Folk song reunites Uttarakhand man with kin after 30 years

By-Yogesh Nagarkoti


ALMORA: A Kumaoni folk song shared on social media helped an Almora man return home and reunite with his family after about 30 years, after relatives noticed repeated emotional comments on the video, examined the profile more closely and confirmed through a conversation that the account belonged to him. The man, who had left home without informing anyone and later adopted a life of renunciation, finally returned to Chakkelani village three decades later, turning what began as a cultural post into an unexpected family reunion.

Mahipal Rajwar, an ex-civil engineer, began living in an ashram under the name Nand Ram Das, and for years there was no communication with his relatives. The breakthrough came a month ago when Mahipal's cousin, Abhinandan Rajwar, and his wife, Kumaoni folk singer Anita Rajwar, recorded a song titled 'O Ghughuti' in their native village and posted the video.

As the song gained attention, the family noticed repeated comments from an account named Nand Ram Das. They grew suspicious as the emotional tone and the account's familiarity with the village and the family's background.

Once the family started chatting with the person behind it, they realised it was Mahipal, who spoke about his memories of home and said he wanted to reconnect with his family. After that, relatives coordinated his return to the village, and he reached Chakkelani after a gap of 30 years, ending a separation that had lasted almost his daughter's entire life.

Mahipal's wife, Meena Devi, said she had continued to live in hope since his disappearance and had raised their daughter alone while also caring for her in-laws and managing the household. Their daughter was a little over two months old when Mahipal left, and Meena later brought her up and got her married on her own.

"It is nothing short of a blessing that he has returned," Meena told TOI. Their daughter, Divya Rajwar Chaudhary, said the reunion felt "like a dream" because she was seeing her parents together for the first time in her life, while Mahipal's elderly parents, Bhagat Singh Rajwar, 97, and Shankari Devi, 93, were also overwhelmed by his return.

Mahipal said circumstances had led him to renounce worldly life, but it was ultimately the pull of home that brought him back. "It was my family's love and my wife's sacrifice that ultimately brought me back," he said, while Anita Rajwar said the song had been created to showcase local culture and the scenic beauty of the hills and had been dedicated to hill army personnel.

"We never imagined it would reconnect a lost family member. It is an emotional moment for all of us," Anita told TOI.