From The telegraph UK (April 17, 2012)
HOME»TECHNOLOGY»GOOGLE
Google Earth helps Indian man find his family
An Indian man who became separated from his family as a small child has
found his mother using Google Earth.
Google Earth helped Saroo Brierley find where he was born and the
waterfall he used to play in as a child. Photo: Screenshot by Steven
Musil/CNET
By Amy Willis6:50AM BST 17 Apr 2012Comment
Saroo Brierley, 31, was sweeping trains outside Calcutta as a
five-year-old boy when he fell asleep.
He had expected his older brother to wake him up but instead he slept
for 14 hours and found himself in an unknown city when he awoke.
Lost and with no way of finding his way back, he spent time on the
streets before being taken in by an orphanage.
Mr Brierley was later adopted and moved out of India to Tasmania in
Australia.
Nearly quarter of a century afterwards, Mr Brierley set about searching
for his family, but he did not know the name of his hometow
However, using his memories he used Google Earth to search through
dozens of images in the hope of finding an area that he remembered.
"It was just like being Superman. You are able to go over and take a
photo mentally and ask: 'Does this match?'," Mr Brierley said.
"And when you say, 'No', you keep on going and going and going."
To narrow down the search, he calculated the distance the train would
have travelled using the speed of Indian trains and the time he was on
the train – 14 hours. He eventually came up with a distance of 1,200km.
He drew a circle around a satellite map of Calcutta and eventually he
found where his family had lived in a place called Khandwa.
"When I found it, I zoomed down and bang, it just came up," he said.
"I navigated it all the way from the waterfall where I used to play."
Mr Brierley travelled back to India. He found his family had moved on
but neighbours remembered his mother and they arranged for him to see
her.
He was overwhelmed to find her. Speaking about the reunion he said:
"The last time I saw her she was 34 years old and a pretty lady, I had
forgotten that age would get the better of her.
"But the facial structure was still there and I recognised her and I
said, 'Yes, you are my mother.'
"She grabbed my hand and took me to her house. She could not say
anything to me. I think she was as numb as I was.
"She had a bit of trouble grasping that her son, after 25 years, had
just reappeared like a ghost."
Film makers have taken an interest in Mr Brierley’s story and are
considering making his story into a film.
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