Last Updated on March 25, 2026 by admin
The pillar was part of the Kochi Metro Rail viaduct near Kaloor Stadium in Kerala, India. Somewhere inside a narrow gap between the rail structure and the concrete column, a small cat had wedged himself in — and couldn’t get back down.
That was early February 2026. Nobody knew how he got up there. Nobody knew who he belonged to. What they knew was that he was still there the next morning, and the morning after that.
A Name, a Movie, and a Promise
The autorickshaw drivers who work the streets near Kaloor Stadium were the first to start feeding him. They’d leave food at the base of the pillar and look up. Every time a rescue team approached, the cat retreated further into the cavity — a gap barely large enough for a cat, tucked between the underside of the rail and the pillar’s concrete face.
The drivers gave him a name: Subhash. The name comes from the 2024 Malayalam blockbuster Manjummel Boys, a film about a group of friends who refuse to leave until they’ve pulled their companion Subhash out of a cave where he’s fallen. The autorickshaw drivers looked up at the pillar, looked at each other, and knew exactly what to call him.
He’d been up there over a week by then.
The Problem With Reaching Him
Kochi Metro Rail Limited staff coordinated with animal welfare groups and fire services as the days stretched on. The problem wasn’t just height. Getting a crane or lift close to the pillar meant halting the metro — live rail infrastructure runs directly overhead. Any rescue would require a full power shutdown, which meant waiting until the last train of the day had run and the lines had gone dark.
A plan was put together: on the evening of February 21, after services ended, the Gandhi Nagar Fire Station would lead a joint operation with Kochi Metro Rail Limited and animal welfare volunteers. They had a crane, a hydraulic lift, and a safety net stretched below the pillar in case the cat fell.
Crowds gathered near Kaloor Stadium as the team assembled. Nobody had been asked to come. They just showed up.
The Lift Malfunctions at Midnight
The operation began. Almost immediately, the hydraulic lift failed.
This is the moment — standing outside at close to midnight, after a cat has been stranded for two weeks — when most people start thinking about going home. The equipment was broken. The window was shrinking. The metro would need to resume service in the morning.
The team sourced a replacement lift.
At 11:30pm, the operation resumed. Fire personnel from the Gandhi Nagar Fire Station ascended the crane toward the top of the pillar. Below them, the safety net was pulled taut. The metro power supply was cut — silencing the entire stretch of track for 17 minutes. The crowd went quiet.
1:30am
According to The News Minute, at 1:30am on February 22, a small box was lowered from the top of the pillar.
Subhash was inside it.
The cheer from the crowd below could be heard from the next street. People who had been standing on that road for hours — animal welfare volunteers, firefighters, strangers who had followed the story and come to watch — erupted. After 15 days, after failed attempts, after a broken lift and a midnight restart, a cat that belonged to nobody had been brought down safely.
He was immediately loaded into an animal rescue ambulance and driven to the animal hospital in Thoppumpady for a health check, as Gulf News reported. He was thin, dehydrated, and frightened. But he was alive and in stable condition.
Where Subhash Is Now
Subhash was receiving veterinary care at the Thoppumpady animal hospital following his rescue. The autorickshaw drivers who had named him and fed him for two weeks were among the last to leave the scene at Kaloor Stadium that night.
What began as one stray cat in a difficult place ended as a coordinated operation involving a city’s transit authority, its fire service, animal welfare groups, and several hundred people who came out in the middle of the night for no reason other than that it seemed like the right thing to do.
The character in Manjummel Boys makes it out because nobody leaves him behind. The autorickshaw drivers knew exactly what they were doing when they chose that name.
If you want to support stray cat rescue efforts in your area, Alley Cat Allies has resources on community cat programs across the US — and the ASPCA’s community cat program guide is a solid starting point for anyone looking to get involved locally.
Have you ever stopped to help a stray cat? Tell us what happened in the comments. 🐱