What happens when two engineers implement their skills to build a world padded with love and soft fur for your pets? Chota Pakoda is the love child of such two individuals with active right brain hemispheres.
Chota Pakoda is a start up that aims to fulfill the wishes of loving pet owners to provide comforting niches for their pets to rest, to sulk and …of course, to click unbelievably cute pictures. The USP of Chota Pakoda is that they make hand-crafted products with raw materials sourced from all over the world. They make products that are sensible to your pet’s needs. For instance, cats are tree climbing mammals who prefer to sit at heights, whereas dogs like to have a safe, quiet and secure place to sleep, rest and hang their tongues out. Chota Pakoda not only understands these nuances, but swirls around with them in ways that result in cute, colourful and comfortable homes for your furballs. They make homes of all sizes for your “chota” and “bada” pakodas.
Inception of Chota Pakoda
Gaurav Singh, an aspiring aerospace engineer turned mechanical engineer, pursued his MS in Thermal Science from the University of Arizona, USA. He later went on to work as a material R&D employee for a defense company and returned to India in search for a right path for his career.
Shruti Gotarkar also pursued an engineering degree but always had the heart to begin her own venture, and so she pursued her MBA from IIM Kozhikode with specialization in marketing.
This project began when Shruti and Gaurav sat down with a hot mug of coffee, pizza and their pet’s pictures on their phones. When they met, they fell in love with each other’s ideas and then with each other. It was just as organic as falling- effortless. They realized self-fulfillment comes only when one decides to walk with their hearts even if that means walking against the tide. The seed for creating a space for compassion and learning was planted. They walked on together to teach children, to upcycle discarded material and many more ways. While all of this was going on, they decided to build on the idea that got them together- love for their pets. And Chota Pakoda was born.
Social Media presence
Chota Pakoda has their own website: www.chotapakoda.com
Instagram handle: @chotapakoda
If you’re reading this article and you don’t own a pet, I URGE you to go ahead and adopt one. Why, you ask? Because despite the humongous advancements in technology and machinery today, our lives are meaningless without animals in them. Even the Mahadev needed his bull, Nandi, to take him places, the great Maharana Pratap’s horse saved his life more than once.
Even if the livelihood of people living in the concrete jungle does not directly depend on animals/ nature, they find balance in their lives by adopting pets. How? I can give you numerous reasons, but right now we will settle for discussing the two major ones.
Pets improve mental fitness by decreasing stress, anxiety, depression. Pets do not judge you and love you for who you are, therefore, inspiring us to do the same with others. This way animals are therapeutic.
Pets make you adventuresome and therefore promote socialization. The extra exercise will lower your blood pressure levels and control your cholesterol. Thus, animal care improves physical health.
Now that pets give us so much by simply existing, the least we can do is take care of them and provide them with a personal space to live in. Even though domesticated, animals are still animals . Many a times in an animal’s life, they undergo mood swings which they don’t have a control over and in times like these, they prefer to be in places that are suited to their comfort. And that is precisely the need Chota Pakoda caters to!
