The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A delightful reunion with parents

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 19, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A delightful reunion with parents

Staff Reporter

When Mahbub got down from the train from Mumbai, her mother went speechless as tears welled up in her eyes.

ELURU: It was an emotional reunion for 13-year-old Mahbub Buni, who ran away from home four months ago, with her parents here on Wednesday.

The girl's mother, Gausia, was at the station much before the arrival of the train bringing her daughter from Mumbai.

When Mahbub finally emerged from the train, Gausia was speechless as tears welled up in her eyes.

Spotted in a railway station in Mumbai and latter admitted in a children's home at Umarkhadi by the police, Mahbub was brought back by her father, Sheik Mahbub Jani, with help of B.K.S.R. Ayyangar, a social activist, and Moses, Director, Andhra Pradesh Social Service Centre.

In a state of despair

``I had lost hope of meeting my daughter. We have spent all our monies we have earned by making and selling beedis in search of her but in vain,'' Gausia told reporters.

"We could get her back due to the kind gesture of N.C. Saroja who informed us about my girl's whereabouts,'' she said.

Mahbub's return generated a lot of curiosity in Indira Colony, a slum.

Women and Mahbub's schoolmates made a beeline to her house in awe as Jani said: "Tracing of my daughter was unbelievable until I spotted her in the children's home."

He said further: "When I saw her, I hugged her and broke down.'' For Mahbub, reaching Mumbai was accidental.

"I simply got into a train in Vijayawada after I left my home without knowing about its destination."

Harrowing experience

When she was roaming around on a platform in Chatrapati Sivaji terminal, the Mumbai police offered her food and admitted her in the home. But her stay in the home was traumatic, she said.

"I was beaten up often due to my inability to do odd jobs like cleaning utensils and watering plants.

The food they served was not fit for human consumption," she recalled.

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