‘Chunchu Nair was the queen of our family, and her name had nothing to do with caste’

“She was our daughter. She was our queen. She decided how things went in our family and we are still grief-stricken that she isn’t with us anymore…”Social media can often be a place with little sympathy, and Chunchu Nair’s family has been experiencing it first hand, for the past few days. It’s been a year since the pet cat’s death, but its family hasn’t come to terms with it yet. When they tried to relive Chunchu’s memories lovingly, through a newspaper ad a few days ago, all that the world could take note of was how the ‘cat had the surname of a Kerala caste.’ Anitha Nair (name changed), her husband and their two daughters – a Malayali family settled in Navi Mumbai- have been observing the online hoopla silently, so far. “The negative trolls are too much to bear. For the trollers, she is just another four-legged animal but for us, she was our life. She was our youngest daughter and that’s why we gave her our surname,” says Anitha, whose family has not celebrated birthdays or festivals in the past year. “We have been quite depressed and even now, our eyes well up at the mere mention of her name,” Anitha says.Chunchu had been with them for almost 18 years, before she died of old age. “Generally, cats don’t live that long, but Chunchu’s doctors said what kept her going was the loving atmosphere she was in,” Anitha says, adding Chunchu had clean habits. “We had never trained her, but she knew how to go about things, in a tidy manner. Even when it came to food, she never touched what was on our plate and only laid paws on her share. Moreover, she ate only fresh fish and that too, only if we fed her. She wouldn’t eat even when our maid tried to give her food while I was away. I used to make regular trips to the market to get her the best fish,” Anitha remembers.Ask when she met Chunchu first and Anitha sounds mellow with the rush of memories. Apparently, their paths crossed in a garden outside her house, many years ago. She says, “Once, I noticed this kitten, which would wait in the garden in the evening for my arrival after work. I used to occasionally give her milk or food and thus, our connection gradually grew. When I grew up in Kerala, I had a cat whom I called Sundari (beauty) and I named this cat too the same. Over time, it got shortened to Chunchu and she became part of our lives.”The first time Chunchu gave birth, she lost all her kittens, Anitha says. “She came to us while she was in pain. My husband and I did all that we could to help her. However, she lost her kittens in her next deliveries too, and we took her to a vet for treatment.” The medics had to give her a surgery and had a tough time, as Chunchu was extremely hyperactive, Anitha says. “She would break her stitches, wouldn’t eat from anyone else and behaved quite like a human kid. We used to get calls from the hospital saying we need to visit, as she was extremely upset and wanted to come home. After the surgery, she never entertained male cats,” she adds.Unlike cats in general, Chunchu was quite possessive about her humans, Anitha says. “She never liked even my daughters sitting too close to me and wanted to be on my lap always. We couldn’t even go out much, as she would be upset and as we loved her so much, we too would often oblige.” Chunchu wasn’t very fond of photography, Anitha says. “She would wriggle out and move away when we all gathered to take family photos and thus, we don’t have many photos with her,” says Anitha, who didn’t want anyone’s but Chunchu’s photos to be part of this report. As she grew older, Chunchu had trouble with the workings of her kidneys, teeth and more. “Our neighbours also used to visit her during her last days, in tears. Within days, she succumbed to her ailments. We had to let her go...” However, her humans didn’t give her an ordinary burial. “Though my husband could make it only the next day after the funeral, the rest of us – my daughters, their husbands and me were at the crematorium, and bid her farewell,” Anitha says.Have they adopted any new pets? “No. There are a few cats in the neighbourhood who regularly visit us, that’s all… It isn’t easy when one gets so attached to a pet,” Anitha says, signing off.