From rural Tamil Nadu, a 3-girl BTS army embarks on Seoul dream, makes it to Chennai before being rescued

The girls didn’t quite make it so far, reaching Chennai before the dream grew too distant on day 2 of their expedition. They were rescued by police from Katpadi railway station near Vellore city on Friday midnight as they were trying to return home.

Officials who secured the custody of the girls said their plan was to sail to Seoul from Visakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh, a route they figured out from online searches.

They are now at a government-run children’s home in Vellore district, sitting through some painstaking counselling, waiting for their parents to take them home.

The girls, who study in an English-medium panchayat school, come from lower middle class families from a village in Karur district. One of the girls’ mothers works as a teacher at a village lower primary school. “One of the girls’ fathers is mentally challenged, and another girl’s parents are separated. Both their mothers are farm labourers. But they had phones at home with the internet. A combination of all these factors seem to have played a role in their addiction to BTS, and a decision to leave,” said P Vedanayagam, Vellore District Child Welfare Committee Chairman who interacted with the girls.

It is unsurprising why they would be BTS fans. The band too rose from humble beginnings, facing financial hardships. Their lyrics address themes that resonate with teenagers. Self-doubt, societal pressure — and the idea of pursuing dreams.

At a long counselling session on Saturday, the girls too told Vedanayagam that their fandom for BTS made them long for a life of dance and music.

Introduced to the band by a young neighbour, they tried to learn Korean. They used Google Translate to understand the Korean lyrics. “They even knew the abbreviation of BTS (“Bangtan Sonyeondan” — which is Korean for “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”),” Vedanayagam told The Indian Express. They knew the names of every BTS member, their favourite hobbies, favourite outfit colours and even food habits.
“They left home on January 4. First, they came to Erode, and took a train to Chennai. They tried two hotels for rooms in Chennai, and the third attempt was successful. They stayed a night there for Rs 1200,” said Vedanayagam.

Meanwhile, police registered a missing complaint the same day and began searching for them in Karur and neighbouring districts, examining CCTV footage and spreading information through intelligence channels and local WhatsApp groups.

But for the girls, fatigue set in after reaching Chennai. They came back to the railway station the next day and caught a train. En route, they got down at Katpadi to buy food — and missed the train.

Om Prakash, the police inspector who investigated the missing complaint of the girls’ families, said railway police spotted them at the station at night and brought them to the police station. “Police handed them over to the Vellore District Child Welfare Committee,” Prakash said.

The child welfare panel has decided to counsel the parents as well before sending the girls back home.

Said Vedanayagam: “Of the Rs 14,000, they were left with Rs 8,059 after two days’ trip. All of them took money by breaking the ‘piggy banks’ at home. Even as they realise that it was a flawed plan, they have a clarity about what they did and what they imagined. They promised that they will not repeat this adventure again, neither did they cry during the long conversation with counsellors.”