For 12-year-old Kartik Selvan, the curtains fell on the drama on August 21, seven months after he went missing from his home at Tata Colony, Chembur when his face was flashed on a spot on the programme. A student of Saraswati Vidyalaya, Chembur, Kartik ran away on January 20 out of fear of his father. Says his mother Sivakami, ``Kartik would play with water from the community tap in our slum along with neighbourhood boys almost every day. His father, an electrician at the Tata Electric unit, got angry one day and scolded him.'' Kartik promised never to playat the tap again, but was back there the very next day. ``He spent the whole day there and that upset his father,'' she says. Adds Kartik, the eldest among three children, ``I didn't keep my word, and I was worried that my father would beat me up, so I decided to run away.''

Kartik's destination was his grandparents' home at Chennai, and filled with the experience of having been there with his parents during his vacations, he boarded a local to CST, reaching there at around 11.30 pm. ``I asked somebody which train would go to Chennai, and he pointed to one, which I boarded,'' says Kartik. He didn't have a ticket, but the gritty boy wasn't scared either, skipping food for two days.

Unfortunately - or fortunately as it later turned out - the train was headed for Mathura! Kartik reached there at 9.30 pm and went to a nearby shop. ``I told a man I saw there that I had run away from home, and that I was from Mumbai,'' says Kartik, adding that he then asked the man for some tea.

The man, whom Kartik remembersonly as Abdul, took him to his house. ``His wife, children and his parents were there. He gave me food and they looked after me well,'' he recalls. While Kartik says he had a good time in Mathura - he spent his time playing with the neighbourhood children, plus, of course, there was no school - his parents back home were frantically complaining to the police and placing advertisements in newspapers. ``It never occurred to us that he would try to run away. We were so worried, his father even went to Pune and checked up at the hospitals there,'' recalls Sivakami.

The television-savvy family - a TV set is perched in the loft of the hutment - also got in touch with the Missing show, which aired Kartik's photograph and address on August 2. Back there in Mathura, Abdul happened to see the spot and contacted Kartik's family. Apparently, the Muslim family had tried to contact Kartik's father's office with a number given by Kartik, but they gave up trying two-three tries, added Sivakami.

Says Kartik'sfather Paramashivan, who travelled to Mathura to bring back his son, ``Those people were not so rich, and earned a living making silver jewellery. There were some 9-10 people in the house. '' Despite that, he says, they were in almost in tears when Kartik had to leave. Adds Kartik, ``My Mathura friends too came to see me off at the station. We called them up from here later, and they were asking me how I was...''

Now, of course, Kartik is getting back to life as it used to be. Schools, teachers, friends. As he couldn't take the final examination, Kartik will have to repeat Std V again. ``He is a good student, just that he is much too naughty,'' said his mother.

Missing officials are expectedly celebrating over the show's success. Namrata Rungta, executive producer of Missing, told Express Newsline, ``There has been a lot of response to the show, and it is creating awareness among people.''