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Mohammed Ghouse and his wife Silsad, who on Thursday reached Vellore in Tamil Nadu on hearing their 9-year-old missing son, Mohammed Fazlu, was found lodged at the Government Children Reception Home there, burst into joyous tears as the boy ran up to them for a gusty hug.
This episode found its happy and moving end when Vellore District Collector Rajendran handed over Fazlu to his parents after verifying their claims, official sources told Deccan Herald over phone on Friday.
Playing cricket near his house close to a railway track in Bangalore in April-end, Fazlu found to his discomfort that the ball he loved to play with landed in a goods train. He got into it to retrieve the ball only to find himself moving on the rails until he reached Jolarpettai Junction in Tamil Nadu.
Confused where he was and struggling for words, a crying Fazlu then got into an Express train that had chugged into Jolarpettai from Mumbai, sources said. Other passengers were apparently concerned and handed Fazlu over to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) there.
From then on, it was a pretty long journey of a different kind, sources said. The RPF personnel first entrusted the boy to the custody of an NGO, Udavum Ullangal (The Helpers), at Tirupattur near Vellore. After staying there for a while, the NGO people took the boy to the Government Home in Vellore.
Finally, some local newspapers published a news story about Fazlu’s plight, setting some Tamil television channels to do a follow-up. As Fazlu’s pictures were beamed by some TV channels, alerted parents at once reached Vellore. “We are grateful to the great God who has showered mercy on us on the eve of Id; we will celebrate it (today) with fanfare with our son in an act of thanksgiving to God,” the visibly joyous couple added.