A scared 45-day-old kitten was running around in the busy street of Churchgate at around 8 pm on Tuesday, dodging the speeding cars all the while trying to save herself from getting run over. Fortunately for her, two students who were crossing by the area after a long day of university work, found the kitten and spent the majority of their night in finding her a home.
Durgesh Yewale (20), along with his friend Vedant Sakpal (18), were crossing the VN road, just behind the Churchgate station, when they spotted a kitten who was in the way of a speeding car. The kitten somehow saved herself and ran away, however, just a few minutes later they heard a frantic meow that they assumed was the kitten’s moan for help. Yewale and Sakpal then decided to find the kitten and save her.
“We both are very fond of cats in general. Whenever we come across a cat or a kitten, we make sure to click a picture. I find them very cute and adorable”, Yewale said, adding, “It was our natural instinct to save the kitten.”
They started searching the buildings in that area to find the kitten, however, not everyone in the building was willing enough to help them track her. Another meow and the students traced the kitten who was hiding below a car.
“We finally found her hiding below a car and took her out from there”, said Sakpal. He and Yewale are engineering students at Fr. Conceicao Rodrigues College of Engineering, Bandra.
“Then, began the frantic search of finding her a home”, Yewale said, adding that the kitten had probably lost her mom recently because of which she was so clueless and scared. “We called up many NGOs and shelter homes but couldn’t find even a single place which was willing to take the kitten”, he said.
The students finally contacted a welfare house at Lower Parel who was not picking up their calls. Ultimately, with no option left, the students decided to go there themselves and hand over the kitten. Sheltering the kitten in a cardbox, they both set out for their destination.
Yewale said, “The kitten was shivering all the way to the welfare home and was purring continuously. I wanted to adopt her myself but because I live in a PG, I am not allowed to keep pets.”
Sakpal, too, wanted to take the kitten home but because of his mother's allergy, his hands were tied.
“However, upon reaching there, we were told that this was not a shelter but only an OPD clinic for treatment of injured animals”, Sakpal said. The kitten too, had started developing a slight fever by then.
With no other option left at around 10.30 pm, the students contacted their friend, Aaron Fernandes (19) who stayed in the nearby Sewri area for help. The students said that Fernandes was more than happy to give her a home for a few days until her living arrangements were taken care of.
“We didn’t have to do much later, because the welfare home called Wednesday morning to inform us that they had found a home for our friend”, informed Yewale, adding that her new parents took her home in the afternoon itself.
