Recently, I read an article in TOI where an elderly man was roaming helpless in the city with no one to help him and was found dead by his kin a few days later. I had a similar experience but with a very positive ending and I wish to share it.
I was in Hauz Khas at the time, waiting for my parents who were to join me for dinner, when my help at home called me up to tell me that my grandfather had been gone for over an hour. I informed my parents about the same and made it home as fast as I could. On my way, I broadcasted a message on my BBM which read as follows,
“ People in west Delhi, an old man, 65+ years old,
is missing since today at 7PM. He was last seen in a
white shirt and brown trousers. He has a wheat ish complexion,
white hair combed back and is around 5 feet 7inches tall. He's carrying a polythene, a breifcase and a water bottle. He is nearby Kirti Nagar & probably has dazed expressions. His name is Prakash Lal Trikha. He is my grandfather.
You can see his picture set as my Display Picture If you see him, or have seen him today, contact me.
Please rebroadcast.
Ojasvi Trikha
9871******
9999****** ”
And within minutes saw many people rebroadcasting the same on BBM as well as whatsapp. Messages and status updates were flying all over FaceBook and twitter. Soon, even before I reached my residence in Kirti Nagar, I began receiving calls, BBMs and Whatsapp messages of people who had sighted someone matching the description and others to offer their help and condolences. Some of them clicked pictures and sent them to me.
When I finally reached home, I was surprised to see most of my friends waiting for me. They had brought along family members, neighbors and friends to help. I forwarded my grandfather’s pic to all of them, which they forwarded to everyone they knew and then began a massive man hunt which had over 400 civilians. I informed the police, who were very helpful and they radioed his description to all their PCRs in the West Delhi area.
3 hours after I had left Hauz Khas, I received a call from a certain Mr. Ashmeet Singh who said he had had seen my Dadaji at the TwentyFourSeven store in Rajouri Garden around an hour back and seeing that he seemed weak, he had bought him an Ice-Cream. I reached there as fast as I could and saw that Ashmeet and his family were also out looking for him, along with others in Rajouri Garden area. We showed his picture to by-standers and Ice Cream Vendors. One of the vendors told us that he had seen him walk towards the ring road around 10 minutes back. I saw a ray of hope. Everyone spread out, searching parks, residential blocks, lanes, gurudwaras etc. A security gaaurd saw him turn into a lane and immediately informed me. We drove around to the end of the lane and found him at it's exit near the ring road. I had found my da. At 1a.m. in the night. In a huge city like Delhi, within 4 hours, I had found him, or rather WE had found him.
Strangers all over west Delhi area had joined hands to help me find him. My faith in humanity was restored last night.
I love you delhihites.
Thanks Once Again,
Forever Indebted,
Ojasvi Trikha
I would especially like to thank Nakul Gupta, Srabhjot Singh, Pranav Rajput, Anmol Upadhyaya, Haardik Kohli, Shivek Malhotra, Anurag Verma, Isha Choudhary, Revant Pahuja, Ria Bakshi, Disha Elawadhi, Shreya Rehani, Paridhi Sabharwal, Mitali Kukreja, Shray Sethi, Umang Bajaj and Apoorva Sharma for their help and support.
Also Delhi police, RIM and Whatsapp Inc, without whom this wouldn't be possible.
