A 14-year-old school boy, Vinaykumar of Holenarasipur near Mysore, who ran away from his home on November 1, was reunited with his family here on Wednesday, thanks to the efforts of local NGOs and two philatelists, who used Facebook to communicate about the lost boy.
Tamilvanan, secretary of the Vellore Philately Club, said he came to know about the stranded boy in Arakkonam through a vernacular daily and published the news on Facebook. One of his friends from Bangalore, Jagannath Mani who is also a philatelist, passed on this information to his colleague, who in turn contacted her mother who lived in a village near Holenarasipur. Subsequently, Jagannath traced the family of Vinaykumar and after verifying the details, passed on the information to Tamilvanan here.
R Chandrasekaran, president of NGO Udhavum Ullangal, said he received a call from a journalist friend in Arakkonam seeking help for a 14-year-old boy rescued from Chennai Central Station by one Babu of Arakkonam.
Chandrasekaran and his friend Anbu from Don Bosco Anbu Illam went to Arakkonam and brought Vinaykumar to Vellore and admitted him to the government reception home a week ago. Chandrasekaran said Babu took the boy to his house and offered him shelter for over 40 days, as both the Railway Protection Force and the Arakkonam police had advised him to keep Vinaykumar in his care until his family claimed him.
When the news about Vinaykumar reached his family, his mother Vasantha (34), who worked as an ayah at a private school, along with her relatives and Jagannath Mani came to Vellore on Wednesday.
It was a tearful reunion for mother and son when they met at the reception home. The boy was handed over to his mother by the managers of the home and the member of the Child Welfare Committee Jayaseelan, after verifying documents of their relationship.
Vasantha told Express that Vinaykumar wanted to celebrate Rajyotsav Day on November 1 with his friends but his mother did not permit him to do so. The same night he left home and travelled on a train without a ticket to Chennai, from where he was rescued by Anbu. Vinaykumar’s mother thanked the NGOs, the two philatelists and the officials of government home, for their timely intervention and help in tracing her son and uniting them.