A Day in the Life of Kaju

Who: Two-year-old Persian cat Parents: Sushant and Garima Gomber Claim to fame: Insta celebrity

When Sushant and Garima Gomber stepped through the snow-topped rocks at Khardung La in Ladakh, matching their steps were the tiny paw prints of Kaju, their two-year-old Persian cat. As adventurous as her parents, the fact that Kaju was on a leash didn’t seem to bother her much. Brought up in Mumbai, Kaju moved to Lucknow this year along with her parents and accompanies them wherever they go—Shimla, Ladakh or Manali. She loves attention as much as travelling, sticking her head out of the car window to take in the scenery. “We’ve been helping her adjust to a cat leash from a very young age, so she has no anxiety on that count,” says proud papa Sushant. Kaju came into the Gombers’ lives during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 when the family felt their house could do with a pet. Dogs were hard work, they knew, cats mostly took care of themselves. Kaju, however, changed their lives. Today, she has her own Instagram page and nearly 1,500 followers who like to be up to date with her antics: whether she is playing with her toys, showing off her new sweater with a pink bow or getting a spa treatment. “We brush her every alternate day and have a variety of combs,” Sushant tells us, like any fond parent talking about their child’s exploits. “But, every month, she gets a full spa treatment—tooth cleaning, ear cleaning, nail cutting, bath, hair trimming and a coat of paw butter on her feet.” On other days, she spends time consuming a good amount of wet food to stay hydrated and plenty of play with her parents. “She is our baby,” they say. And papa’s pet too, for sure.

“We have been helping her adjust to a cat leash from a very young age, so she has no anxiety on that count” —Sushant Gomber