There was a time when Bollywood movies with lost-and-found plotlines were absolute crowd pleasers. But nothing compares to the euphoria of witnessing a true story of a lost individual reuniting with their family. It is such a heartwarming moment that even the Kerala CM could not resist talking about it.
The story of 32-year-old Rameela Devi, wife to a farmer Ranchod Lal Kharadi (34) and mother to six children, is nothing short of a Manmohan Desai movie.
In December 2015, when her husband was working in the fields and her five children were away at school, Rameela picked up her 18-month-old son, Ravi and left her home in Bichhiwara, Rajasthan.
For almost two years, no one in the village saw or heard of Rameela or her child.
According to her husband, Rameela’s parents had passed away in 2015 and she hadn’t taken it well. When she disappeared, the village was rife with rumours that Ranchod had killed Rameela for her property. Afraid of what the police would deduce, Ranchod did not file a missing person’s report.
“I had vowed that I would not wear slippers until I find my wife. I wanted to tell everyone in my village that I haven’t killed my wife.”
In January 2016, Rameela and her child were found in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and taken to the police. However, taking into consideration her mental condition, a court ordered her to be sent to the Government Mental hospital.
Her little boy was given safe haven in an orphanage run by the state government’s child welfare committee. The psychiatrists at the hospital diagnosed Rameela’s condition as bipolar disorder. One of the doctors, R S Dinesh, speaking to Indian Express, said,
“She had forgotten her entire past after she left home with bipolar disorder. However, after she became rather normal, she started to respond to our queries regarding her home.”
The hospital housed several patients who came from other parts of the country since many trains that begin in the north have Thiruvananthapuram as their final destination.
Rameela’s situation was improving slowly and the doctors wanted to establish that she was, in fact, the mother of the child she was found with. And that’s when Rameela had her first reunion—with her youngest son Ravi.
According to Dinesh, they had seen cases of nomadic women abducting children and wanted to be doubly sure this wasn’t the case.
“When we took her son to her, initially she could not recognise him. We conducted a DNA test and confirmed that she is the child’s mother. Often she would speak about her other five children, which we confirmed only later.’’
In October 2016, Rameela’s condition was stable enough for her doctors to commence their efforts to find her family once again. Their first clue was when Rameela happened to mention Bichhiwara.
Alas, it wasn’t easy, particularly because the police authorities at Bichhiwara were not cooperating. Her psychiatric social worker, K Maya recollects,
Finally, it was time to get Rameela on the phone with the cops in her hometown. It did the trick. On November 14, Maya got a call from the Bichhiwara Police that they’d tracked down Ranchod Lal, Rameela’s husband!
After almost 2 long years, Ranchod spoke to his wife and assured her that he would be travelling to Thiruvananthapuram right away to bring her back home.
Rameela’s social worker Maya wanted to make sure there were no mistakes.
“We put him among other men and asked Rameela to identify her husband.”
Cue in a happy reunion that was long overdue!
It was indeed a proud moment for Kerala Goverment that their efforts resulted in bringing an estranged family together. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan even shared snippets of the happy occasion on Facebook!
They were gifted train tickets, supplies for the travel, clothes and books for the children.
നഷ്ടപ്പെട്ടുവെന്ന് കരുതിയ കുടുംബജീവിതം തിരിച്ചു കിട്ടിയ രാജസ്ഥാന്‍ സ്വദേശി രാഞ്ചോഡ് ലാൽ ഖരാടിയുടെ സന്തോഷത്തിനു ഇന്ന് സാക്ഷിയായി. ഭാര്യയെയും മകനെയും ഏതാണ്ട് ഒന്നര വര്‍ഷത്തിനുശേഷം കണ്ട രാഞ്ചോഡ് ലാൽ ഖരാടിയുടെ ജീവിതത്തിൽ വീണ്ടും തെളിഞ്ഞ വെളിച്ചം നമ്മെ സന്തോഷിപ്പിക്കുന്നതാണ്. കേരളത്തിന് അഭിമാനകരവുമാണ്.2016 ജനുവരി 9 നാണ് റമീല ദേവിയെ തിരുവനന്തപുരം വലിയതുറ മേഖലയില്‍ അലഞ്ഞുതിരിയുന്നതായി കണ്ടെത്തിയത്. മാനസികാസ്വാസ്ഥ്യം പ്രകടിപ്പിച്ച ഇവരെ തിരുവനന്തപുരം മാനസികാരോഗ്യ കേന്ദ്രത്തിലെത്തിച്ചു. ഒപ്പം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്ന കുഞ്ഞിനെ ശിശുക്ഷേമ സമിതിക്ക് കൈമാറി. ഒരു വര്‍ഷത്തെ ചികിത്സയെത്തുടര്‍ന്ന് റമീല ദേവിയുടെ രോഗം ഭേദപ്പെട്ടു. തുടര്‍ന്ന് ഇവര്‍ നല്‍കിയ വിവരം അനുസരിച്ച് സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ രാജസ്ഥാന്‍ പൊലീസുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ടു. അതിന്‍റെ ഫലമായാണ് രാജസ്ഥാനിലെ ബിച്ച വാഡ ഗ്രാമത്തിൽ നിന്ന് റാഞ്ചോഡ് ലാല്‍ കേരളത്തില്‍ എത്തിയത്. റമീല ദേവിയുടെ ഭൂമിയുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെട്ട തര്‍ക്കങ്ങള്‍ക്കൊടുവിലാണ് ഇവര്‍ക്ക് മാനസികാസ്വാസ്ഥ്യം ഉണ്ടായതെന്ന് പറയപ്പെടുന്നു. നാട്ടിലേക്ക് മടങ്ങുമ്പോള്‍ ഈ കുടുംബത്തിന് സംരക്ഷണം നല്‍കാന്‍ രാജസ്ഥാന്‍ സര്‍ക്കാരുമായി ബന്ധപ്പെടും. തിരിച്ചുപോകുന്നതിനു മുമ്പ് ശിശുക്ഷേമ സമിതി പ്രവര്‍ത്തകര്‍ക്കും മാനസികാരോഗ്യകേന്ദ്രം ജീവനക്കാര്‍ക്കും സാമൂഹ്യ നീതി ഉദ്യോഗസ്ഥര്‍ക്കും ആരോഗ്യ വകുപ്പ് അധികൃതർക്കുമൊപ്പമായിരുന്നു ഇവര്‍ വന്നത്. ട്രെയിന്‍ ടിക്കറ്റ്, യാത്രാചിലവ്, പഠനോപകരണങ്ങള്‍, വസ്ത്രങ്ങള്‍ എന്നിവയൊക്കെ നല്‍കിയാണ് ഇവരെ യാത്ര അയച്ചത്.
Posted by Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday, November 23, 2017
“The light that heralded into the life of Kharadi is making all of us happy. It is a moment of pride for Kerala….”
Isn’t it all just like a Bollywood movie with a happy ending?
You know what they say, all’s well that ends well!