After 13 yrs in Kerala orphanage, boy from gujarat finds family

A boy from Gujarat who went missing 13 years ago after he boarded the wrong train, and landed up in an orphanage in Kerala, has been reunited with his family.

According to the boy's brother Tukaram, Bharat Valaker and his friend Vishnu, both in Class I then, ran away from Jivdaya Mission's boarding school in Prantij town because they wanted to go home to their families in Ahmedabad. While Vishnu reached home safely, Bharat boarded the wrong train and landed up in a village near Perinthalmanna in Kerala.

S Krishnadas, a doctor, saw Bharat accompanying a beggar near the railway station and tried to talk to him. On finding out that the boy could not speak a word of Malayalam and sensing that he was not a beggar, Krishnadas took Bharat to the police. The boy remained with the police for six months before Krishnadas decided to adopt him. Bharat grew up in the doctor's house and went to school with his children.

Meanwhile, Krishnadas and a local philanthropist, C P Janardhanan, decided to open an orphanage. "Bharat was one of the first inmates," said Sethu Madhavan, one of the founders and current manager of Gokulam Balasadanam, which now houses about 40 children from all over India. "About three years ago, Bharat started to talk about going back to Gujarat," Madhavan said.

Luck favoured him earlier this year, when he went to Jamnagar for a vocational training course in operating mechanical cranes. Although his Gujarati was barely functional, Bharat was able to locate his old school and get his family's phone number. Bharat soon met his family and his mother Bhartiben Valaker recognised him immediately by a scar on his forehead. "It's a miracle. We looked for him everywhere, but we never thought he would be in Kerala of all places," said Bhartiben.

Last Sunday, Bharat returned to the orphanage, accompanied by brothers Krishna and Tukaram and mother. Bhartiben liked the orphanage and did not object to her son completing his studies there. The family will return to Ahmedabad on July 31.

Source : http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/after-13-yrs-in-kerala-orphanage-gujarati-boy-finds-family/495328/