Google Earth helps boy find home after missing for 25 years

   David Kushner shared the captivating story of Saroo Munshi Khan, an Indian boy who could not find his way home one day when he was only five years old. Khan was fostered to an Australian family, and 25 years later he found his way back to his birth mother and siblings using Google Earth, Facebook and hazy childhood memories.

   Khan's journey was trekked in Kushner's article "A Home at the End of Google Earth," which is featured in Vanity Fair's recent November issue.

   This article resembles what brought me to journalism in the first place. This inspirational masterpiece that Kushner has created made me feel like I was not just reading any old, informative article but a short story that he was narrating. Khan's story was beautifully illustrated to us. Kushner also touched on what the advances we've made in technology in the past decade or so have and can achieve without focusing on it.

"The tracks led away from the city like a spiderweb, crisscrossing the country."

    His similes, as such, kept us imagining Khan's in-depth process. I also appreciate the way Kushner organized the article chronologically and separating the article into sections that describe what we would be reading about in the next few paragraphs. The story showed us every step from "The Separation" to "The Search Begins" to "The Reunion." Naming the sections brought the story together while breaking it up to give the readers a break.

   All in all, I admire the way Kushner worded this article because it is newsworthy, recent and the summed-up life story of Saroo Munshi Khan. It is something people would actually care about, and I am happy it was featured in a celebrity-driven magazine's print edition.