Jeelan Basha had almost given up hopes of finding his elder sister who had gone missing one-and-a-half years ago.
Hence, he did not pin much hopes on the inquiry from the local police station in Guntakal about any woman gone missing. But the image of a woman residing at a mental health centre in Kozhikode, Kerala, that he received in Whatsapp brought back joy to his household.
He celebrated the reunion with his sister Hafizun on Saturday by distributing sweets and watermelons to the staff and inmates at the Government Mental Health Centre in Kozhikode.
Hafizun had become mentally unstable after her husband of 20 years died following a stroke. Wandering all by herself, she boarded some train and landed at Kozhikode Railway Station. The policemen at the station took her to the mental health centre where she had been undergoing treatment so far. Though not much of a speaker, she remembered her home and had communicated her whereabouts to her caretakers. This helped the hospital to track down her relatives.
“I cannot thank those police men and the staff at this hospital enough. I can see that my sister is in a much better condition now than when she had gone missing”, Mr. Basha told The Hindu . He has volunteered to track down the relatives of a few more patients from Andhra Pradesh residing at the mental health centre.
Forty-year old Hafizun did not hesitate even a second to recognise her younger brother, who is a granite merchant in Guntakal.
She spoke to her mother and sister on phone and was ready to go with her brother. Hospital Superintendent N.Rajendran and Psychiatric social workers along with caretakers were present to bid farewell to Hafizun as she departed to her native land.
