Sunday’s festival of Raksha Bandhan is special for 250 separated siblings who have not seen one another in months, even years. Some of the kids are runaways, some were rescued from being trafficked, while others were saved from red light areas where their mothers are commercial sex workers. These little brothers and sisters will be able to meet at a reunion organised by an NGO in Dadar.
The event holds a mirror to separated families, rather like migrant children taken away from their parents in the US. There is no official record of separated siblings in Mumbai either. Long absences at a tender age can make them forget how the other looks, jeopardising the chances of recognition in the future.
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