A Long Way Home (Lion) - The story of Saroo Brierley and Google Earth

Saroo was living with his mother and two brothers, Guddu and Kallu, in the single room which was falling apart. Their neighbourhood had broken uneven streets, no electricity and was poverty-stricken.

Kamla was Saroo's mum who worked 6 days a week doing hard grueling work from morning to night. Saroo's oldest brother Guddu also went out washing dishes for half a rupee for every 6 hours. And after all their hard work the family would still have to beg for scraps.

Guddu also sold items at train station and Saroo decided one night to go with his big brother. He fell asleep on a train bench amd after the departed he was whisked away from his family and his life. It would be many years before he would return with barely any idea of where he was from.

Eventually Saroo ended up in an orphange and one of the women working in the orphange attempts to help Saroo get home. But the few words he thinks he can remember relating to his hometown are not recognised by anyone. So he is put up for adoption.

An Australian couple decide to adopt Saroo and after seeing a scrap book of their lives in Tasmania he left for Australia to start his new life. And a few years later, John and Sue Brierley, who were heaven ssnt for Saroo, adopted another child Mantash.

In 2004 Google Earth is born and will help an adult Saroo begin his journey back to where he was born. His incredible adoptive parents kept photographs and maps of Saroo's memories as a five year old incase he ever wanted to use them to find his way home.

In 2012 Saroo went to Khandwa with a picture of himself as a child to see if he could find his family. Eventually he was led to his mother, surviving brother Kallu and his sister. Whilst Saroo still lives in Australia he communicates with his biological family regularly and bought his mother her own house so she no longer needs to work. Sadly Saroo's brother Guddu fell from a moving train and died the same night Saroo was lost.