Twenty-six years after accidentally leaving home, he finally found his way back. Once he arrived, he shared his story with locals, who helped him find his way back home to his mother and surviving brother and sister. In 2012, Saroo embarked on a trip from Australia back to Khandwa, India. You are able to go over and take a photo mentally and ask, 'Does this match?' And when you say, 'No,' you keep on going and going and going." In Saroo's words, "It was just like being Superman. He eventually spotted a neighborhood, street and tin roof that looked familiar. Saroo spotted one vague landmark that led him to the next, helping him unlock a five-year-old child’s memories. After countless hours of scouring this area of Google Earth imagery, he came upon a proverbial needle in a haystack. Using the ruler feature in Google Earth, he mapped out a search radius by making an educated guess about how far he traveled by train. In 2011, using vague memories and Google Earth imagery, Saroo identified his home town. Though Saroo Munshi Khan couldn’t find his home, Saroo Brierley never gave up the search. At six years old, Saroo had a new family, home, country and name. He moved across an ocean to the town of Hobart in Tasmania. Eventually, he was taken into an orphanage, where he was adopted by the Brierleys, an Australian family. The train Saroo boarded was in Berhanpur, India, and he ended up 1,500 kilometers away, in Calcutta. When he woke up, the train had left the station, separating Saroo from his home and family. Guddu wandered beyond the station and Saroo fell asleep on a stationary train waiting for his brother’s return. On that day 27 years ago, Saroo and his 14-year-old brother, Guddu, were searching a train station for change to help support their family. If it weren’t for hope, determination and technology, Saroo would have remained forever lost. This incredible true story spans decades, miles and continents. For more than a quarter century, he searched for them before finding his way back home with the help of Google Earth. This fateful train ride ripped Saroo away from his home and family. He woke up hours later, alone and in an unfamiliar place. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Dev Patel for Best Supporting Actor.In 1986, a five-year-old boy named Saroo Munshi Khan accidentally fell asleep on a stationary train in India. The 2016 film version, Lion, stars Nicole Kidman, Dev Patel, and Rooney Mara. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit: hope. The text was initially released in Australia on 24 June 2013 via Viking, then re-released internationally in 2014, and adapted into a major film in 2016. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family.Ī Long Way Home is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. A Long Way Home is a non-fiction book by Indian-Australian businessman Saroo Brierley written together with Larry Buttrose. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home, and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia.ĭespite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. The miraculous and triumphant story of Saroo Brierley, a young man who used Google Earth to rediscover his childhood life and home in an incredible journey from India to Australia and back againĪt only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India.
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