Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy

Since the dawn of time, humanity has been at war. Conflict in one form or another has been part of our existence since we first walked the earth. In this first episode of a four-part series, join military historian David Borys as we travel back in time to Iran, where we chart how a modern monarchy, which was armed, wealthy, and globally backed, lost control. On our journey, we'll be helped by historian Roham Alvandi from the London School of Economics and Political Science. While conflict and armed rebellion have evolved to look very differently over the centuries, if you want to understand the world today, you need to go back because history doesn't just repeat itself; it echoes. Be sure to follow "Hostile History" on your favourite podcast app, so you never miss an episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Time may heal old wounds but as much as Taj wants to make peace with the past old wounds and family feuds remain. Can you really belong to two families at once when you feel like you are two different people? How does Taj fits in in this new world that has taken a lifetime to discover? Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when the story you thought you knew has extra chapters you never read? Taj discovers a second cassette tape in his basement, and becomes furious when his whole identity is once again shattered and thrown into turmoil. Who’s telling the truth and who’s telling lies? Fred and Linda make plans to visit India, and Taj fears his two worlds are on about to collide. Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blood is thicker than water. Taj retraces his footsteps and hazy memories of Chellamuthu come back into focus, as Linda remembers a dark secret Taj once told her as a child. Will he get the reunion he’s been longing for all this time? And where does this leave Fred and Linda, Taj’s adoptive parents? Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taj’s suppressed memories resurface and he’s sure he knows where he really is now. Are all the people claiming they know Chellamuthu’s family genuine friends or crooked chancers? And while Chellamuthu’s returned home, how will he know if anyone is still looking for him? Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An invitation to a wedding sees Taj back in India. He is determined to hunt down his family and unravel his past. So why won’t Priya's family help him? As dead ends and disappointments spiral, Taj feels more lost than ever. Will he ever find the place that Chellamuthu called home? Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taj’s teenage years become difficult, until the LDS church sends him on a mission to London, England. When he arrives he gets a massive wake up call about who he really is and where he belongs. He returns home when a beautiful Indian girl called Priya walks into his life. He has no idea that she holds the key to something far more important than his heart when she finds his old cassette tape. Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chellamuthu gets a whole new identity as Taj Khyber Rowland. He also finally he finds his voice, and drops a bombshell on his adoptive parents. But as Taj becomes more integrated in his American life, Chellamuthu’s memories begin to blur and fade. Is it time to forget who he was and bury his dream of going home forever? Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How can you love someone new when you still ache for what you have lost? A terrified Chellamuthu arrives in America, Fred and Linda Rowland shower him with love and gifts but are baffled why he just won’t settle. Linda decides to record Chellamuthu speaking Tamil but no one around him understands the secrets the child tells the tape and soon he will forever block the language from his memories. Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chellamuthu finds himself at an orphanage, hundreds of miles from home. He’s told to forget he ever had a family. Meanwhile, far away in America, Fred and Linda Rowland are excited. They’ve been approved to adopt a child from India; a toddler with no parents who was found begging on the streets, have they been told the truth? Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taj Khyber Rowland knows he’s not who people think he is but he can’t quite remember how his life went so off course. He decides to spool backwards, to his younger self. A daredevil seven year old Chellamuthu, living happily, but in abject poverty, with his large family in rural India. But when Chellamuthu disobeys his mother and goes to play at the bus station, he’s persuaded to board a bus with some bigger boys. He’s kidnapped. And there’s no going back. Contact: Facebook: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ Instagram: ⁠@BlanchardHouseStories⁠ X (formerly Twitter): ⁠@BlanchardTweets⁠ Blanchard House website: ⁠blanchard-house.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stop Rewind: The Lost Boy tells the true story about Taj, a child in India who was taken from his family and adopted half a world away. Although his adoptive family initially knew nothing of his past, he never forgot who he really was – or that he was taken. But without the language or tools to return, and with no one who understood his story, the details faded, and Taj’s past was quietly boxed away – until one day when he discovers an old cassette tape he recorded as a child. Told through rare original recordings, immersive sound design and unforgettable first-person testimony. Hosted by Emma Jane Kirby, this is an unforgettable story of stolen childhood, the quest for truth, the triumph of love and the long road to belonging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices