A Long Way Home

Saroo explains that he feels as though he has to do one final thing: take the train from Burhanpur to Kolkata as an adult. He initially tries to buy his ticket in Khandwa, which is no easy task: train tickets in India must be certified in order to guarantee a passenger their seat for the entire journey, and not speaking Hindi complicates matters. Swarnima helps Saroo figure out what route he might have taken as a child. There are two possible options: one that goes south with a transfer in Bhusawal, and one that arcs nonstop all the way to Kolkata.

Looking at the two routes, Saroo is forced to confront how uncertain his memories of the train are. It’s clear that his belief that he was only on the train for 15 hours was wrong; there’s no way to get from Burhanpur to Kolkata in less than 24 hours, and 29 hours is a more common travel time. Saroo also realizes that his assumption that he woke on the platform and boarded the train in front of him must be wrong as well. He would’ve boarded a southbound train from that platform, and southbound trains don’t go to Kolkata directly. He realizes he either changed platforms or changed trains at some point.

Saroo explains that his memories of that night aren’t clear. Sometimes, he has a flicker of an image of jumping off a train and getting on another one, but he’s unsure if it’s real. If it’s real, it could mean that he did go to Bhusawal and boarded a train to Kolkata, though it’s also possible that in Bhusawal he got on the same train going back from whence it came, slept through the Burhanpur stop, and went to Kolkata on the other route. There’s no way to be sure. Saroo decides to honor his memory of being trapped on the train and books a ticket on the Kolkata Mail from Burhanpur.

It’s unlikely this was the train Saroo took, as it would’ve only stopped in Burhanpur for two minutes and a conductor would’ve checked off new passengers. This is one of the mysteries of Saroo’s journey, however: he doesn’t remember seeing conductors at all, and conductors are a constant on interstate trains. However, Saroo remains firm in his decision to take the Kolkata Mail. Before he leaves, he visits Kamla one final time to take family photos. It’s emotional to get to say goodbye to his mother before leaving for the train this time, as he hadn’t gotten to as a child.

Saroo watches fireworks in Burhanpur that night, somewhat worried about what reliving his childhood memories might dredge up or what memories it might challenge. Saroo wakes later to a knock on his door from a rickshaw driver, showers in cold water, and heads for the Burhanpur station at 4:00 am. When they arrive, Saroo reads that the train will be an hour late. He takes the time to look around the station. While it had been dirty when he was a child, it’s now very clean. Saroo studies the opposite platform, sure that it’s where Guddu left him and where he boarded.

Saroo catches the eye of a chai seller across the tracks and motions that he’d like a cup. Just as the seller regains his platform after serving Saroo, a freight train rushes by at full speed—trains don’t slow down at stations in India. Saroo wonders if Guddu died doing the same thing the chai man just did. He thinks that despite the confusion surrounding which platform he boarded from, he still feels sure about what happened after he boarded: he looked for Guddu, curled up to sleep, and woke to bright sunlight. He reasons that the time must have felt like eternity to a five-year-old.

Other passengers arrive on the platform in time to catch the late train. A conductor ushers Saroo into the appropriate first-class carriage. Saroo wonders about his memory of the carriage being empty, something that never happens in India. He wonders if his carriage was maybe headed for repair or was a work train. As the Kolkata Mail pulls out, Saroo shivers and reminds himself that he’s setting things right by taking this journey.

Saroo explains that when he was a child, most people traveled by rail. The trains weren’t fast then and still aren’t fast now. After an hour of being on the train, Saroo realizes that if he indeed took this route as a child, he went right through Khandwa. He wonders if he slept through the stop. Had he woken up, he could’ve simply gotten off and gone home.

Saroo’s train comes to life with the sounds of ringtones, conversation, and vendors selling chai and food. As Saroo walks to the pantry car, he becomes more convinced that the train he was on as a child must not have been in use given the major differences and the lack of passengers. He makes a point of studying the landscape outside, which is much like he remembers it. He thinks that he’s more anxious than nervous about returning to Kolkata as night falls.

Saroo feels at peace lying down in the bumpy train, listening to the Hindi around him. Earlier that day, he’d spoken with a little boy who was excited to practice his English. They talked about cricket, and the boy seemed disappointed that Saroo isn’t married. The boy did seem satisfied when Saroo explained he has family in both India and Tasmania, and he realized that he’s also satisfied with that answer.

Late the next morning, the train begins to slow down. Saroo looks at all the tracks snaking out from Howrah Station and realizes that he never stood a chance of finding his way home as a child. Finally, at 12:20 pm, the train reaches Howrah Station. Saroo stands on the platform, noticing that now, people surge around him—as a child, they’d ignored him. He thinks that one upset child in such a busy place wouldn’t have been a strange sight. Saroo finds the station hauntingly familiar, though he doesn’t notice any homeless children inside. He notices some outside, and can barely believe he survived. He takes a taxi to his hotel.

That afternoon, Saroo meets up with a translator and takes a taxi to the ISSA office to visit Mrs. Sood. The office looks exactly as it did when Saroo was a child, and Mrs. Sood is shocked to see Saroo. Though she’s in her eighties, she remembers Saroo perfectly. She inquires after Mum and Kamla, and then asks a social worker, Mrs. Medhora, to find Saroo’s file.

Saroo explains that Mrs. Sood has been helping children for 37 years, and has arranged about 2,000 adoptions. She was born in New Delhi, earned a law degree, and facilitated her first adoption in 1963. After she helped a Swedish woman adopt an Indian child, the woman wrote about Mrs. Sood and inspired Mrs. Sood to move to Calcutta, receive training in adoption, and finally open ISSA in 1975. Mrs. Sood explains that while Saroo’s adoption had been easy, intercountry adoption is now very difficult—it often takes between one and five years.

Saroo thinks of Mum, who is still very frustrated with how difficult adoption can be, especially after her experience trying to adopt Mantosh. He explains that in 1987, it only took a few weeks to arrange his adoption. Mrs. Sood explains that it’s very common for families to do what Saroo’s parents did and adopt a second child from India. Finally, Mrs. Medhora returns with Saroo’s file. Saroo reads that he was taken to the police on April 21, 1987, classified as a child in need of care, and then spent a month in Liluah. From there, he was turned over to ISSA on May 22. ISSA then had two months to either find Saroo’s family or declare him adoptable by another. If they hadn’t been successful, Saroo would’ve been returned to Liluah, as Mantosh was.

ISSA had photographed Saroo and published the picture in several newspapers, none of which were distributed anywhere near Khandwa. He was declared free for adoption on June 26, the Brierleys were approved to adopt him on August 24, and he received his passport on September 14. Ten days later, he boarded the plane for Melbourne. Mrs. Medhora also explains to Saroo that he’d been wrong about why he’d been released from Liluah; while he used to think it was because he was in good health, it was actually because he was lost. ISSA intended to reunite him with Kamla.

It also comes to light that ISSA hadn’t known that Saroo spent weeks on Kolkata’s streets. He hadn’t offered any information and likely wouldn’t have been able to tell them much had they asked specifically. They believe he was very lucky to have survived in Kolkata for several days, let alone weeks. Finally, Saroo bids Mrs. Sood goodbye. He gets back in the taxi with Mrs. Medhora and the interpreter to visit Nava Jeevan. The building Saroo remembers is now a free daycare center. Then, they visit the Juvenile Court and finally, Liluah.

The building looks like a fortress, and Saroo remembers the massive gates outside. Now, the building is a home for women and girls. Somehow it seems less brutal, though it still seems like a place one would want to escape quickly. The visit to Liluah helps ease some of the pain Saroo feels about his past. He wonders how people could’ve slipped over the tall fences without anyone saying anything, and he feels thankful that he survived.

To end his journey, Saroo walks the streets near the Howrah Station. He marvels that he could still smell the fruit as a child over the stench of human waste. He walks to the river, but decides to not go down to the edge. He instead decides to cross the Howrah Bridge. The crush of humanity is incredible, and Saroo marvels at how small he must’ve felt as a child. After walking a short way across, Saroo stops and looks back to the riverbank. He looks for the holy men he slept near but doesn’t see them, and also observes the place where he almost drowned. He thinks of the homeless man who saved him, as well as the teenager who took him to the police. Saroo thanks the homeless man as the sun begins to set.