Geeta, who accidentally crossed over to Pakistan when she was nine, and returned to India as a 24-year-old woman, has been reunited with her family in Parbhani, Maharashtra. But she wants to take time to decide her future
As the aromas of a spicy meal, native to the scorched fields of Maharashtra’s rain-starved Marathawada region, filled the room at Pahal Foundation’s office in Parbhani, Geeta broke down and fell into her mother’s lap sobbing. Food, they say, forms the deepest embedded memories in a human brain. Nobody will probably ever know for sure, but it is entirely possible that Geeta recognised her mother’s cooking even though she was tasting it after a gap of 20 years.
"Your real name is Radha Waghmare and your father's name is Sudhakar Waghmare. He passed away some years ago," Geeta’s mother, Mina, 71, told her as she wiped her tears and rocked her like a baby. Mina has since remarried and she is now Mina Dinkar Pandhare. Geeta probably did not understand a word of what her mother said. She was born deaf and communicates only through sign language. But then it is possible that just like with food, mom and daughter rediscovered a bond that went beyond words and hand gestures.
Geeta reunited with her family after 20 years
The meal and Geeta’s emotional connect with her mom was the culmination of five years’ of efforts to reunite the 29-year-old with her family. The hunt had begun in September 2015 when Geeta, who had accidentally crossed over to Pakistan when she was nine, returned to India following a dialogue between late Sushma Swaraj, the then External Affairs Minister, and the foreign office in Islamabad. For five years, the search took government agencies and NGOs all over India and involved a painstaking screening process that at least a dozen families from as far as UP, Bihar, Telangana and Rajasthan – all of whom claimed to be Geeta’s blood relations – failed to clear. In at least two cases, DNA tests were conducted."Your real name is Radha Waghmare and your father's name is Sudhakar Waghmare. He passed away some years ago," Geeta’s mother, Mina, 71, told her as she wiped her tears and rocked her like a baby. Mina has since remarried and she is now Mina Dinkar Pandhare. Geeta probably did not understand a word of what her mother said. She was born deaf and communicates only through sign language. But then it is possible that just like with food, mom and daughter rediscovered a bond that went beyond words and hand gestures.