Feb. 5: At age five he accidentally boarded a train at Khandwa, in Madhya Pradesh, and ended up wandering the streets of Calcutta, all alone, lost and "scared". Subsequently, he was put in an orphanage and adopted by an Australian couple. That was in 1987. Now, Indian-born-Australian businessman-cum-author Saroo Brierley, who has been to Calcutta 15 times in the last four years, would like to bring his adoptive parents - John and Sue Brierley - with him to the city.

"It would be a great way to enjoy Calcutta with my adoptive parents. I haven't had the time to come here as a tourist without work being involved on the side and relax. I would like to bring my adoptive mom and dad with me to Calcutta," said Saroo at the Kolkata Literature Festival, held in association with The Telegraph, at Milan Mela on Saturday evening.

Saroo's memoir, A Long Way Home, has inspired the film Lion starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman. Excerpts from his chat with Sandip Roy:

First watch

When I saw the first cut of Lion, I was clinging to my seat. It just pulled me back in, to the time I spent on the train... it was enthralling and captivating for me to the point of shedding tears. Dev Patel took eight months to perfect the Australian accent and the characteristics of Saroo. He told his manager that he would just like to concentrate on that. Nicole spent a lot of time with my (adoptive) mom (Sue), talking to her as well.

Calcutta connect

My (earliest) memories of Calcutta are very vivid. I stepped off the platform and there was a river of people. I was pushed and pulled. I was crying. I wanted salvation and solace. I was calling for my brother, mother, sister, and no one would help me. It was an extremely scary time for me, very alienating. I had never stepped out of the safety net of my hometown... and I had to fight to stay alive in Calcutta. I almost drowned in the Hooghly river twice. I didn't know how to swim.

Now I always go to the Howrah train station. It reminds me of what had happened. The more I go there, I don't feel scared anymore. Everything that has happened to me is destiny.

Needle in a haystack

I had very vivid images of my hometown. And also of the train station. What I remembered was the architecture of my hometown, the landmarks... a water tank, a flyover, a ravine, a horseshoe entrance to the train station... when I was using Google Earth (Saroo reunited with his biological mother 25 years later, thanks to Google Earth) that's what I was trying to find... the exact image in my memory. It took a long time, and there were many stages and phases when you walked away in dismay. It was like finding a needle in a haystack.... I was 26-27 and it was the perfect time for people that I knew in Australia to be married, to have an amazing job or go to another country... but for me it was a transition... of wanting to find answers. I went on a different path of finding answers.

Eureka moment

It was late at night, around 2 o' clock, and I had been searching... most of the times while searching I would doze off, wake up and then go back... I would move in and out of sleep. Now you may want to call it serendipity or providence. When I found it - the train station I had boarded at age five on that fateful night - I zoomed out and it was called Burhanpur and not Berhampur, the way I pronounced it. I looked at it quite a few times... I was in shock. I went to bed and woke up the next morning really early, and went back to it to see if I had been dreaming. But it was still there. It was 25 years of searching and hope and determination that got me what I was looking for, for such a long time.

Learning Hindi

I have tried, but it is so hard. I have no one to talk to really in Hindi. It's one of those things on my bucket list to do. I understand just a little bit of Hindi. It's just something I have to do when I get free time. I never knew Hindi really. I only knew four or five or six words. I couldn't string a sentence together. Hopefully, one day I would get to learn a native language.