Maximum City Ulhasnagar Suchitra Diwali General Post Office Kookaburra (From L) Dr Zahir Kazi, Abdul Rashid and his wife Naima, Ashish Naik and his wife Suchitra; Pic: SATISH MALAVADE Abdul Rashid Shaikh, an assistant sorting officer with the Mumbai GPO, was just five when he was found abandoned at Pune railway station 23 years ago. Naima Niyaz Shaikh, a teacher, was also rescued – from a railway station in Bombay (as it was then known) – 19 years ago, when she was just three. On November 4, Abdul and Naima were married in Mumbai, and thereby hangs a tale of how two people who had lost their families and found new ones, not only survived in, but thrived.After spending six years at a remand home for children, Abdul was sent to a home for destitute children inwhen he was 11, where he studied until Class X. After clearing his SSC exams, he got admission to Bedekar College, Thane, where he met PrincipalNaik. The principal observed that while bright, the 17-year-old keenly felt the lack of a proper roof over his head, and was so discouraged that he wanted to opt out of further studies.Unwilling to lose a promising student, Naik took it upon herself to motivate him.Feeling instinctively that mere encouragement would not be enough, she discussed the possibility of bringing Rashid home with her husband, Ashish Naik, an advocate. Ashish agreed, and the Naiks welcomed Abdul into their family, which included their children Rajas and Devashri.“We brought him to our home in Dosti Acres, Wadala, and raised him as our own son. Now we had three kids,” Naik told Mirror. “Initially, my children were hesitant to accept Abdul, but slowly, they drew close to him. They realised we desperately wanted them to support him, and accepted him.”“His being a Muslim never mattered to us. He reads the namaz, and we celebrate Eid andtogether. At first, relatives were against us bringing a Muslim home. But slowly, they too learnt to accept him,” Naik said.Abdul, who majored in History, went on to stand first in his college. He also began preparing for the UPSC and other public exams. A year ago, he got a job at the, in the postal sorting department, and the Naiks started looking for a bride for him.Wanting Abdul to marry within his community, the family approached Anjuman-I-Islam’s AD Bawla Female Orphanage in Versova. There he met Naima, an assistant teacher atlearning centre at Lokhandwala, and the rest, as they say, was history.Their nikah was read on November 4, where Anjuman-I- Islam held a reception for them, with 100 guests in attendance. And on Sunday, the Naiks hosted a reception for the couple at Devraj Hall in Dadar West.Speaking to Mirror, Abdul said, “My parents are god for me. Home is always home. I got a family, my wife got a family. We are really lucky to have them in our lives.”Naima, who completed her studies at institutions run by the Anjuman- IIslam trust, said, “My sister and I were abandoned to die on a railway platform. Today, we are alive because of Anjuman-I-Islam. They cared for us like children.”Zaheer Qazi, Anjuman-I- Islam, president, said, “Naima and her older sister were three and five respectively and were found at a station in Mumbai. They were sent to a children’s home, and later brought to the Anjuman to study. Right now we have 200 girls, some pursuing MBAs, some engineering, some nursing. When Abdul’s proposal came, we saw he was settled and from the same community. We found out the story of how the Naiks had brought him up and were so happy.”

Stay updated with all the Mumbai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.