Chaibasa (Jharkhand), March 12 A boy from Jharkhand, who ended up in Kerala after boarding the wrong train, was reunited with his family after 13 years, police said.
Raja Gope, now 19, plays for a football club in Kerala and speaks only Malayalam and Hindi, while he has forgotten his native language, Ho.
He was a six-year-old child accompanying his father to a brick kiln in neighboring West Bengal when he got separated and boarded a train bound for Kerala. He ended up in Ernakulam, where he was rescued by activists and placed in a children's home. He only remembered the first names of his parents, and that he was from Chaibasa, but could not name his village.
In February this year, Gope moved to Kannur under the Kerala Child Welfare Committee's skill development and rehabilitation program, and local activists contacted a non-governmental organization, Railway Children, and a video of Gope was circulated in Chaibasa, which ultimately led to the tracing of his village.
"The entire Harimara village in the Sonua area welcomed Gope on Tuesday as students from his school organized a procession beating 'dhols' and 'nagaras' (traditional drums), and women performed tribal dance. The boy embraced his weeping mother and four sisters," a police officer said.
"I want him to stay with us. But I know he plays football in Kerala and has to complete his studies. I will not stop him. At least, we know he is alive and doing well," his mother Mani Gope told
