The sweet and sour lives of ‘Puchi Family’: Punchir Ma

Puchi, her husband Hamba, their four children Dhola, Mula, Pumba, and Payesh, Puchi’s mother Fiona, Shuji and her son Moti, and five other cats make one of the most famous families in social media, ‘Puchi Family’.

This adorable cat family has become an addiction for their more than five lakh fans on social media. People love to watch these cats playing and going through their daily life for hours.

‘Puchi Family’ is run by Puchi’s owner Tapashi Das, who is a homemaker, a mother of two sons and 14 cats.

Yes! 14 is a lot of cats if you are living in a 1,200 square-foot rented apartment and dependent on a single person’s earning.

“But at the same time 14 is a very small number if you have love for the animals and think that these innocent animals deserve a comfortable and healthy life, just like us humans,” says Tapashi Das.

Unfortunately, this generosity is not appreciated enough by our society. Tapashi recently got an eviction notice from her housing society for having this many cats.

According to the neighbours, she is bringing in dirty, sick cats from the streets to their building. And they are disturbed by the odd smell of the cats.

 So Tapashi is not even allowed to take her furry children for a walk on the terrace or in the garage and she is not allowed to open her apartment windows

She is now looking for a new house to rent but has not yet found any suitable place as many homeowners have an objection about cats, or pets in general.

“One of these days, I want to have my own place. A big house with lots of empty space where my cats can run around. I can rescue as many cats as I want, and no one will give any objections,” Tapashi expressed her wish.

“I have a very supportive husband who always appreciated my love for the animals. And my children think that these cats are an inseparable part of our family. There were even times when we could not afford to feed all the cats, but we still ensured that all of our cats got to eat before we did. But after my page crossed three lakh followers, I started getting sponsors and the monetisation of the page began. Even if it is a small amount, we earn money and my cats get a lot of gifts!” she explained.

She added, “I only take cat-related products from the sponsors and use them on my live stream to promote them. Now I feel I am a working woman too.”

Within a little more than a year, ‘Puchi Family’ has earned five lakh followers on Facebook, above one lakh followers on YouTube, 9 more cats, at least 10 sponsors, and lots and lots of love and support.

Among the 14 cats, 11 of them are adopted by Tapashi, and the others are the ones she rescued from the road. She plans to give these up for adoption after they become healthy and matured enough.

 She sometimes works as a foster care for kittens because some owners find it difficult to handle them. She raises them and gives them back to the owners after some time.

Tapashi Das has been raising pets since she was 10 years old. She always felt a sense of responsibility towards the animals.

She got married very young and a new marriage, in-laws, babies, and a struggling financial condition took her away from her responsibilities towards the animals for a certain time.

In 2017, she started with a little cat named Mini, but she did not even realise how quickly she became the owner of five cats.

Soon after Tapashi adopted Fiona who gave birth to Puchi. Puchi grew up and was ‘married off’ to Hamba.

Tapashi was an active member of many cat related Facebook pages, where her cats were very popular. Particularly Puchi was the life of those pages.

“If I skipped an update on Puchi even for a day, I used to get hundreds of messages in my inbox, all asking about her whereabouts. I had five cats at that time but I still cannot figure out why no one else was able to capture people’s hearts like the way Puchi did. So on request of my friends and fans, I opened the page ‘Puchi Family’ in December 2019,” said Tapashi Das.

She created individual characteristics of her cats, like ‘Gorgeous Puchi’, ‘Characterless Hamba’, and ‘Vamp Shuji’ etc. In her photos and videos, the cats play the role according to the characters.

“Working with humen is easier, you can teach them. But working with cats is harder as it all depends on their mood and the timing,” explains Tapashi.

Tapashi said Puchi and her family love seeing their videos and they are very comfortable in front of the camera.

This amazing feline family is not only a way of entertainment but also an inspiration for all of us.