My past was always there. And I always understood that I was adopted. It wasn't like a massive issue to me. But identity was an issue. I knew that I was Indian, but I didn't really know much about myself, really. I mean, I really disassociated myself from what happened in the past to present. But, it was affecting in regards to identity.
Saroo Brierley
Just as my search for my mother had in some ways shaped my life, her faith that I was alive had shaped hers. She couldn't search, but she did the next best thing: She stayed still.
Mum and Dad had waited 16 years for adoption laws to change in their home state, Tasmania, so that they could apply to the authorities to create the family of their dreams. I am so thankful for their endurance and patience. Who knows what would have happened to me if they hadn't miraculously appeared when I needed them most?
I've moved to Australia, to amazing parents who gave me unconditional love, to being educated and submerged in an amazing country and society.
When I first started coming to Calcutta, it brought back a lot of memories... the hardships I went through, the situations I was placed in, and the possibilities of those situations becoming so hostile.
A lot of people forget that anything is accomplishable if you embrace technology.
At the end of the day, I think people just need to start listening to their hearts and their gut feelings and their dreams, because that's what I did.
My quest to find my first family would never have been actualized without technology.
The functional uses of machines and innovative computer programs is not to isolate us but, rather, to promote coexistence. If used properly, it brings us together, granting unimaginable opportunities, magnifying the most quintessential and exclusively human capabilities.
When I came to Australia in 1987 as an adoptee from India, I could not have had any idea where my life journey would take me.
I see Calcutta as a place where I have a lot of memories... a lot of fond memories of coming back here and helping the children.
Indians in general are sort of thick-skinned and hard to be moved.
I'm a pretty laid-back kind of person.
The streets of India are not safe for children, and every year, thousands are forced to live on the streets, avoiding being kidnapped or worse.
Each time I go away internationally or even to the mainland, I always love coming back to Tasmania.
For a couple that wants to have a child, there's the option of IVF, but then have a look at adoption as well.
Why make life so dull when you can make it exciting and meet amazing people and go to countries and see things? You make life the way you want it to be. A lot of people don't realize that at the end of the day, the ultimate control of what you do and your destiny, it lies in the way you want to direct yourself.
My adoptive mother always wanted to meet my biological mother.
It's easy to blame technology for what we perceive to be a vast disconnect between people. We're so wrapped up in social media, texting, online dating - in many ways, we're addicted to our devices.
I don't get asked this much - 'Would you ever wanna see your father again?' And the answer there is that I would like to see him again.
It was a very scary place to be. I don't think any mother or father would like to have their five year old wandering alone in the slums and train stations of Calcutta.
I almost drowned in the Hooghly river, which is something really crazy. If there is something about Calcutta that scares me, it's that.
What happened in my past happened. What's the term - don't cry over spilled milk? That's the thing people don't understand. I'm all right. I configured myself into coming out on the other end OK. I can disassociate myself.
The Hindi film that connects with my life story the most is the movie 'Hero' - two brothers being lost and sort of coming back.
I'm fairly sort of a laid-back and optimistic guy full of effervescence and vitality.
Coming to Australia, it was just really magical for me. It just had the wow factor of a different sort of place and, more so, just being with a family that wanted to love me and to have me, because I knew back then, before coming to Australia, there was no way of getting back home or finding my real family.
Being involved in sports and having a very sport orientated family just helped the transition extremely well. I guess, in a way, your school colleagues saw you out and about, and you were part of the team you were getting into the Australian way, learning the language. The transition was extremely smooth.
Follow your own path.
I'm still so grounded and so regimented, too. I've developed myself for such a long time - my characteristics and who I am - that if I try to change myself, my origins will pull me back.
We were a sport-oriented family. Because I was athletic, I made friends easily.
I knew I'd been given another chance, another life in Australia by my parents, so I didn't want to hurt them.
I don't really have a worldview.
I do get recognised, but not as much as someone like Dev Patel or Nicole Kidman.
I don't have a birth certificate.
I tell my friends that 'you don't know how lucky you are to be in Tasmania, because when you go away internationally, you get to see it in its glory.'
I need to be mentally stimulated.
