Khomdram Gambhir at Imphal airport on Thursday. (Express)
As he set foot on the Manipuri soil for the first time in 40 years to a glare of cameras and a raft of ‘welcome home’ signs, 66-year-old Khomdram Gambhir felt like a neta. Gambhir, who had since 1983 survived on the streets of Mumbai as a daily wage labourer, before an accident forced him to beg, was on Thursday afternoon welcomed at the Imphal airport with garlands. “I felt like a neta,” he said of the reception. Driving away in a car surrounded by his brothers, Gambhir told local mediapersons: “Bhagwan sab ko accha rakhta hai (God takes care of everyone).”
Gambhir on Thursday bore little resemblance to the beggar who Bandra-based photographer Firoze Shakir had interviewed in October, last year. Since last Saturday, when his family in Imphal had chanced upon the video of the interview on YouTube, approached the local police and tweeted to the Mumbai Police, Gambhir has had a shave and a haircut.
Traced to Bandra’s Hill Road last Sunday, Gambhir stayed at a home for the elderly in Virar till he left for home accompanied by two officers from the Imphal Police on Thursday. They arrived in Imphal at 3 pm via Kolkata. Once the convoy of cars finally pulled up at Imphal’s Khumbong village, Gambhir acknowledged his long awaited return, bowing on the ground outside his family home. Inside, it took close to an hour before Gambhir’s brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces and neighbours finally allowed him a few minutes’ leave to take a bath.
“He never thought someone would come to take him back,” said Sub-Inspector Amitabh Arambam of Imphal Police. Formerly posted with the Assam Rifles, Gambhir had ran away from home in 1978 and arrived in Mumbai in 1983. Shakir, whose video resulted in Gambhir’s return, called for the Manipur government to rehabilitate the elderly man. “What will happen to him now that he is back? He is poor and will be a burden on his family. The government must help him find a job.” Refreshed after a bath and ready to face questions from his family, Gambhir once again referred to divine intervention to explain his return home. “Sab bhagwan ki dua hai (It’s all God’s grace).”