VADODARA:

, here’s one that goes exactly the opposite way. The 19-year-old son of a millionaire oil trader in Padra disliked studies and wanted to prove his potential which prompted him to reach

Shimla

where he survived washing utensils and cleaning leftovers for nearly a month.

If it wasn't for two cops of Vadodara rural police who happened to be holidaying in the

and an alert hotel manager, the story of this teenage mutiny would have got lost in the police files.

Dwarkesh Thakkar, a student of an engineering college of Vasad, had left home on October 14 saying he was going to college. However, he did not like his college, nor studies. So, instead of Vasad, he headed to the Vadodara railway station from where he boarded a train to Delhi and disappeared.

Days turned almost into a month, but the parents failed to hear from their son. Even cops' attempts to trace Dwarkesh across the state and in Mumbai failed.

“The boy had left his mobile phone at home. All we had to hunt for him were CCTV camera footage of Vadodara railway station and an auto-rickshaw driver’s statement who had dropped him at Akshar Chowk in Vadodara city,” said a police official.

The case was turning hopeless leading the police to almost give up on finding him, when on Monday the teen decided to approach an upscale hotel in Shimla looking for a job.

Thankfully, the cautious eyes of the manager did not take him at face value and going by his attire and childlike looks, he called up Padra police station after getting his ID card. “The boy’s identity card showed that he had come from Padra. The alert manager googled for the contact number of our police station and called us up to inquire about his background,” said inspector S A Karmur of Padra police station.

He also sent the boy’s identity card’s photo. Padra cops verified it as Thakkar's and immediately Karmur contacted one of his constables, Sanjaysinh Gohil, who had gone with his family for a vacation in the Himachal capital and also another police constable of Vadodara Taluka police station, Bhupendrasinh Mahida, who, too, was in the holidaying in the hill station at that time.

Gohil and Mahida immediately went to the hotel to find the boy but by then Thakkar had left from there. “The hotel manager told us that the boy confided that he had been working at highway eateries and kiosks and survived on whatever food he got. So we contacted all such small eateries and local taxi drivers and shared the boy’s photos along with our numbers,” said Gohil.

On Monday midnight, a taxi driver called up Gohil informing him that the boy was seen sleeping on the roadside in Shimla town.

The two cops rushed to the spot and gave their identities to the youth. They also informed Thakkar’s parents who immediately flew down to Shimla to take custody of their son. “Thakkar told us that he did neither like the college nor studies and therefore wanted to escape from his home,” Gohil said.

“It is a big relief for us as our son has been found. It was a very difficult time for the entire family,” said Thakkar’s uncle Ketan Thakkar.