Dogged quest for roots with memories of an infant

At five, Saroo Brierley was lost on the train he had accidentally boarded from his home town  Khandwa. Twenty-five years later, when he used Google Earth to locate his lost home almost half a world away, he made headlines across the globe.

"After the story went global, I was approached by many publishing houses to write memoirs. It was a real challenge writing it, and quite emotive too," recalls Saroo.

 'A Long Way Home (Penguin)' is an incredible story of a child who, after boarding the train found himself in Kolkata, hundreds of kilometres away from his home town.

He managed to survive on the city streets after some close encounters with death and then landed in an orphanage. From there, he was adopted by an Australian couple with whom he started a new life. It was physically and culturally world apart from where he was born.

As he grew up in loving care of his new family, a thought about his place of origin, his family, his brothers, his younger sister whom he used to look after, and how he got lost, always haunted him.

After joining college, his interaction with Indian students studying in Australia grew. He started  exploring his Indian roots. His conversations with them made him feel his past to be more present. Thus began his quest to reconnect with the past, to trace the place of his origin and find the family he was born in. 

With just memories of a five-year-old to fall back on (mere recollections of names of places not even properly spelt or pronounced,)  Saroo began his search that was virtually looking for a needle in haystack.

More than five years after he had downloaded Google Earth and started his search, Saroo managed to find his hometown at last.

“I was always determined to find it and tried to block out the negatives. The thought of not finding it was horrible, which is probably why I never gave up looking,” says he. 

Did he consider himself lucky to have found this ‘needle in haystack’ or did he think it was all destiny? 

“I needed some luck. And, yes, I believe it was my fate and destiny. Had the search yielded nothing, it would have left a permanent void, a feeling of incompleteness within me for sure,” says he.

Reuniting with his family had a profound effect on Saroo. “I feel very fortunate to now have two families who love me. Geographically, we are a long way apart, but I have managed to make four more visits since we first reunited, which has been great. Both the families have been very, very supportive. My mothers (Sue and Fatima) met recently in Khandwa. It was very emotional for them but a wonderful moment for me to be a part of. Despite the language barrier, they were both able to communicate their
emotions and love for me,” says he.

The whole experience of getting lost and then returning to his roots had a great impact on his personality too. “I think it has made me a stronger and a more positive person. It has also been great to return to India and experience the different, but wonderful culture there.” 

Getting adopted had changed his life, so, does he intend to follow his parents’ footsteps and go for similar adoption?

Or promote such adoptions? “I am still young and very busy with my work and want to have a family of my own one day for sure. I am supporting ISSA (Indian Society for Sponsorship &Adoption) and it is my way of giving something back to this amazing organisation that changed my life!

The book is an emotional account of his triumph against incredible odds. An inspirational story that sends across the message of importance of never letting go of the hope.