Run away Home

As the Bangalore-bound Udyan Express chugs into platform no 1 of Pune railway station, Laxman Manjorkar, Poonam Jadhav and Kishan Kamble sca...

As the Bangalore-bound Udyan Express chugs into platform no 1 of Pune railway station, Laxman Manjorkar, Poonam Jadhav and Kishan Kamble scan the platform looking for those eyes which they are so familiar with. The eyes of a runaway kid. For these workers of Sathi, an organisation engaged in re-uniting runaway children with their families, this has been their regular schedule since 2000.

8216;8216;Their eyes give them away,8217;8217; says Laxman, his gaze fixed at the disembarking passengers. Other features which the Sathi volunteers zero in on are bare feet, dirty clothes and a confused look. As he spots one, wearing an oversized orange shirt, Laxman heads towards him, with a smile in his face.

According to Vinod Kulkarni, coordinator of the Pune unit of Sathi, at least six-seven runaways in the 6-18 age group come to the city everyday from all over India. 8216;8216;It8217;s the same story at Mumbai, Daund, Sholapur and even Bhopal, Delhi and Howrah stations,8217;8217; he adds.

In its 13 years, Sathi has united more than 5,000 children8212;some of them on the run for as long as six years8212;with their families. Starting from Raichur in Karnataka, Sathi8217;s operations now cover Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore; plans are afoot for branches in Kolkata and Delhi.

Once a child is identified as a runaway, a Sathi volunteer approaches him with an innocuous question, such as his destination. 8216;8216;Then we continue the conversation with the aim of knowing his name and where he comes from,8217;8217; says Kamble. They are careful not to ask his home address or family details for fearing of alarming the child.

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Any major railway station sees six-seven runaway children daily.
Only a few return home

On the basis of the initial rapport, the volunteer offers to treat the child to a meal or snacks, and escorts him to the nearby shelter. A bath and a meal later, begins the tricky process of counselling, during which trained personnel ferret out family details and address and try to convince the child to return home. 8216;8216;Often, the kids refuse to go back,8217;8217; admits Kulkarni.

For the Sathi workers, that8217;s the signal to move into the next phase. When the group swells to about 20-30, they are taken for a four-week deaddiction and rejuvenation camp. 8216;8216;Invariably, these kids are hooked to liquor, marijuana, tobacco or rubber solution,8217;8217; says Kulkarni.

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Located in serene Khanpur, near Khadakvasala, the camp sees the children run free for the first week. 8216;8216;From the second week,8221; says Kulkarni, 8220;they begin a structured life, including an hour of jogging, yoga and story sessions, all geared towards rekindling their positive memories.8217;8217;

In the third crucial week, the counsellors finally broach on the subject of their past. By the end of the fourth week, almost all of them are raring to go back to their homes. Sathi then contacts their families or escorts them to their hometowns and trace out their relatives.

It is with just such a reunion in mind that Laxman escorts 13-year-old Gora, from Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh, to the shelter, even as Poonam and Kishan walk up with six-year-old Rahul from Latur. A bath and a meal later, they could have whole new futures.