VADODARA: In the absence of words, a 14-year-old hearing- and speech-impaired boy’s love for drawing helped authorities reunite him with his family in Rajasthan, ending the seven-month ordeal of his parents, who had taken a vow to sleep on an empty stomach until he returned.Rajdeep (name changed), whose family earns a living through pottery and small-scale farming, was found wandering at the Vadodara railway station on Oct 17 last year by the Railway Protection Force (RPF). He was later given shelter at the Deepak Foundation Children’s Home.Counselling the boy and extracting information about his native proved challenging due to his impairment and inability to read or write. But officials began engaging with him with the help of trained educators.During these interactions, they discovered his fondness for drawings which reflected a distinct Rajasthani flavour, each sketch filled with strokes of familiar colours, shapes and traditions of a home he could not name. These were particularly reminiscent of the Nathdwara regionPiece by piece, those drawings formed a trail, guiding authorities across states and eventually leading them to his family in a remote village near the temple town.To trace his home, officials showed him photographs of various places and landmarks across Rajasthan. While he did not recognise most locations, he identified a prominent modern landmark — ‘Statue of Belief’, a Lord Shiva statue in Nathdwara.Acting on this lead, the CWC contacted the Nathdwara police, who assigned assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Uday Singh to assist with the search. Counsellor Sandhya Sapkal, along with a CWC staff member and Rajdeep, travelled to Nathdwara earlier this week. Accompanied by ASI Singh, they spent a day visiting nearly 10 villages, hoping the boy might recognise something.Their breakthrough came unexpectedly on April 15. While driving through the area, Rajdeep spotted a couple on a motorcycle and excitedly urged the team to follow them. Singh stopped the couple, who were initially wary, but their reaction changed instantly on seeing the boy. They were relatives of Rajdeep’s father.The team was soon led to his village, where an emotional reunion unfolded. His parents, who had filed a missing person complaint at Mavli police station in Udaipur, said they had been searching for him for months and had even taken a vow to eat only once a day until he returned.Police later learned that Rajdeep had left home following a minor dispute—a decision that set off a long and uncertain journey, ultimately guided by the drawings he never stopped making.
