A man was dramatically reunited with his parents after eight years with the help of the social networking platform, Facebook, that helped his parents trace him. The boy from Telangana, who ran away from home when he was 13, was discovered eight years later that he was in Punjab and was working in a field for a landlord. According to news reports, he was missing since January 26, 2011.
In January 2011, 13-year-old Dinesh had a huge fight with his brother over who will bat in a cricket game. Angry, he took Rs 2000 from his home and left in Moula Ali in Hyderabad.
"I was batting for a long time and Dinesh wanted to bat. I refused to let him bat and he started throwing the ball very fast. I got angry and hit him. He ran away from there and did not return," Deepak, Dinesh's brother told Times of India after he was discovered.
Dinesh found himself in Delhi a few days later where he met a man from Punjab with whom he shared a room. The man took him to Amritsar and let him work on his agricultural land there. According to TOI, Dinesh, who was just a teenager began to miss his family. In 2015, he attempted to meet them and even came to Telangana but developed cold feet and ran back to Punjab.
"I was afraid for what I had done, so I returned to Punjab after my first attempt. But I then created my profiles on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter, hoping that my family members would notice and contact me," Dinesh said.
Fate opened its eyes in August 2018 when Dinesh's brother came across his profile on Facebook. Deepak then approached the cyber cell of the Hyderabad police who helped track the boy back to Amritsar in Punjab.
While Dinesh wanted to continue his studies (he was in class eight when he left home), he couldn't because he did not have his certificates on him. "Subhraj Sir allowed me to stay with his family. For one year, they did not ask me to do anything and I used to play with the children and stay in their house," Dinesh was quoted as saying by TOI.
"So, I dropped the idea of going to school and attended Spoken English classes on the advice of well-wishers who promised to get me a job abroad," he continued saying.
Dinesh, who now goes by Dinesh Jena Lima, drives the tractor and works on the fields in Amritsar. TOI reports that he is also fluent in Hindi, Punjabi and knows English as well.
