VELLORE: “I did not know if I would ever meet my son again before I died,” said Gunadhar Saikya (80) when he met his son at Tirupattur recently.
His son, Khogen Saikia (38) had been missing for two months from his native village of Alengi Satra Kolong Par, Nagaon district, Assam. Khogen was mentally challenged and he did not remember how he came to Tirupattur. The government-aided Home for Psychosocial Rehabilitation of Mentally Ill Persons, Tirupattur that successfully reunited the family, rescued Kogen two months ago from Jolarpet railway station.
The Joint Secretary (Home) C Ramesh recalled that the shabbily-clothed youth was found loitering in the station. Ramesh alerted a policemen about Khogen. Police picked him up and found later that he was mentally challenged.
He was admitted to the home in Tirupattur after a psychologist certified the admission.
Ramesh said the atmosphere at the home and the medical treatment he got from a team of CMC doctors helped Khogen regain his memory. He remembered his name and that he was from Nagaon, Assam.
The home managers then swung into action to trace the family with the help of Nagaon police. Inspector Sarak Saikia volunteered to help the Tirupattur home and soon the family was traced. The aged Gunadhar, who had to travel 3,000 km to see his son in Tirupattur, was in tears of joy and thanked god for his blessing as he took his son home.