Name: Manu Shankar

Age: 13 Yrs

Hometown: Gujarat

Family: Father a Gujarati by origin married his mother who is a Malayali. Father is in Gujarat and Mother is working as a housemaid in Ernakulam South. Manu's twin brother Anu is also with him in Snehabhavan. The younger sister is with their father in Gujarat.

Manu, this young boy in Snehabhavan is identified easily from the crowd with a unique identification on his hair that looks like a white patch. Studying in 7th standard in St. Thomas UP School, this half Malayali and half Gujarati boy is enthusiastic in his own ways. His twin-brother Anu is also with him in Snehabhavan. Even though they look alike, this similarity does not match when it comes to fighting each other. “This is one of the main reason why we are here in Snehabhavan”, Manu says. Their mother's house is in Thrissur, Kerala. So they go often to visit their relatives there. His mother stays in the house where she is working as a maid. He engages himself in playing football with other mates during his leisure time in Snehabhavan. He also enjoys reading story books. Aiming to study well, he wants to be a proud soldier of our country. This desire was born out not just because that he watched any inspiring movies, but it was formed in naturally.

Name: Salim

Age:

Family situation: An orphan. Hails from Maharastra.

Salim was just an ordinary boy. The fact which surprised me the most about this tiny boy, is the fluency with which he spoke Malayalam. . You might wonder, why the simple matter of a boy speaking Malayalam comes as a matter of surprise. I'll explain. Salim hails from North India and has never travelled out of his home state-Maharastra, for all of the early years of his life. He has been at Snehabhavan or rather in Kerala only for the past 6 months and yet he has learned and picked up the local language in just a few months time. In fact he spoke it better than a few of the typical Malayalam speaking guys at Snehabhavan. That was what had surprised me. He also acts as a translator, helping us, when we talk in Malayalam  to the other guys at the orphanage who know and understand only Hindi.

Salim enjoys going around with a pin hidden in his pocket. And as and when he gets his chances, he gives a slight prod to any of his friends nearby. And one can hear the victim's shriek and Salim's mischievous laugh echoing the room at exactly the same time. The other boys have almost got used to this, and you can see their cautious faces once they know that Salim is around. This frolicsome behaviour of his, has earned him the tag of “Shock Salim” by the other kids at the orphanage. Even in between our small conversation, he managed to give me a poke or two. After accomplishing the act, he look amused and looked up at me with a satisfying grin. What a boy! Whew.

I'll tell you my story if you do not publicize it. Agreed! He began bantering his story in one go. I could just pick up pieces of his story. Words rattled out so quickly that it looked like he had taken it as a challenge to complete the happenings of his entire past in one single minute. Someone locked him up...roamed around the streets of Mumbai hungry for days at a stretch...he jumped into a running train....used to wipe the floor with his shirt...used to earn hundreds a day...doesn't want to study...wants to go back to his work, .etc. I looked at him with sympathy. on seeing that, the face that was full of remorse the previous second, broke into a sly smile. He sat back on his chair, clapped his hands and delightfully blurted out “All what I told you is nothing but a lie”. I stared in disbelief. He gave me another poke and ran out of the room. I still keep wondering as to whether the story was really true or not.

Name: Rahul Biswas

Hometown: Daman and diu (Gujarat)

Family: Father and mother died out of sickness.

Rahul, an enthusiastic child in Snehabhavan has got a grim past. He was left all alone after his parents died. Since Rahul is the only child of his parents, he was looked after by his maman (i.e,Father's brother), so couldn't expect much mercy in his dealings with Rahul. Their house was near the railway station in Daman. One day as he was trying to escape from his uncle's beatings, he hid himself in a train compartment without realizing that it would soon leave the station for Kerala. That is how his journey started. That train journey reached him to Kollam, where he stayed with one family doing the household works that he could. After the family left for Dubai, again he was left alone and stood aloof in the railway station not knowing what to do next. It was then a shop owner who sells mineral water bottles at the railway station came to his rescue and offered him a job there. After making some money, he was prepared to leave back to Gujarat. But his fate didn't help him to leave Kerala. The police caught hold of him for traveling alone in a reservation compartment. They took him to Kollam Juvenile Home and thus paved his way to Snehbhavan.

It is only a year now, since Rahul was brought to Snehabhavan. He is a good child here. Now he is in 5th standard. A Gujarati by origin he has learned malayalam after his dramatic end of train journey in Kollam. He is also fluent in Hindi and can pick up English when spoken. Good at studies, Rahul wants to be a proud Soldier for our country, India. When asked, what inspired him to make such a choice? He listed out a few of the Malayalam movies like 'Keerthichakra', 'Kurukshetra' etc..that expressed intense love for the country. Eventhough Rahul has his relatives in Gujarat, he never wants to go back to his native, but more attached to Snehabhavan.