“You're not going to believe this.”
Thus began a series of tweets on January 27 from @ramprasad_c about two lost boys somewhere in Andhra Pradesh.
Unfolding like a typical Bollywood plot of lost children reunited as adults, the story tweeted by Mr Ramprasad from Naperville, a suburb of Chicago — who says he is a relative — set off a buzz on social media, sparking disbelief and questions.
Unlike a cinematic thriller, however, the story is true but there seems to be no happy ending to the tale.
According to the story narrated in several tweets, a 11-year-old boy ran away from home sometime around the year 2000. Over the years, his parents continued to search for their lost son.
In 2009, they found another boy of the same age having the same identification marks at a restaurant and took him, home convinced that he was their lost son.
Though the teenager insisted that he was not their son and could not recognise his sister and other relatives, the couple refused to believe him and thought it was a act as he did not want to stay home.
The couple went so far as to lock the boy up to prevent him leaving again.
Soon after, the father suddenly died of cancer. The tragedy made the boy change his mind.
He stayed on with his mother and sister, taking on work at the family farm. Though he still maintained that he was not their son, he took care of his mother and got the sister married.
Into this idyllic scene, in true filmi-style, on January 27 of this year, another young man walked in, claiming he was the couple’s real son.
According to Mr Ramprasad, the youth said he had not returned for the property but wanted the family to acknowledge him so that he could get married as the parents of the girl he wanted to marry wanted to know about his family.
And with the return of the ‘right’ son has returned the “wrong” son wants to relinquish his responsibilities and leave.
But the right son is not interested in taking up any responsibilities and wants to just return to his current life. The mother wants both the “sons” to stay. The sister wants the “wrong” brother to be adopted so that he stays. The people of the village also want the wrong boy to say.
The suspense continues as the real drama unfolds in Mandalavaripalli village, 60 km from Madanapalle in Chittoor district.
Though Mr. Ramprasad did not mention and starts narrating this story with “you are not going to believe this”, it turns out that the father of the “wrong” son, is the former village sarpanch Raghunatha Reddy. Reddy and his wife, while on a pilgrimage to Tirupati, had found and forcibly brought home a boy after their son had gone missing. Villagers also confirmed that Reddy had died of cancer some years ago.
