Raise your hand if you’ve ever been dished a load of superstitions about cats, why you can’t keep them or let them walk past you even. A city-based couple is here to change that. Vishanth R and Osha Shetty are putting a happy spin on the feline experience with Bengaluru’s first Cat Studio! If you are a cat person who loves some cuddles, here’s some ‘furreal’ news: you can now pet rescued kitties, learn more about them and perhaps, even adopt one at this Jeevan Bima Nagar address.
Their idea was simple. “We wanted people to know the fact that a life cannot be bought. And above all, we wanted people to experience what we did – the company of cats,” they say.
The concept of a cat café has always been around – especially in the East – Japan, Bangkok and Singapore where cats are worshipped as the divine. The duo even visited one in Bangkok, something that only urged them on. “As the nation economically progresses, we citizens have forgotten something – loving lives.
Our lives in the city have become very impatient. We need more such places where one can be close to nature. Cats have their own personality and are very instinctive. These are the qualities one has to re-learn from them,” says Vishanth, an analytics consultant by day. He confesses that he fell in love with the world of animals and their ingenuity thanks to his wife, Osha, who having taken care of dogs in her community all her life, now works as a dog shelter manager. The couple is helped by Shwetha Madhu, who manages the studio.
Founded earlier this year, The Cat Studio is home to about eight kitties at a time and have homed about 20 of them so far. It’s a self-sustaining model too with customers having to pay about '50 for the first 15 minutes and '70 for every half hour thereafter.
The space also provides free Wi-Fi and is looking to soon roll out food and beverage options. Since this is half way home for these cats, they have some ground rules if you want to take a kitty home. “Until you agree, we don’t give you the cats. We may sound stubborn, but we are very clear on what we do,” says Osha, adding that one day they hope to be a place that will be all and everything about cats.
