A Scottish woman who was separated from her adopted brother for sixty years was shocked to discover he has become one of India’s richest businessman.
83-year-old Ida Wilde told The Daily Record she last saw her brother Asgar nearly six decades ago - until he recognised her in a Facebook photo from a family wedding.
After leaving Glasgow, Mr Patel founded Patel Roadways,which has grown into one of India’s largest logistics businesses.
In 2013, the Arabian Business website estimated his personal net worth at $615 million (£467.5m)
“I hadn’t seen Asgar in so long. It turns out he’d spent years searching for his adopted Scottish family but we moved out of Glasgow and he couldn’t find us”, Ms Wilde told The Daily Record.
“Then out of the blue I got a message on Facebook from Asgar and it was just lovely to hear from him again. I couldn’t believe he had spotted my photograph after all these years - it was a miracle really.
“I’d said goodbye to a wee boy and now he was returning a hugely successful multi-millionaire. It was surreal.”
Mr Patel was one of thousands of Indians who came to the UK to escape the violence that followed the Partition of India in 1947.
After the British Raj was dissolved, two newly independent countries were created: India and Pakistan. Two former Indian provinces, Bengal and Punjab, were divided along religious lines.
The division of the two countries displaced more than ten million people, and led to between one and two million deaths.
Asgar’s father was himself a wealthy businessman who wanted to find refuge for his four children in the UK.
The adopted siblings later lost touch after Ms Wilde’s family moved out of Glasgow. The great-grandmother now lives in Irvine, on the West coast of Scotland.
The businessman visited Ms Wilde at her home in August, and has invited her to visit him in Dubai.
