14 years after he took a train to Kerala, Raja to return to his mother in Jharkhand – as a footballer

Now reconnected with his family, Raja must choose between staying in Kerala, his adopted homeland, or heading back home. For Raja, it’s a difficult choice.

“Normally, we try to track down families of such children before they turn 21, since they are rehabilitated then,” Muhammed Asharaf, superintendent at a government children’s home in Thalassery who helped Raja track down his family, says. “I told Raja that if we could not find his parents, we would find a local couple who would take care of him under family-based alternative care. I had already identified two couples and had informed Raja about it. He had also agreed.”

Now reconnected with his family, Raja must choose between staying in Kerala, his adopted homeland, or heading back home. For Raja, it’s a difficult choice.

“When I saw my mother over a video call, I couldn’t speak. She looked different and had aged from the woman I remember,” he says in Malayalam — the only language he speaks. “I could not understand her language. In the little Hindi I knew, I spoke to her. She asked me when I would come home. I didn’t really have a clear answer. I just said I would come.”

“When I saw my mother over a video call, I couldn’t speak. She looked different and had aged from the woman I remember,” he says in Malayalam — the only language he speaks.

Train to Kerala

Raja was with his parents at a brick kiln in West Bengal when he got separated from his family. Having just arrived there, Raja yearned to return home to Chaibasa and, unknown to his parents, decided to take matters into his own hands. He began walking along railway tracks, reached the nearest station and boarded the first train he saw, hoping it would take him home.

Instead, he ended up at Ernakulam railway station in Kerala. “On the train, I sat on a seat, sometimes curled up. A passenger gave me Rs 5 for tea. At the station, I realised the train wasn’t moving, so I got off. I got scared, but the police took me to their room. I knew only my name and that my home was in Chaibasa, although I did not know that it was in Jharkhand. At the children’s home, my address was Raja, Chaibasa.”

Of home, too, he remembers very little. “My house was atop a hill, and there was a school at the bottom of the hill and a cycle shop nearby. I had attended the school for a few days [before we left for West Bengal],” he says, adding: “At the children’s home, my address was Raja, Chaibasa.”

In Kerala, Raja first underwent ossification tests to determine his age and was then sent to different care homes — first in Kochi and then in Thrissur. In Kochi’s Palluruthy, where he stayed for two years, Raja was lodged at Sneha Bhavan boys’ home run by the non-profit Don Bosco and attended a government school. At these homes, he was only registered as ‘Raja, Chaibasa’. In 2016, he was transferred to a government-run children’s home in Thrissur.

It was at this home that Raja received football coaching after one of the coaches spotted his talent and urged him to try for Kerala Blasters FC U-17. The trials were successful, and Raja played midfield.

Raja Gope with his teammates. (Express photo)

“I used to tell counsellors at the care home to help find my parents. As I lay down to sleep, or when I saw children and their parents on TV, I would think about my parents and siblings, who had slipped away from me,” he says. “But I never bothered the shelter home people about finding my parents. I always held on to the hope that one day, I would return to my homeland.”

On February 3, Raja moved to a government-run rehabilitation home for abandoned and orphaned boys in Thalassery. The move, prompted by state government norms that disallow individuals past 18 years of age from continuing in a children’s home, proved to be a boon.

It was the superintendent of that shelter, A Saidalavi, who was instrumental in helping Raja track down his family. Saidalavi approached Asharaf, the admin of a WhatsApp group, ‘Missing Persons Kerala’, that helps track down families of missing children, and the two decided to search for Raja’s. Superintendent of a government childcare home next to the rehabilitation centre, Asharaf began to track down the family.

What followed was a combination of persistent follow-ups and adept use of social media. Officials, upon examining Raja’s files, realised that he likely belonged to a tribe in Jharkhand.

Raja’s sister Balema Gope at the family home in Jharkhand’s Chaibasa. Express photo: Shubham Tigga

“We had no other details, and Raja couldn’t provide anything else. I contacted an organisation in Delhi, but it didn’t help. Then I shared details with Fardeen Khan, who runs a Pune-based NGO. Khan suggested making Raja’s story viral and roped in an Adivasi journalist in Jharkhand, Basil Hembram, and a YouTuber, Aayush Rana,” Asharaf says.

On February 17, Hembram and Rana uploaded Raja’s story on YouTube. Within hours, the video went viral and got 60,000 shares, and by that night, a neighbour had chanced upon it.

“We got comments from a girl who gave us details of Raja’s cousins. We then spoke to Raja’s cousins and showed up at Raja’s home,” Hembram tells The Indian Express.

Authorities now say they have two options: either release Raja from the state-run centre or allow him to go on leave until he turns 21.

“According to the law, Raja can neither be left alone, nor can the family take him back,” shelter superintendent A Saidalavi says. “We’re in touch with the district child protection office of West Singhbhum, and senior district and police officers are expected to reach Thalassery to take Raja back home after verification. The process has already begun.”

Asharaf says the choice will be Raja’s. “We will not release him yet; we’ll give him temporary leave so he can decide what to do,” he says, adding: “We can also provide a private job to Raja in Kerala where he can earn around Rs 20,000 a month.”

“I could not understand her language. In the little Hindi I knew, I spoke to her. She asked me when I would come home. I didn’t really have a clear answer. I just said I would come.”

The long way home

At the Gopes’ tiny single-room mud house in Chaibasa’s Hadi Mara village, Mani sits with her three minor daughters and toddler granddaughter, waiting impatiently for Goma — Raja’s nickname at home — to return, even putting off her migratory brick-kiln work.

For the Gope family, much has changed in 14 years. Raja’s father and eldest brother died a few years ago, and his elder sister is now married, leaving Mani, an Adivasi woman, to raise four children — three daughters and a granddaughter — on her own.

“Someone told us that Goma plays football there. If he wants to play football in the future, he will play. Whatever he wants to do, he will do. We are just happy he is coming back,” she says.

When Raja disappeared, the family spent years searching for him, even travelling as far as Rourkela in Odisha. “We never filed a police complaint, but we informed the village head. We kept looking for him. After some years, we lost hope that he was alive,” she says.

Eight years ago, her husband Balaram Gope died — a development she attributes to his declining health during the years of searching.

With Raja’s homecoming, the family is relieved — and hopeful. Here, family loyalties come before aspirations.

“We had given up entirely. We’re now happy that at least one male member will be home to support the family,” she says. Her neighbour Shekhar Gagrai adds: “With Mani widowed and the eldest son dead, the burden of earning has already fallen on the daughters. Now, as Raja prepares to return after 14 years, the family sees him not only as a lost child coming home but also as a potential earning member.”

But officials believe that as Raja returns to a single-room house — no ration card or Aadhaar, absence of a steady income, and sisters who never went to school — the change will be considerable. As the reunion looms, questions on how he would adapt to a home still struggling for basic survival linger.

“Raja’s life over the past decade has been very different,” Chaibasa Child Welfare Committee member Mohammad Shamim, among those co-ordinating Raja’s return, says. “Kerala is among India’s most literate states, with stronger schooling systems and wider exposure to organised sports and employment opportunities compared to Jharkhand.”

Raja too is uncertain about the future. Now eyeing selection to the district football league team, he is looking forward to a career in the game he loves.

“I want to go home and see my mother and siblings. At the same time, I want to continue to play football in Kerala, which gave me a home and identity,” he says, adding that his Class 12 exams are also next month.

What does he plan to take home to his parents? “I have nothing to take for my mother or my sisters,” he says. “I only have myself.”