BHUBANESWAR: Forty years after he left home following the birth of a stillborn baby, Simanchal Rana (76) was reunited with his family in Ganjam district on Friday, thanks to the efforts of India Cares, an online platform which helps people in distress.
"My younger brother left home 40 years back. He was a broken man after the birth of a stillborn baby. Later, his wife too left our home and started staying with her parents. Since then we had been frantically searching for Rana every where, but to no avail," said elder brother Brundaban, a priest in a temple at Sahadeb Tikarapada, under Digapahandi police station limits of Ganjam district.
Due to his age, Rana could not recollect how he had reached Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh and where he had been all these years.
Sanjay Singh Shinde, a social worker in Burhanpur, had found Rana on the footpath. For the past two years Shinde had been providing food and shelter to Rana. Shinde took the help of social media and circulated his photos and videos among his friend circle. Shinde had difficulty understanding Rana's language and accent. He could only make out that Rana was from Ganjam.
Recently, India Cares volunteer and Cuttack-based businessman Kamal Rathi came to know about Shinde's search for Rana's family. "I got a call from a friend in Madhya Pradesh. He wanted to reunite this old man with his family, but did not have his contact details. All he knew was that the man was from Ganjam district. I contacted IPS officer Arun Bothra, who got in touch with Ganjam SP Brijesh Rai and got hold of the man's contact details," Rathi said. Rana's nephew Dhruba Charan along with a friend went to Burhanpur last week and brought Rana home.
