CHENNAI: A 40-year-old mentally-ill man from Pakur in Jharkhand was reunited with his family on Monday by social workers here at Udavum Karangal. He had been reported as missing for over two years.
The man was spotted by Mr.Vidyaakar near Velappanchavadi Bridge on October 28 in a highly deranged condition. Dressed in rags with unkempt matted hair he kept muttering to himself and could not respond to any of the questions posed by Mr.Vidyakaar. His eyes remained firmly shut even as he remained unresponsive, said one of the workers. Social workers were immediately called upon to rescue him and he was taken to the organisation's home at Thiruverkadu.
The man was first groomed and fed, after which the workers tried to extract details from him. However, he couldn't say much and was referred to a psychiatrist and put under medication. Following repeated interaction, he could divulge a few details such as his full name and his hometown. Using this piece of information, Mr. Srinivasa Rao, a social worker at the organisation, contacted Sanjay, the owner of a medical shop at Pakur in Jharkhand, which the man had claimed to his hometown.
He had also revealed his full name to be Pradhan Hembram and this information along with his photograph was circulated by Sanjay to all villagers. One of them identified him as the brother of Reta Hembram and alerted him. He contacted Mr.Rao shortly and came down to Chennai on Nov 18 where the brothers were reunited.
It was found that the family belonged to an Adivasi community, were illiterate and had been unaware of Pradhan's mental illness. The family was counselled on the need for continued treatment and medication and were seen off with two weeks of free medicines.
