After spending decades lost in a forest of Arunachal Pradesh, an Odisha man is set to reunite with his family members – an account that is nothing short of a typical Bollywood drama.
Daya Bhuyan, 65, belonging to a particularly vulnerable tribal group ‘Saora’, was said to have migrated in his twenties to Arunachal Pradesh to work in the construction sector. He lost his memory that made it difficult for him to return home. Left stranded, he lived for two decades in a makeshift hut with no one around in the forest – seven km from Ziro, the district headquarters town of Lower Subansiri of Arunachal Pradesh.
His misery ended after the 32-year-old Rubu Ama, a Ziro-based educational entrepreneur, led a months-long online campaign to find out his home address in Gajapati district of Odisha.
Mr. Bhuyan along with a Gajapati district administration official was to have flown back to Bhubaneswar and travel to Abasingh village under Raygada block of Gajapati district. But, they were stuck in Kolkata airport due to the cancellation of flights in the wake of COVID-19 shutdown on Thursday.
Mr. Ama narrated his story over the phone: “My association with the old man dated back to 2003 when I stumbled upon him in a makeshift hut in the forest we visit every winter. I was surprised to find a man living alone in forest. But as a teenager, I did not attach much importance to his existence because he barely uttered any words.”
The subsequent visits of Mr. Ama and his friends made the Odisha man comfortable and he began interacting with them. However, except for his village address, he had forgotten everything. The lack of communication network at that time made it difficult to identify him.
“The man did not even remember the names of his family members. It became very difficult for us to trace his family,” said the entrepreneur. The man used to sell fuel-wood for his survival. Years passed, he kept living in the forest which could be accessed only after a three-km trek.
Video circulated
In 2019, when the man’s health condition started to deteriorate, Mr. Ama became concerned and shot a video with his mobile phone and circulated it through WhatsApp among Odia community members living in Arunachal Pradesh. It, however, did not get any traction. The young man did not lose hope and tried to disseminate the message in other groups.
The search got the much-needed momentum when an Odisha-based portal found the narrative interesting and posted a story with the video clip. Videos featuring the man’s brother and sister were shot in Abasingh village in Gajapati district and sent back to Mr. Ama.
“The man still could not recognise his brother and sister. Though it was demoralising for us, we did not give up our efforts to reunite him with his family,” the Arunachal Pradesh youth said.
Meanwhile, Gajapati district administration in Odisha showed interest in bringing the man back after verifying the facts.
Mr. Ama, who had developed a special humanitarian bond with the man, kept taking care of him. “Before the day of reunion came, his health condition worsened drastically. I admitted him in a hospital from August 13 to 18. At one point of time, I thought his days were numbered. However, by God’s grace he recovered.”
On Tuesday, the Lower Subansiri district administration of Arunachal Pradesh handed him over to the Assistant Labour Officer of Gajapati in the presence of Mr. Ama and other members who actively took part in the online campaign at Gumto police check gate (Arunachal Pradesh and Assam State boundary).
Steps are being taken to bring them from Kolkata to Abasingh village where his younger brother and sister are waiting for him. After three decades, Mr. Bhuyan is still fluent in the ‘Saora’ dialect.
