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Lost in Kol, Meghalaya youth reunites with family after 4 yrs
Tura (Meghalaya), Jan 24 (PTI) A youth from Meghalaya who apparently lost his memory and loitered in Kolkata streets for four years has reunited with his family, thanks to an auto- rickshaw driver in
Tura (Meghalaya), Jan 24 (PTI) A youth from Meghalaya who apparently lost his memory and loitered in Kolkata streets for four years has reunited with his family, thanks to an auto- rickshaw driver in the ‘City of Joy’ and some social activists.
In a tearful reunion, 25-year-old Sillian A Sangma was received by his mother and family members at Rongchigre village West Garo Hills district last evening.
Sillian went missing in December 2012 when he was returning from Chennai where he had gone in search of work. A co-passenger in the Guwahati-bound train drugged him and stole his belongings, his family members said.
He found himself in an unknown station without money and belongings, and the trauma hit him hard, breaking him down mentally and, there was no contact with his family from then.
His problem compounded as he did not know the local language and his Hindi and English were also broken.
Sillian somehow reached in Sector V area, the business district of Salt Lake township near Kolkata. Local people fed him for around four years before an auto-rickshaw driver, during a chat with him, got a phone number from him.
The driver made a call to that number – it belonged to Sillian’s elder brother – and this set a chain of action involving Kolkata, Shillong and Tura that made the reunion possible.
Various individuals including Supratim Sinha, a student of Tura who stays in Kolkata, and Cornelius Gomes, anti-human trafficking activist, assisted the family in arranging Sillian’s return and in convince him to go home.
After getting his son back, Sillian’s mother Nedila Sangma said “We are really grateful to all who helped us get our son back. I never expected to see him again. It is he who gave us our son back. I have nothing to to give those who helped us except our blessings.”
Shoshon A Sangma, a relative and social activist, who went to Kolkata to help get Sillian back, said, “No amount of praise is enough for the people of Kolkata.”
This is published unedited from the PTI feed.