From stray to legend: Kerala village immortalises Eldho the beloved dog with statue

From stray to legend: Kerala village immortalises Eldho the beloved dog with statue

Mangalore Today News Network

Kochi, Aug 18, 2025: At a time when the Supreme Court has ordered the swift rounding up and permanent detention of stray dogs in New Delhi, after taking suo motu notice of their growing menace, a quiet corner of Tripunithura is telling a very different story.

In Kozhivettumveli, Eroor, residents are making headlines for honouring a stray — by giving him a statue. His name was Eldho.

Sanakan K V, an autorickshaw driver at the local stand, recalls the day Eldho padded into their lives 14 years ago. “He wasn’t well. There was a burn scar on his left flank. We found out later he’d been picked up elsewhere under the ABC programme, sterilised, and released here,” he says. From day one, the dog’s liquid brown eyes and gentle manners won over the neighbourhood.

Once he claimed a spot at the autorickshaw stand, Eldho stopped being “just” a stray and became family to every home in the ward. His name, too, had a spark of local humour.

“Remember the dialogue from the film Mannar Mathai Speaking where Harisree Ashokan shouts, ‘Eda Eldho… Ninne Cinemayil Eduthu!’? That’s how we started calling him Eda Eldho — and it stuck,” says Sanakan.

Kirankumar V S, local ward member, says Eldho became part of everything - weddings, rituals, housewarmings, birthdays, festivals. He escorted children home from school, walked alongside the elderly, and never once hurt anyone. He knew his turf - from the ward’s northern tip, along the lake to the west and east, down to Puthukulangara in the south.

“If he vanished for a day or two, everyone would come searching for him with a small meal in hand,” says Sanakan.

He had one special weakness - milk cake from Shanmukhan Super Stores. “We all bought it for him. Eventually, people started calling it the Eldho cake,” Sanakan laughs.

When news broke of Eldho’s death, and the autorickshaw drivers planned a statue in his memory, the whole community pitched in. Sculptor Jayan V K, a state and national award winner, and his nephew Nibin V G crafted the lifelike figure that now watches over Kozhivettumveli junction - a tribute to the stray who became a legend.