Mumbai friends launch search for missing childhood buddy

A group of childhood friends from DN Nagar in Andheri West who recently reconnected after nearly three decades are now trying to trace Gazanfar Sayed Sikandar a close friend they have not seen or heard from since 2005The poster created by Gazanfars friends and circulated on social media WhatsApp groups and among former classmates as part of their ongoing search effortUsing old photographs WhatsApp groups social media posts and wordofmouth the friends are hoping that someone somewhere can help reunite them with the one person missing from their circleWho are they looking forGazanfar Sayed Sikandar pictured during his younger days PicsBy Special ArrangementName Gazanfar Sayed SikandarLast known location DN Nagar Police Quarters Andheri WestFatherrsquos profession Mumbai Police personnelLast seen by friends 2005Known interests Sports Art and mimicry Fashion shows Modelling Cultural activities School Bhariwala School DN Nagar College Bhavanrsquos College Andheri West Nearly 30 years after most lost touch Around 20 friends reconnected recently One friend is still missingThe friend they rememberAmit Malhotra an event professionalldquoOut of all of us five friends were especially close and Gazanfar was one of them He was tall confident and had a charismatic personality His presence always stood out We used to say he looked like Suniel ShettyrdquoAccording to Amit Gazanfar excelled in academics sports art mimicry competitions and fashion eventsldquoWhat made him different was that whatever he did he did wholeheartedly There was hardly anything he couldnrsquot dordquoRecalling their last meeting Amit said ldquoThe last time I met Gazanfar was in 2005 After that the family is believed to have moved out of MumbairdquoSearch efforts so far Collected old photographs Created digital posters Shared appeals on social media Circulated messages across WhatsApp groups Posted regular status updates Contacted former classmates and acquaintances Visited his last known residential areaWhy this search mattersFor the group this is about more than finding an old classmateldquoOur group still feels incompleterdquo Amit said Reflecting on the years gone by Rao added ldquoWe donrsquot just want to find an old friend We want torelive a special chapter of our livesrdquoVoice of friendsSandesh Vhatkar AGM at a shipping companylsquoHe was very active in school Apart from academics he enthusiastically participated in cultural programmes events and extracurricular activities He remained highly active in college particularly in fashion shows and competitions He reached the final rounds in several events and won many prizes He was the kind of person who inspired others People learned from himrsquoNirijs Rao Pune resident homemaker and online English tutorlsquoHe was caring and kindhearted I still remember that when my mother was unwell he would arrange and send food to our home without even being asked He had a wonderful sense of humour and could make people laugh effortlessly More importantly he was a genuinely good human beingrsquo9821122838Know anything about Gazanfar Sayed Sikandar Please callVirral Bhimani Sales and marketing professional Andheri WestlsquoHe was a very simple and humble person During the reunion we realised everyone had stayed connected in some way mdash except Gazanfar Another friend and I even visited Gazanfarrsquos old neighbourhood but found no trace We are not searching out of curiosity We just want to know hersquos okayrsquoNilesh Satoskar Chembur residentlsquoHe wasnrsquot someone who talked too much but there was always understanding among us We met again after nearly 30 years but nobody knew anything about him At least someone should have known something mdash but nobody does We just want to know whether he is safe and doing wellrsquo