Bhograi: It was a time of celebrations at Basanti Das’ house Tuesday as her daughter Gitarani Das, who had been missing for about 25 years ago, had returned home after an eon.
The incident occurred at Gazipur near Chandaneswar under Bhograi block of Balasore.
Members of a Kozikode-based NGO in Kerala rescued Gitarani and helped her to reunite with her family after more than two decades. Her mother Basanti, brother, her son Chandan and kith and kin were cloud nine after finding her.
As Gitarani’s family was poor, she used to work as a domestic help in Cuttack. There she married a youth and the couple had a son. Six months after her marriage, Gitarani returned home along with her son and left him under the care of her mother and brother. She returned to Cuttack, but there was no trace of her since then. Her family left no stone unturned and searched her for years. Eventually, they started believing that Gitarani was no more.
Gitarani’s son Chandan, now 26-year-old, is married himself.
It was leant that Gitarani was cheated by her husband. Losing her mental stability, she somehow landed in Kerala. There, she worked as a domestic help in several houses and suffered a lot.
Luckily, members of an NGO rescued the woman and admitted her to an asylum. After she recovered from her mental ailment, Gitarani could remember her people and address.
The social activists subsequently contacted the Talsari Marine police station and, in turn, the police informed her family. Unfortunately, the latter expressed their financial inability to being her back home.
The social activists, however, took the initiative and escorted her to her house. Back home, Gitarani could recognize her mother and brother.
Over the years, Gitarani had lost touch with Odia language. She could only speak in Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam. Hence, her family failed to get her reaction. However, her family feels that she has fully recovered now.
Interestingly, Gitarani wants to go back to Kerala again.
PNN
