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He entered the police station and I was the first to spot him, in his white kurta-pyjama.

We were 10 boys and everyone was crying except me, He walked up to me, and asked

“Tumne Chori nahi ki?” (You didn’t steal?)

“ki sahib tabhi toh nahi ro raha, dil bola kar, pet dil ko bola bhuk lagi hain toh kar dali” (The stomach asked the heart to steal and so I stole, why to cry for that.)

“Maa-Baap nahi hain kya?” (Are you an orphan?)

“Haan sahib apun laawris hain Amitabh Bachchan mafik” (yes sir, just like Amitabh Bachchan in a movie)

He smiled and put his hand on my head and asked, “Main tera baap bananeko tyar hun, banega mera beta?” (Am willing to be your father, will you be my son?)

I was surprised, and then smiled, he understood, and held my hand and spoke to the officer there and took me home.

Since then he has been my father and mother.

He had done his engineering and MBA, after working for 7 years as an investment banker he decided that he had enough money to follow his dreams. So he took that plunge into politics.

Initially he was just a party worker, but in a year he became the president of Mumbai youth congress. Things were moving fast, he knew who to convince and how, this worked and he caught the right people at the right time, becoming the president was his first ever victory in life, as he always mentioned I never believed that. There had to be more to that but he never told me, until I was 17.

Within the next two years he had got a chance to stand for the Mumbai’s south constituency. The area where there are all the slums and it was his choice. He knew if could win this it would be the biggest victory and would get him what he wanted later.

He walked all the way to the constituency, he connected with them, and got to know all the problems, elections were a good year away, and he had started to prepare. The only way he could win in this place was by living what they lived; he shifted to the slums, and left me home. He lived there, and made friends within them, started organising them. They formed groups and started working, rather than shifting, they started improving the living conditions there. He led them, he worked day and night. People could see what he had been doing and that made all the difference.

They weren’t aware that he was a politician, and later when he revealed it, they were a bit disappointed. Thinking that all what he did was to win the election. But when they thought hard it hit them. They assured him victory, he didn’t spend a penny on canvassing, and he just walked to their homes and took their blessings.

The people did the rest, and when he won the election he got to live his dream. He became the MLA who had worked and changed the slums to one of the most organised localities in Mumbai. Within the next 5 years, he worked his way into the party ranks and it is then he met people who were like him. They dreamt of making a change rather than earning money. They were from different parties and different places, he convinced them to join hands.