NEW DELHI: Hazrat Nizamuddin station may be witnessing numerous teary-eyed reunions every day but the atmosphere here was different on Friday. There was hope, faith and the end of a long wait. A group of men in their early twenties huddled around a tea stall at the platform waiting to welcome their brother, Zahid Hussain, they lost 15 years ago.
There was a loud cheer as soon as Zahid (22), along with his wife and two children, alighted from the train. Other passengers stopped to look at the celebrations as his brothers gave him a warm hug. Zahid was seven years old when he left his home in the Mewat district of Haryana to study in a madrassa in Saharanpur. His father, Akbar Hussain, was a driver who collected Rs 5,000 to pay for Zahid's fee and clothes. The family gave him a hearty farewell before he left, little did they know that Zahid would never return home.
Zahid's younger brother, Sajid, recalls the day their family got to know about his absence from the madrassa. "Our uncle had sent him some money but the madrassa returned it. When we contacted them they told us the last time they saw Zahid when he was collecting money with his friend and both the boys went missing from the next day," he said.
Zahid and his friend reached Bangalore by train. His friend abandoned him near a mosque a few hours later. Intimidated by the new atmosphere, Zahid took refuge inside the mosque. He met a man there who got him employed at a tea stall.
"As the years passed we started giving up hope to see him again. We took the help of police but even they could not trace him," says Sajid.
After working at the tea stall for a few years Zahid was taken home by a man who raised him as his own son. "He changed my last name from Hussain to Pasha, after his name. All my identity cards and official papers carry my new name. He helped me find work with a cable service provider and got me married," said Zahid.
His homecoming was no less than a movie script. About 1,200 miles away from Karnataka, Sunil Jaglan, the sarpanch of Bibipur village in Haryana and the founder of "selfie with daughter" campaign, received a call from Zahid. He claimed he knew the whereabouts of a seven-year-old boy from Haryana who had gone missing.
"After receiving the call I told him that I am part of Operation Muskaan that helps reuniting missing children with their families. It was only then that he revealed he was boy who got lost 15 years ago," said Jaglan. Jaglan then contacted the sarpanch of all the villages in Haryana, enquired about Zahid's family and was successful in tracking them down.
It has been a week since Eid but back in his village the festivities begin with his arrival. Relatives from all over came home to welcome him.
"My mother is very happy. She says it feels as if Zahid is born again today. Her condition started deteriorating when he got lost. She stopped eating and began ageing faster. I have seen her smile after a very long time" said Sajid.
