The Barpali Days

Sreyanshu : A kid Lost and Found in a Delhi Metro train

[A drama in real life : How a kid got lost in a Metro Train of New Delhi and later traced back]

Sreyanshu the seven year old nephew of mine could be as mischievous as any other kid of his age group. Academically he is not a topper in his class room, but he got a knack for the machine tools. This boy has got a technical bent of mind. He enjoys dismantling any toy that is given to him for play. He would spend next couple of days to reassemble the broken parts to invent a never seen before alien toy. He is fascinated to watch racing cars, elevators and airplanes in the television. With his constant pranks this kid makes everyone breathless at home, especially his mother. So long he is awake during the day hours someone need to keep a vigil on every movement that he makes.

During the summer holidays of 2014 he went New Delhi to his maternal uncle’s home along with his mother and sister. His Santosh Mamu is a Chartered Accountant and works with City Bank as a manager. They reside at Nawada. One day his uncle Santosh wanted to take them to Connaught Place to show how glittering the heart of the city look like in the evening. It was 5.30 pm and the peak evening rush hours as working class people would return to their respective homes after the office. Sreyanshu along with his mother, grandmother and uncle reached Dwarka Mode Metro Station to catch a train. By the time they reached the basement of the station, there was an announcement in the speaker that the train is reaching the platform. And this freak out of four rushed through the stairs and managed to reach the platform.

Sreyanshu was the youngest and very much agile. He had the indomitable curiosity to traverse in a superfast Metro Train, to which he is not familiar with. The train reached the platform and some passengers disembarked. Since this boy is of short height, he managed to penetrate his body in between the shoulders of the commuters and swiftly entered one of the compartments. At the nick of the moment the door of the compartment closed, while his companions left on the platform. And the train started moving. The mother and uncle of this boy started running helplessly on the platform along the side of the compartment to stop the train, but to no avail. Soon the train left the station. The old granny of this boy set down there on the platform itself while crying and hitting her head with her own hands. The commuters on the platform reached to console her but to no avail. The mother and the uncle returned helplessly.

The mother of Sreyanshu was sobbing on the platform as she lost her only son to whom she had nurtured nine months in her womb, apart from these long seven years. Lot many wild thoughts hunted her mind. Delhi is the fourth largest urban settlement in the world with a population of 16.3 million people. Every day in an average around eighteen children go missing, whereas only a miniscule are traced and restored to their parents. The mother thought, what she will answer to the father of her child who is back at home in Odisha.

On the other hand, inside the train compartment Sreyanshu the seven years old kid was nervous. He was still looking outside the glass door with a glut of fear, as he is not acquainted with metro life since he is born and brought up in the rural area of India. At the nick of the moment someone placed a hand on his shoulder. He felt warmth on the touch and looked back. There was a young man who was standing near the door and was watching all that had happened on the Dwaraka Metro Station. He asked where are you from ? While stammering the boy said “Ba..Ba….Barpali”. The man now asked, but where is that. The boy said “Odisha”. The commuter exclaimed “Ahha i.e. the land of Lord Jagganath, Puri !”. He said not to fear and asked for the phone number if any. Fortunately this kid was carrying a piece of paper in his shirt pocket that carried his mother’s phone number.

It is not that every Delhite is cruel or a miscreant. In Hindi this city is called “Dil walon ki Dilli”. The boy gave the phone number to that young man to call. And when that man called, there bloomed thousand flowers on the face of the mother who was still crying insistently since the moment train left Dwarka Mode Metro Station. That man said, while carrying this boy he would disembark from the train on the very next station and you come to pick your son. Accordingly the mother, uncle and granny of Sreyanshu reached Uttam Nagar Metro Station in the very next train. They got down from the train and searched for the boy. They found the duo standing on the platform. On seeing his mother, Sreyanshu came running and hugged his mother.

Out of courtesy Santosh the uncle of the Sreyanshu invited that gentleman to have an ice crèam, but that unsung hero left calmly refusing to accept any gratification in return. Despite the high crime rate, New Delhi is a city that is moving ahead for the presence of a few good souls like this unknown Metro train commuter.

While they were returning home there started a new set of nagging by Sreyanshu. He said in the Metro train he had seen a kid was carrying a remote controlled airplane and he was adamant to buy that kind of toy for him.

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