Providing details in a release issued here, Superintendent of the Observation Home G J Kantharia said that 14-year-old Vijay Rajkumar Kohli, studying in class nine in a Hindi medium school in Jalandhar, was brought to the Home on July 27 by the Surat railway police, after he was found loitering around the railway station under suspicious circumstances.

According to the Home officials, Vijay was produced in a juvenile court and was interrogated during which he confessed to have run away from his house because he was scolded by his father Rajkumar, mother Sarita and other relatives for not studying.

Fed up with their constant nagging, he went to Mumbai and then sat in a train and got down in Surat. When he was left with no money and was hungry, he began searching for food but was rounded up by the police instead.

While the boy did not disclose any details initially, he instead tried to misguide the Home officials.

``He first said that he had come over on a tour of Mumbai and Surat,'' Kantharia said adding that in many cases, the boys did not disclose the truth, fearing their parents' reaction after they returned.

However, the Home officials persuaded the boy to tell the truth after which he provided his parents' address and phone number to the superintendent, who contacted them immediately afterwards.

``I first spoke to his uncle and parents, informing them that the boy was well and safe,'' Kantharia said. Later in the evening, his mother, who had taken ill after her son was lost, called back and thanked the Observation Home profusely, Kantharia added. Vijay was then taken back by his uncle Naresh Kohli to his hometown.

``Some scenes are really touching and even those at the centre cried when Naresh Kohli and Vijay met,'' a clerk recalls.

All are however not so lucky. There are still many other at the home who either purposely did not disclose details of their families or simply do not have families at all. ``But we constantly try to unite the boys here with their families,'' Kantharia said.