AZAMGARH: Phoolmati, 57, and her brother Laldhar, two years her elder, hugged for the first time in 49 years on Thursday. It was a poignant moment that had improbability written all over it since the day an eight-year-old girl in pigtails who still couldn't pronounce her father's name became a memory frozen in time - as much in her own mind as her family's.
All that Phoolmati could recollect since her life took a fateful turn in 1975 were two names and a landmark - Chiutidand, her native village in UP; Ramchandar, her maternal uncle; and a well in the courtyard of her grandparents' house.
A man dressed as a sadhu had convinced her to accompany him to a village fair, but took her to Moradabad instead, where she was "sold" to a much older groom. She became a mother to a son some years after the underage marriage, lost her husband not much later, and slipped into a life of struggle and drudgery that would have remained so but for an extraordinary twist that every lost-and-found story needs.
Woman credits headmistress for reunion As Phoolmati's journey climaxed in a family reunion in Vedpur village of UP's Azamgarh, she poured her gratitude on the school headmistress who kickstarted the search for her antecedents and the police team that made it possible.
Phoolmati, who cooks midday meals in a primary school at Pajawa in Rampur's Bilaspur, confided in Dr Pooja Rani about her early life. When the teacher searched "Chiutidand" on the web, she learnt that the village in Mau was earlier part of Azamgarh. She contacted Azamgarh Police and passed on the other details.
Police ferried Phoolmati and her son Sompal to Vedpur to reunite her with her youngest brother Ramhit, 85.
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