TV star reunites runaway & family
Talent show constestant is shown chatting up 14-yr-old, family in Jaipur recognises him and swings into action
Reena Thapar Kapoor and Santosh Andhale
A14-year-old
boy who had run away from his home in Jaipur when he was just eight, is
being reunited with his family after they saw him interacting with a
contestant on a reality-based TV show.
Mohammad Sayeed was at
his house in Jaipur watching a talent hunt show Ek Main Aur Ek Tu when
he spotted a boy who looked like his runaway brother Rafiq chatting up
with one of the show contestants.
Ek Main Aur Ek Tu participant
Sharib was visiting the Spark Street Children Centre at Dadar, as part
of the show promotion and there he began speaking to Rafiq and
discovered that they both hailed from Jaipur. Rafiq's brother and
other relatives could hardly believe their eyes as they watched the
show and this interaction.
The very next day, they found out
Sharib's Jaipur address and got in touch with his mother requesting her
if he could help them verify if the boy was indeed their child and how
they could reach him.
"They told ammi (mother) that they'd seen
Rafiq talking to me in the promotional clippings of the show and if I
could help verify a few things," says Sharib. "I found out that Rafiq
used to live at Maulana Ziauddin colony which is quite close to my
house at Subhash chowk and from thereon things worked out."
When
we visited the children's centre on Thursday, Rafiq said he was both
excited and apprehensive about going back to Jaipur. While he was
happy, he said, at being reunited with his family, the prospect of
leaving his 'family' at the orphanage with whom he has spent the last
six years was making him sad.
Rafiq said that he ran away from
home because he was fed up of the constant shouting and nagging of his
step mother and grandmother. "Nani beat me up ruthlessly because I was
weak in studies so I left home and headed towards the railway station.
Once there, I did not know what to do so I boarded the first train that
came on the platform," disclosed Rafiq.
Though he does not
remember which train it was, he said he realised he had reached Mumbai
as the sign board read Mumbai Central and he was told that the train
would not go beyond that.
Without any relative or friend in
Mumbai, Rafiq started begging on the trains for the first two months
and slept on various railway stations.
However, after falling
off a train at Bhandup and fracturing his hand, Rafiq was brought to
Dadar station where he was spotted by Gopal Sharma, the manager of
Spark Street Children Centre, Dadar. Sharma took Rafiq to the centre
which was to become his new home.
According to Sharma, Rafiq
adjusted well at the centre and was soon sent to a BMC school at
Matunga, He is in class VII and also work at a lottery stall near the
Centre. "I have a good friend here and I get better food," said Rafiq.
"Most of the time we do try to get the children reunited with
their parents but we never force the children to go home. If they
insist they do not want to leave we let them be," says Sharma.
That
doesn't seems to be Rafiq's case. His family is eager to welcome him
back. "I just want to bring him back though I am still not clear on the
legal procedure if any, and thank God I was watching TV," says Rafiq's
brother Mohammad.
When asked about allegations of mistreatment
Mohammad says that Rafiq when he ran away was "too small to understand
what was happening. Yes, my father did raise his hand on him a few time
but it was only because of his bad habits. He had got into bad company
and would come home late. As a father he has right to spank him.
Running away doesn't help."
• Most of the time we do try to get
the children reunited with their parents but we never force the
children to go home. If they insist that they do not want to leave, we
let them be— Gopal Sharma, manager of Spark Street Children Centre, Dadar
| Rafiq Sayeed (centre) had run away when he was 8. (Right) Ek Main Aur Ek Tu participant Sharib who mediated. |
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