I have lost contact with two Indian friends who lived, or used to
live, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and Baroda (or Vadodara), Gujurat.  How
can I find them? I have their names and addresses but have failed so
far.

Hi,

I am glad I got to lock this question as I feel I can help you out of
your predicament. I am a researcher from India and am sure that should
have some bearing in your case. India is a vast country with the
world's second largest population. In fact, the people living here are
so many that it has become virtually impossible to maintain a record
of all of them. However since you have indicated that you know their
names and addresses it should not be too much of a problem unless the
addresses are now obselete.

I must inform you though, that according to the terms of service here,
neither you nor I am not allowed to divulge details on personal
contacts including names and addresses.

This answer should serve as a guide for you to look for your friends
in many possible ways.

Lets begin with sources on the internet where you might find mention
of your friends.

The first stop would be the Vadodara (in Gujarat) telephone directory:
http://www.vadodarayellowpages.net/

Click on the link that says Phone Directory and fill in the details
over the form. Remember this feature is not continuously updated and
you should not assume any of the information given. Please do remember
of course to try all variations of the name and address.

It may not be out of place to mention here that you must consider the
fall out of the the earthquake and Gujarat riots and that has
displaced more than a couple thousand Gujaratis.

Moving on, with regards to Baroda I would suggest that in the event of
your being unsuccessful with the telephone search, you could use this
link.
http://www.barodalinks.com/impserfr.htm
 Feel free to use any number that is listed as emergency services and
contact them. Again this data may not be updated continuously and you
should not rely on this alone to make the necessary enquires.

Contact the local police stations with the phone numbers listed below
and request them to carry out a search for you. This was done
successfully at least a dozen times in the past. I have personally
heard of one such case.

Police Commisioner 431414 
Addl. Police Commisioner 432020 
D.C.P South 432626 
D.C.P North 432424 
D.C.P Administrator 431700, 431717 
A.C.P Special Branch 423950, 422587 
A.C.P A-Division 560470 
A.C.P B-Division 426827 
A.C.P C-Division 428251 
A.C.P D-Division 420638 

Please remember to add the country code which is 091 for India.

You could make an announcement over radio in Baroda, Use this phone
number:
All India Radio 643876 

Continuing with your quest you can approach the offices of the
Telecast and Public Relations Officer:
Public Relation Officers (O) 431246 (R) 322024 
Information & Telecast Dept. 433630, 341377 

Contact the income tax department to ascertain if your friend is
listed.
Income Tax Officers Office 313451 

Finally with regards to Gujarat, it would be much better to send the
information in an e-mail to a friend ( a buddy you could make over the
internet) and ask him/her to carry out the search for you. this way
you can save lots of money and time. The Indian Systems are understood
easily by us Indians.

I will now travel over to Jodhpur, Rajasthan
(http://www.rajasthantravelguide.com/city/jodhpur.html) to help you
locate your other friend.

The first stop again in this case would be the Onine Telephone
Directory System,
http://rajasthan.dotindia.com/frameindex.html
Remember to change the city name to Jodhpur.

Again using the contacts in the same site you can reach the public
relations officers. Make out a good case to these officials and they
will be more than glad to help.


If you still have difficulty locating your friend after trying out all
the resources I have listed, then the best thing to do would be to
approach the Indian embassy in your country.

Lets assume you are in the United States, then the address to contact
would be:
Embassay of India 
T 2107 Massachusetts Avenue 
NW Washington DC 20008 
Tel. : 1-202-9397000 
Telex: 440365 ISMV VI 
Fax : 1-202-9397027 

The embassies also allows you to make an online query regarding the
same:
indembwash@indiagov.org 
Use as the subject of your e-mail: "Query through JaipurPlus"

You can find the list of all Indian embassies in the world here:
http://www.rajasthantravelguide.com/info/embasy1.html

I hope this answer helps you to find your friends in India.
 
Thank you.

Regards,  
Shiv Reddy

I hope the quality of the information helps me in the way intended. 
Certainly lots of places I hadn't tried yet.  Thanks!