BENGALURU: A 48-year-old man named Mahaveer Singh Chauhan reunites with his family after 20 years who were about 2,000km away, had their reunion here on Sunday.
He embraced his 24-year-old son, Pradyuman Singh, on a Nimhans hospital bed. Pradyuman was just four when he last saw his father and his younger brother Raghupal was just one.
The 48-year-old man suffered a huge loss in a business he ran in Mumbai due to which he broke ties with his family and abandoned his home in December 1998. His family members looked for him and filed a police complaint, but after five years of search they gave up.
Meanwhile, Mahaveer had moved to Bengaluru where he has been living for the last 20 years. Last week on Saturday he was found unconscious at a rose farm in Doddaballapura where he worked as a supervisor. He was taken to a local hospital by his friends Ravi and Kishore Kumar Daftary, from where he was referred to Nimhans as doctors suspected that he had a spinal injury.
His friend Daftary, who is also from Rajasthan and works as a photographer in Bengaluru stated that “Mahaveer rarely spoke about his family. What I got to know from him all these years was that he was married, had two children and that his father was a man of stature.”
As his condition kept deteriorating, his friends were extremely worried and felt that a family member’s presence was required in such circumstances. Mahaveer’s friends circulated his photograph on WhatsApp in a hope that it would reach his family. His driving licence with the name of his village Jhab helped in the identification process.
According to the report published in Times of India, the message was forwarded in multiple WhatsApp groups, and by 6 pm, Daftary received several calls and messages asking about the man.
Daftary asserted that “However, it was a call from a village in Rajasthan that had me smiling. Mahaveer’s son Pradyuman was at the other end. He confirmed his identity and told me he was taking the early morning flight to Bengaluru.”
During the whole process, Mahaveer was not informed about the whole thing as they feared it might upset him. On Sunday, when Pradyuman touched his father’s feet, it was a heart-stirring moment for many. A teary-eyed Mahaveer told his son, “I am free of all my guilt today; take me back to the land where I belong.”
The overjoyed Pradyuman while speaking to TOI said, “It’s unbelievable. We thought we had lost him. Destiny works in mysterious ways. My mother always believed he will come back one day.” Mahaveer was shifted to Jayanagar’s Apollo Hospital on Sunday afternoon and is recovering.
[source_with_link url=”https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/whatsapp-reunites-man-with-family-after-20-years/articleshow/67413066.cms”]Times of India[/source_with_link]