Mumbai:
When Manisha Lokre, a mentally-challenged, 19 year-old woman was found at Vikhroli station on Saturday, after having gone missing from her Sion house four hours earlier, it wasn't just a stroke of good luck.
Neither was it just on account of good Samaritan Guncha Khare who came to her rescue. It was also because of the innovative tee Lokre was wearing.
According to Khare, a passenger who was travelling first-class on the Ambernath to Vikhroli local train, Lokre walked into the compartment, and commuters began yelling at her for straying in.
"On seeing her, the women shouted at her. They asked her to get off the train. She looked angrily at everyone, but she smiled at me. Maybe because I didn't shout at her," she said.
When Khare alighted at Vikhroli station, Lokre followed her. Khare noticed a mobile number printed on Lokre's bright red T-shirt, and used a phone to call the number. She then handed over Lokre to the railway police station at Vikhroli, from where she was picked up by her mother Vijaya.
Lokre is one of four sisters and has gone missing from her home several times. The family would register a missing complaint with the police each time.
"We have filed endless complaints. Now, even the police don't take our complaint seriously," said Vijaya. So, two years ago, the mother came up with the idea of ensuring Lokre wore a tee that had their contact number, residential address and name printed on it.
"Now we don't have to worry as much. If she gets lost and is found, we know, we can be contacted," smiled Vijaya.