Article of the Week

When Strangers Unite

Thirteen-year-old visually impaired Priya Shankar Saroj was traveling to Mumbai from Allahabad, with her father on August 7 to undergo an operation that would restore her eyesight. Mr. Saroj alighted at Jabalpur to purchase a snack for Priya, but by the time he could get back to the compartment the train had left the platform. Priya was still in the train.

On reaching the CST station in Mumbai, a flustered, utterly anxious Priya was taken by a kindly person Hassan Rizvi to an Antop Hill dargah in Wadala where she stayed for three days. Finally, her father who came from Allahabad on Friday night after searching for her everywhere found her at the dargah in Antop Hill.

Mr. Saroj, a tall, healthy looking 42 year-old who works as a taxi driver in Mumbai said, "We boarded the Howrah-Mumbai mail from Allahabad on August 7 for Mumbai where my daughter was to be operated. The train reached Jabalpur station at around 8.30 pm that night, and Priya told me that she was hungry.

So I went to search for the canteen which was some distance away and by the time I could return with the snack to our compartment the train had left with Priya in it. I was petrified and wondered how she would mange alone especially since she was visually impaired. I went immediately to the police station at Jabalpur and filed a complaint.

"After waiting there for few hours, I left Jabalpur and returned to my hometown, Allahabad, thinking that Priya would get down at the next station and also return to Allahabad."

Priya said, "My father thought I would go back to Allahabad, but I continued the journey to Mumbai. I thought my father will somehow come and find me at the railway station in Mumbai. After reaching Mumbai on August 8, as this was the first time I was coming to this city, I only knew that my father was going to take me to Antop Hill in Wadala".

She continued: "One person, Mr Hassan Rizvi at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or CST station asked me what happened. I told him how I was left alone, and as he was also a resident of Wadala he said he would take me to the Antop Hill dargah where I would be looked after till my father came. I stayed there for three days and the people were so nice and helpful. They gave me a place to stay and meals twice a day."

Saroj narrated that when he got no information of his daughter in Uttar Pradesh he finally decided to look for her in Mumbai. On reaching Mumbai he went directly to a friend, Rajesh Chaurasai in Antop Hill. Rajesh informed him that there was a blind girl waiting for her father at the dargah for the past three days. With conviction in his heart, Saroj went to the dargah and was overjoyed to find his daughter there. He is extremely grateful to the people at the dargah for looking after his child.

Source: Blind Girl Reunited with Father in Mumbai, Asian Age, New Delhi, 14 August 2006