At just five years old, Saroo fell asleep on a bench at a quiet railway station in central India. He had been waiting there with his older brother, Guddu, who told him to stay put for a few minutes. When he woke up, his brother was gone.
Confused and frightened, Saroo searched for Guddu, calling his name, but couldnโt find him. Spotting a train at the platform, he believed his brother might be inside. He climbed aboard and soon fell asleep again. When he awoke, the train was already moving. The doors were locked, the carriages almost empty, and there was no one to help him. For two full days, the train carried him across India with no food or water.
When it finally stopped, he was in Kolkata, more than 1,000 kilometers from home.
He didnโt know the name of his village, couldnโt read, and didnโt even remember his own surname. All he had were a few faint memories: a water tower, a bridge, and a river. For weeks, he survived on the streets of Kolkata, sleeping under benches and eating scraps from rubbish bins, always staying away from strangers.
Eventually, he was taken to an orphanage. When no one could trace his family, he was adopted by a kind Australian couple and brought to Tasmania. There, he learned a new language, went to school, and started a new life. Yet the memories of his Indian home never faded.
As a young adult, he began a determined search. Using Google Earth, he calculated how far the train could have traveled in two days and slowly explored the vast area station by station. Night after night, for years, he scanned satellite images.
Then, in 2011, everything changed. He spotted a familiar water tower, followed by a road and a bridge. The location was Ganesh Talai, near the town of Khandwa.
He traveled there with little certainty. As he walked the streets, long-buried memories came rushing back. He stopped in front of a house, and a woman stepped out. It was his mother.
Twenty-five years after he disappeared, Saroo had finally come home.
That day, he also learned the tragic fate of his brother Guddu. On the same night they were separated, Guddu had been killed by a train while looking for him. In a single day, their family had lost both sons, only for one to return a quarter of a century later.
Saroo now lives between two worlds: the Australian life he built and the Indian roots he rediscovered. His incredible journey was later shared in the book and the film Lion.