An extraordinary story unfolded when Rajkumari, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur, stumbled upon a familiar face while scrolling through Instagram reels. Rajkumari was struck by a young man in a reel who had a distinctive broken tooth – a feature she remembered vividly from her brother Bal Govind.
Govind had disappeared 18 years ago after leaving their home in Inayatpur village in Fatehpur, to seek work in Mumbai. Despite initial contact with his friends, Govind eventually lost touch with everyone and never returned home.
One day, he fell ill in Mumbai. Intending to return home, he boarded a train, but instead of Kanpur, he found himself in Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur. Unwell, he encountered a man at the railway station who offered him a job in a factory once his health improved. Over time, Govind’s condition improved, and he started building a new life in Jaipur. He married Ishwar Devi, and together they had two children.
One constant in Govind’s life, however, was his broken tooth, the very feature that caught Rajkumari’s attention on Instagram. Govind had taken to creating reels showcasing various locations in Jaipur. One of these reels, featuring his familiar face, found its way to Rajkumari’s Instagram feed.
Determined to confirm her suspicions, Rajkumari found more videos and recognised other details that matched her brother’s description. She reached out to Govind through Instagram, and the initial conversations quickly turned into sharing cherished childhood memories,
In a phone call, Rajkumari implored her brother to return home. Moved by the conversation, Govind agreed. On June 20, he arrived in Rajkumari’s village, bringing an end to the family’s nearly two-decade-long anguish.
(With inputs from Arun Agarwal)
