenever I get pain.
She can not. Pain killer is poison for cats.

Some say, put her in sleep. I say, no.
I take her to different vets almost everyday to find some hope and to get her a better treatment.
People hate cats here. They love dogs but not desi dogs. They love Western dogs.
Probably vets do not know much about cats. Degenerative changes in her knees! Come on, she is only seven and half. Not even eight. The changes start after 12.
Some vets say, may be she has ligament sprains or tendonitis or blood parasites or disc prolapse! I do not know the reason of her pain. I will be the happiest person if treatments are available.

I will die if she dies.

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The techie cat loves to sleep near computers.

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Her favourite subject: Physics.

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She is taking a little nap.

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She is doing research.

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A little siesta.

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She got fever.

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Reading newspaper while sitting on the veranda.

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It’s winter. She covers herself with a warm blanket.

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But she keeps throwing off her blanket.

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She is reading history.

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Islamists often issue fatwas against me. She is looking for a hiding place for me just in case.

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She is reading my autobiography.

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Studying philosophy.

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Editing nirbason (exile), my latest book.

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Sometimes she enjoys watching people’s circus.

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Taking sunbath.

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She has her own computer. Now facebooking. Her twitter account is @TaslimasCat

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Just finished reading the book. Now thinking.

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She wants a bigger library.

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She watches her favourite TV show before going to sleep.

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I can’t say goodbye to her.

My atheist cat


She is Minu the philosopher. A 7-year-old cat. She was born in India. She does not believe in god. She laughs at humans when they practice religion. She gets angry with humans because they practice a cruel, disgusting, dehumanizing, unjust caste system.

She believes in evolution.

Minu used to believe that cats were first domesticated in ancient Egypt around 4000 years ago. But she recently started believing that cats were domesticated in Asia 10,000 years ago around the time of the development of agriculture. She learned that a 9,500 years old Neolithic grave was excavated in Cyprus that contained the skeletons of a human and a cat.

I have no idea why she thinks that Himalayan snow leopard is her ancestor.

What about Bast or Bastet, Egyptian Cat-Goddess? I asked her.
She told me that throughout history ignorance encouraged people to worship things. She thinks every human and animal should live with head held high, with dignity and honor. I said, ‘What about me, some of my friends say I worship my adopted daughter!’ Minu smiled, ‘They are so jealous of you! I know you treat me like your boss. It is alright. But I will never let you worship me. I am no Goddess. Actually there is no such thing as God or Goddess!’

Minu the philosopher loves to study physics. I sleep but she would stay up late at night studying. Her favorite physicists are Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Lawrence Krauss.

She likes to read Richard Dawkins. She has just finished reading The Magic of Reality.I met Richard Dawkins at Reason Rally in Washington DC in April this year. We both were invited at American Atheist convention. After his lecture he signed his Magic book for Minu the philosopher. Minu was so happy! She sent Dawkins an email, ‘Uncle Richard, Many thanks for the autograph. You help me to open my eyes to the wonderfulness of the truth and the poetry of the universe.’

She is now having a Twitter account . But she is too busy studying and thinking and writing. She doesn’t get much time to tweet.

She doesn’t study all day long. Sometimes she likes to do other things too. After reading newspapers in the morning or after having her lunch, she takes a nap.

She is against war and bloodshed. She believes if humans did not spend their enormous amount of money to make weapons of mass destruction, they could provide food,shelter,education, health care, job for every human in the world including cats and other domestic animals.

Minu is so worried about me. When Mullahs issue fatwas or demand for my execution by hanging, she desperately tries to find me a hiding place.

She shared her bed with her aunt who came to visit her a few months ago. She slept exactly the way her aunt slept.

Minu could not accept the idea that she would live with humans who kill each other everyday because of their belief in God. She was so sick and tired with human society that she decided to leave. She left for jungle but came back after a couple of days because she realized that she loved me very much and she wouldn’t be able to live without me.

She has recently visited President Obama. It’s an interesting story. She paid $5 dollar to buy a ticket for a chance to attend the fund-raising dinner at George Clooney’s house in LA. She was so lucky! she got an invitation letter and flight tickets. They did not know that she was a cat. The brave girl flew to LA but was kept in quarantine at the airport.
She is a cat from a 3rd world country! It was not easy for her to enter a rich country! Animal rights organizations wrote letters to Obama. She was then released and joined the party. She bought a nice black dress to dance with Obama and Clooney. BTW, She almost fell in love with Clooney.

She is now busy in preparation for writing her memoir. She doesn’t have time to chat with me or watch TV or talk with her friends on her iPhone or tweet or facebook. She needs to read some of the autobiographical works before writing her memoir. One of the books she has chosen to read is my ‘My Girlhood’.