WRONG SIDE OF THE TRACKS

In 2024, close to 15,000 children were rescued from railway stations across the country—a threefold increase from 2020

- BY KRITAJNA NAIK

Badal was only six when he was found at the bustling New Delhi railway station in the summer of 2009. Quiet and curious, he had wandered off a bit too far, but curiosity slowly turned into fear. All he could see were tall figures running around, not a single soul caring to look down. Moments later, someone held his little hands and took him to a shelter home. The caretakers gave him food and clothes and named him after the wandering clouds he would often stare at. They gently listed every city they could think of, watching the flicker in Badal’s expressions.

“Varanasi?” No response. “Lucknow?” Nothing.

This coaxing went on for weeks before the lady who cooked food there, who had a soft spot for children, came close and whispered, “Patna?” Badal froze. His eyes welled up and he gave tiny trembling nods. Within days, he was transferred to a shelter home in Patna. He grew up at Apna Ghar, a shelter home close to Patna Junction, where several tiny hands held each other, making it their home. Badal grew up inside those walls, helping children tie their shoelaces, giving the warmth he himself craved for. He learnt to sleep with unanswered questions—how did he get lost? Who were his parents? He had faint memories of his mother, humming a lullaby, and the tight grip he had on her little finger when she took him to buy candies. “I don’t remember how I got lost. All my memories are of the shelter home I grew up in,” he says.

When Badal turned 18, he was enrolled in future planning sessions like other children at the home.