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?

Saroo Brierley

Categorized in : Dreams Thankful Change Family

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.

Saroo Brierley

dating social-media technology people

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

myself me identity past

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.

Saroo Brierley

me family home love

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.

Saroo Brierley

myself me change time

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.

Saroo Brierley

yourself day you life

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.

Saroo Brierley

end-of-the-day dreams day people

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.

Saroo Brierley

my-life me journey life

A lot of people forget that anything is accomplishable if you embrace technology.

Saroo Brierley

you technology forget people

I knew I'd been given another chance, another life in Australia by my parents, so I didn't want to hurt them.

Saroo Brierley

parents chance hurt life

I need to be mentally stimulated.

Saroo Brierley

stimulated mentally need

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.

Saroo Brierley

us opportunities human together

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.

Saroo Brierley

live year india children

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.

Saroo Brierley

myself cry people past

I've moved to Australia, to amazing parents who gave me unconditional love, to being educated and submerged in an amazing country and society.

Saroo Brierley

parents me society love

I do get recognised, but not as much as someone like Dev Patel or Nicole Kidman.

Saroo Brierley

much get someone like

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.'

Saroo Brierley

know you friends lucky

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.

Saroo Brierley

hardships through back memories

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.

Saroo Brierley

place back memories children

For a couple that wants to have a child, there's the option of IVF, but then have a look at adoption as well.

Saroo Brierley

then well child look

My quest to find my first family would never have been actualized without technology.

Saroo Brierley

find never family technology