145;Someone seen my kid?146;

Held at Don Bosco High School in Matunga, the mela is an annual affair organised by Shelter Don Bosco. Each day had a theme: the first day was for girls living on Mumbai8217;s mean streets and from various institutions, communities and slums; the second for boys from institutions and slums. And Friday was exclusively for boys living on the streets. So Hafiza Bibi turned up, photo in hand and hope in her heart. 8216;8216;We had gone visiting to Dadar. My two-year-old son went out at around 3 p.m. and never returned,8217;8217; she said, cradling her three-year-old daughter Baharul in her arms.

She lives with her husband Ghulam Sheikh in a Sandhurst Road shack. 8216;8216;Ever since, all we do is search for him. He will be six years old now. We have been to Thane, Dadar, Matunga, Dongri, Wadala, Chembur, Govandi. To police stations, children8217;s homes. Today, my husband went to Mankhurd to look for him. I have come here.8217;8217;

8216;8216;Every year, we are able to restore 70 to 80 children to their families,8217;8217; Shelter Don Bosco8217;s director, Father Xavier Devadas, told The Indian Express. Nearly 50 NGOs join hands to make the Diwali Mela and nearly 2,500 children troop in for the fun and games.

Abdul Wahab, a father of three children, was hoping that his fourth child, his six-year-old daughter Sahista, would be among them. He too was clutching her photograph, wearing a green pinafore. But with every shake of the head, his light of hope only grew dimmer.

Sahista was playing near her home in Dharavi on December 20 last year. Nobody saw her since.