Small Town cyber Cafe operator helps man find home

MADAN WAS FOUND WANDERING AT KHANNA AND GIVEN SHELTER BY MIGRANTS Cyber cafe owner helps man find home Somesh Batta , Indian Express . Khanna, April 19, 2005: A mentally ill person missing from New Delhi who had reached Khanna ( A small town on the outskirts of New delhi) was united with his family with the help of the Internet. Pawan Dhir, the owner of a cyber cafe in the township helped 45-year-old Madan Lal Maddi by searching for his house on the Net. He then informed his family members, who took him to New Delhi on Sunday. Madan Lal had been missing since March 29. Dhir told Newsline that some rehri owners came to him on Sunday morning. They told me that some migrant labourers had found this man wandering about on March 30, and had provided him with food and shelter since. Madan Lal's residential address was inscribed on his arm with his phone number. But when I called up on that number, a woman said no member of their family was missing. Then I searched the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) website to locate any phone number on said address, but was unsuccessful. Dhir, however, did not give up his quest to help the poor man. He searched the Delhi police website and found Mohan Garden, the place given on Madan's arm, located in Uttam Nagar police station. I was disappointed by the attitude of the munshi at the police station, who was no help and told me to bring Madan back to Delhi myself. Dhir said again searched the MTNL website and found the telephone number of the address given on Madan's arm. All this while, Madan Lal only talked about about Ludhiana and Rakesh. I later found that Rakesh Sabharwal, his brother, is an assistant manager in State Bank of Patiala at Gurgaon. He reached here and lovingly took back his brother,said Dhir. The family was highly helpful to him for helping them locate Madan Lal. In stark contrast I recently read a very sad news report in Times of India about a Metropolitian Mumbai's resident. The girl was missing for over a month, Her family members kept on hunting for her followed all the trails without success. The local Police station too was trying to do to best of their abilities but failed, finally after a month long efforts the family approached the CID branch just a few kilometers away & they cracked the case within no time. The girl had died in a train accident The police traced the victim through her last mobile call and the area railway police station were able to match the details. Unfortunately the family came to know about the whereabouts after she was cremated.Open access to information and coordination of various agencies and ofcourse a good Samaritan like Pawan Dhir could have saved the family from all the agony. I am sure there are many more Internet Cafe operators like Pawan Dhir amongst us who can make a difference.