Saroo Brierley’s brother, Guddu, died in a train accident.
Guddu Khan (original name: Kallu) and Saroo were close siblings living in poverty in Khandwa, India. One night in 1986, they went to a local train station to search for coins and food. Saroo, then only five years old, fell asleep on a stationary train and woke up to find the train in motion and his brother nowhere in sight. Saroo ended up nearly a thousand miles away in Kolkata (Calcutta), where he survived on the streets before being placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by an Australian couple.
Meanwhile, Guddu’s fate was tragic. After Saroo’s disappearance, Guddu’s body was found near the train tracks. It is believed that he was hit by an incoming train while searching for his younger brother. The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear, but it was a devastating loss for the family. Saroo learned of his brother’s fate years later after he began his search for his biological family, a journey chronicled in his autobiography “A Long Way Home” and the film adaptation “Lion.”
