Between swallowing his sobs and wiping his tears and later licking a lollipop, Himanshu recited all that the staff at the Central Control Room (CCR) needed to know. ``My father's name is Pawan Kumar, my mother's name is Lata, my sister's name is Swati Garg, I live in Nangal Rai.'' Amazingly, he even knew his phone number. And though kids may be getting smarter, they are still getting lost. Parents are still the absent-minded dorks they've traditionally been, or so it seems, especially when they are at the trade fair at Pragati Maidan. And so children of all ages are getting separated in a fashion that smacks of Bollywoodian lost-and-founds. Consider this. A certain gentleman by the name of Parveen Singh actually lost his one-year-old son Gurjeet Singh on November 16. Fortunately, for parents who are so taken in with all that the mela has to offer that they forget their wards, the ITPO has set up a (CCR) that covers the entire exhibition area with its public address system. As Hukumchand, Deputy GeneralManager, ITPO, and in charge of the CCR revealed, nearly 150 ITPO employees have been scattered across 13 sectors with walkie-talkies and mobiles with hotlines to the CCR. So far, all lost children have been reunited with their parents.

And they are preparing themselves for the weekend. Shoaibuddin Siddiqui, an assistant with the CCR, said they were expecting a quantum increase in the number of the lost kids. ``We usually get almost 50 lost kids over the weekend. So we've stocked up on toffees and biscuits, that's the only way to keep them from crying!'' Today, alone, saw three lost kids in the space of three hours, while the total tally has been 30 children in the past five days. There have been roughly 40 cases of lost items mostly keys, purses, and that all new ``losable,'' the mobile phone but less than one per cent have been recovered. Meanwhile, nine people have been arrested as a preventive measure. Warnings against pickpockets are also being aired.