Mumbai: A 19-year-old Faheem Wasim Khan who was separated from his parents around 8 years back reunites on Gandhi Jayanti, almost a decade after.
Faheem was about eight when he was travelling with his parents and two siblings by train from Mumbai to their native village in Sultanpur district, UP, on May 9, 2010 went down to drink to water, while his parents were asleep, unfortunately the train left before he could return.
His father alighted at Bhusawal, while his mother went ahead with her daughters. Faheem boarded another train, hoping to find his parents.
“He was crying and only remembered his parents were from Sultanpur. GRP personnel at Khandwa handed him over to Navjivan Children’s Home,” said Wasim’s maternal uncle Aman Khan, who has a transport business at Govandi, and who had hosted his brother-in-law and his family for a month here. Faheem’s father, now working in Saudi Arabia, had brought his family to Mumbai from Sultanpur on a vacation.
Faheem was under the care of Sister Ambika at the children’s home, while his father and uncle searched for him in Nashik and Mumbai.
Faheem who is waiting for his Class 12 results said that he was properly taken care at the Children’s home.
His family searched for him at dargahs in Nashik and Mumbai, railway stations, mortuaries and registered a missing person’s complaint.
Faheem excelled in basketball and football, played state-level football matches and represented MP at a national-level football championship. His uncle said the family, though disturbed, never lost hope.
Sultanpur’s additional superintendent of police Shivraj contacted local activist and social worker Gufran Ahmed Saifi, who shared the info with his photograph with anganwadi workers and activists on social media.
“Within three hours, his uncle, mother Nasibun Nisa and elder sister Saharbano came to meet me,” Saifi said. The boy and his mother recognized each other, and locked in an embrace for several minutes, they cried. “I want to follow my dream of playing football for India,” he said.