Lockdown reunites migrant with his family after 22 years

Chatra: Twenty-two years ago, Sharafat Ansari had lost his 17-year-old son, Aftab, during a trip to Delhi and all efforts to find him, including the filing of an FIR, went in vain. Making peace with the fact that he is never going to see his son again, Ansari, now in his 70s, had conducted the last rites of Aftab in 1998, a few months after he was lost.
During the lockdown, the septuagenarian farmer from Salimpur village under Pahra panchayat of Diddhore did not expect to hear any heart-warming news and found it too difficult to believe when police called him up to say that his son is alive and will reach home on June 16. He said, “I am thankful to the Almighty who made it possible.”
An emotional Aftab, who is now back with his family after completing the mandatory quarantine on July 1, recalled that it was in 1998 when he went to the national capital along with some of his neighbours to look for a job. In Delhi, he got separated from the group and was soon lost. Out of panic, he rushed to the train station and boarded a coach which took him to Ernakulam in Kerala.
Aftab said, “I started working with a circus in Kerala and made attempts to return home but the work forced me to drop the plan. Those days, communication was very difficult and I had lost all hopes of re-connecting with my family.”
He added, “I cannot believe that I am back. If I had not lost my job during the lockdown, my return would not have been possible.”
Aftab, now 39 years old, said he made friends with a few youths from Patna during the lockdown and narrated his story. Some of the youths, who knew a police officer in Chatra district, reported Aftab’s plight. The officer, in turn, contacted Pahra panchayat mukhiya Mahendra Ram and his wife Kavita Devi.
Ram said, “Aftab’s friends contacted the police who then asked me to trace his family in Salimpur.” His wife added, “His entire village is happy to see Aftab. My husband and I did whatever possible to reunite him with his family.”
Aftab said he will not try to venture out again and earn his livelihood in the village itself.