24-Jul-2012 Navjeevan Gopal Amritsar : It had been a daily ritual for Pratima Ruidas for the last 17 years. Every morning, as she lit the lamp in front of Goddess Kali's idol, she prayed for only thing - her missing husband's return.
She believed her husband was alive somewhere. Her belief came true on Monday when Pratima, now 39, reunited with her husband, Subodh Ruidas (43), at Vidya Sagar Mental Health Institute, Amritsar. The reunion came just 15 days before the couple's younger daughter, Kuku Moni, is scheduled to tie the knot at Akui village in Bankura district of West Bengal. After reaching the hospital early on Monday, an emotional Pratima asked her husband , "Chinte parcho (Do you recognise me)?" "I knew he would be back. I did not have any idea that he had gone to Pakistan and was taken prisoner there. He had left home after having a dispute with my parents. He was hit in the head in the scuffle and had became mentally ill," Pratima said. Much has changed since Subodh went missing 17 years ago from his home. He spent nearly 12 years in a jail in Pakistan after he boarded a train to the neighbouring country because of "mental illness". He was repatriated to India in 2007 and had since been undergoing treatment at Vidya Sagar Mental Health Institute, Amritsar. After efforts to trace the address of Subodh, and 14 others like him who were repatriated from Pakistan and are undergoing treatment at the institute, failed to yield any result, Institute director Dr B L Goel requisitioned BSF personnel hailing from different states to talk to them in their respective languages. "It was then that we found his address and reached the family. I wrote to the Resident Commissioner of West Bengal in New Delhi informing him about the address a couple of months ago. Today his family was here to take him," Goel said, adding that eight more persons from Orissa, West Bengal, Haryana and Assam would soon be reunited with their families. Meanwhile, Pratima is elated. "My prayers have been answered. Now, he will do the kanya daan of our second daughter, who is getting married on August 6," Pratima, said, adding she married off their elder daughter a few years ago. Besides two daughters, Subodh has a son who was only two-and-a-half-years old when he went missing. His daughters were five and seven years old. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/17-years-on-bankura-man-unites-with-wife-in-amritsar-hospital/978385/0 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/MhaNewsViewsIndia?hl=en ------------- Affiliated Groups : MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY INDIA [email protected] Discussions on mental health law / policy / plan monitoring / human rights etc [email protected] India-specific news and views related to mental health [email protected] Information and support to carers of people with mental health issues [email protected] Mutual support and sharing of experiential knowledge, skills and social learning amongst peers
