Indus Valley Times

By A Iswar Rao

Malkangiri (odisha), Oct. 14: Global Positioning Systems, better known as GPS, which has become an integral part of the human beings in their day-today life, has helped an illiterate migrant worker of Odisha to get united with his family in Malkangiri district.

Thanks to the school-going teenage daughter of the man who used the GPS technology to travel all the way from Mumbai to Malkangiri.

Sources said that one Niranjan Sarkar of MV-13 village of Malkangiri had gone to Andhra Pradesh 22 years ago in search of a job when he was hardly 17.  As he was illiterate, he had no concrete idea about his address.

 After failing to return to his village, Niranjan had left for Mumbai to eke out a living as a daily wager. In Mumbai, he got married and became father of a baby girl. He enrolled his daughter in a local school. As her father wanted to go back to his village and meet his family, his daughter Khusbu helped her father return to his village MV 13 using a GPS app.  

“When I was barely 17, I had left my village. I visited many places to lead a quality lifestyle. Subsequently, I got married and became a father after moving to Mumbai. It was my daughter who helped me return to my village. Now I am with my mother and brother.” Niranjan Sarkar said with tears rolling down his cheeks.

His daughter Khusbu said, “My father loves his birthplace like anything. He used to talk about his village a lot. Thus, we suddenly decided to return to MV 13 village. It was then I asked him the village name. He, however, had remembered only the name of the district he belongs to and lane no 13. I searched for the location using the GPS. And finally we reached my father’s village. My happiness knew no bounds after meeting my grandmother, uncle, aunt and brother. I love this place.”