Raju, 14, lost his beloved aunt, the matriarch of their family of five, in November 2007. Just as life was slowly returning to its rhythm, one afternoon, when Raju came home from school with his brother and sister, he couldn’t find his mother, Lakshmi. Just a few months ago, she had taken her children and walked out of a violence-ridden home, where her husband beat her up regularly.
Not finding her at home, Raju decided to wait for his mother. But as the hours passed with no sign of her, the then Class IX student knocked on the doors of every house in his neighbourhood in Bhimavaram town of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, with the hope that someone would know where she was. With his mother missing, he felt an overwhelming sense of desolation.
Days turned into weeks, and there was still no trace of her. Raju’s sister, then 5, was put under the care of a relative in Hyderabad, while his younger brother, 11, found employment at a hotel. Raju was left to fend for himself.
