Meet Chinkuli, Monika Gokhale Pandhare’s Weak Spot

She opened the plastic bag that her husband offered her, expecting something edible. Instead, she found herself staring at two huge black eyes and a tiny face. The kitten put a smile on Monika Gokhale Pandhare’s face that cold December night.

Settling in quickly, Monika and Rohan named the cute little kitten who easily fit into their palms Chinkuli. Says Monika, “His eyes won me over and he was really tiny and dainty so the name suited him.” From that day, Chinkuli has his favourite place to sunbathe in the balcony and to spy on the happenings at home from the tallest vantage point in all rooms.

Monika has been a good parent to dogs and cats.

Ask her to pick who is better and she can’t. “Both are equally loving. Cats are easier to manage as one doesn’t need to bathe them or take them for a walk but dogs aren’t as snobbish as cats are! I can’t imagine life without either of them,” says the owner of Cocolat Safari.

Living with Chinkuli

His most endearing habit is that he gives a slow wink when Monika and Rohan are talking to him and also kisses them very sweetly, almost like he knows what they are talking about. The most irritating bit is the wake up alarm. “He wakes me up at 5:30 am every day without fail to eat food. If I don’t wake up in time he yells into my ear. When things don’t go his way, he slaps me with his paws,” says Monika of her five year old boy.

A large part of Chinkuli’s day is spent staring at the birds outside the window and in the balcony. “I’m sure he is wondering which one he should add to the menu. Point to be noted is that he hasn’t caught a single bird,” smiles the dessert and chocolate specialist.

Not a social kitty, the sound of the doorbell sends him scooting to the most inaccessible place at home. He just doesn’t like meeting new people!

His best friends are Rohan and nephew Agastya and his biggest enemy is Simba, the cat who stays across the road.

Foodie first

The boy loves his sea food, especially prawns – the white ones, not red! So much in love with them is he that he stands up on two feet and tries to open the door of the fridge for them! And, he doesn’t drink milk, doesn’t like it at all.

Naughty Baby

He scratches the sofa, attacks his humans from behind the curtain, loves playing with sukka bombil happily. “He scratches my slippers all the time so I have kept an old pair for him but he insists on scratching my new ones,” sighs Monika.

That hasn’t deterred her from pampering her boy, for, as she says, this gift is the best by far. Husbands, are you reading?