For the last 20 years, Jyothi Edla Rudrapathi had been searching for her sister in vain. On Monday, she made one more attempt by posting a request on a Facebook group called Mizoram News in English to help find her sister who, she believed, lived in Mizoram. Rudrapathi posted an old photograph of her sis- ter, Kamala, with her Mizo husband with a caption: “This is Mr Himgliana with his wife Mrs Kamala who hails from Sialsuk village Mizoram.. Married to Mrs Kamala in 1980 and moved to Mizoram we have no contact of my sister since then.. she is from Telangana..Andhra Pradesh.. He is retired from CRPF..we lost contact with this family we are trying to trace this family for the last 20 years…”
Within less than four hours, Rudrapathi found her long lost sister thanks to the generous members of the group. One of the group members happened to be the nephew of Kamala’s husband who informed that his aunty, Kamala, was currently staying with them in Kolasib town in northern Mizoram.
Later, others posted the phone number of Kamala’s son, Zoram- mawia, who lives in the Lawipu neighbourhood in Aizawl. Rudrapathi then called up her nephew who, in turn, gave her his mother’s number. The two long lost sisters broke down when they finally talked over phone after more than 40 years.
“THANK YOU SO MUCH I found my sister !!!I just spoke to my sister !! This is incredible !! I could not believe myself thank you one and all !!! Thanking my God for his grace and kindness,” Rudrapathi commented on her post after talking to her sister. “Thank you so much. My mom who is 86 just got the news, she is so happy now...can’t thank you all enough.. You guys are amazing.. God bless you all,” Rudrapathi added.
Rudrapathi, hailing from Telangana, is currently working in the US with her husband. She said she planned to come to India at the earliest to meet her sister in person. Rudrapathi’s joy knew no bounds as she finally found her sister after many failed attempts to trace her. “In fact we have been trying in different ways... could not get the right contact ... thanks to the social media.” As she believed that her sister was living in Mi- zoram, she thought that this Mizo group on Face- book would be the right platform to search for her sister when she came across it recently and it proved her right. Kamala is now living in Lawipu in Aizawl with her children. She was visiting relatives at Kolasib when her sister talked to her.
According to Kamala’s son Zorammawia, his parents married in 1980 and moved to Mizoram be- fore his father retired from service. After his father left the service without proper retirement, he start- ed feeding the family by doing manual works and they were facing with financial hardship. His father died of cancer in 2013. “Even though I have always wanted to trace my relatives from my mother’s side, I could not find any help. Due to financial hardship, we could not take the trouble of travelling to Telangana to find them,” he said.
ZODIN SANGA
Assam Tribune - 16 July 2019