Uttarkashi: A man who had run away from his home over 60 years ago, leaving behind his young wife and children, has found doors shut on him even before his likely return home as an octogenarian.
The family members of 80-year-old Surat Singh Chauhan of Jestwadi village of Chinyalisaur area in Uttarkashi district have shut doors on him, saying the man has no business getting back home when he did not care for them all these years.
Chauhan had left home at the age of 18 leaving behind his 16-year-old wife and two young children. Chauhan’s wife Bugna Devi is now 78 and his two sons, Trepan Singh and Kalyan Singh, are now 63 and 61 respectively.
Chauhan registered with Himachal Pradesh administration to get back home when migrants stranded in different states due to the COVID-led lockdown began returning to Uttarakhand, said local Revenue Officer Virendra Singh Rawat.
His family was informed recently that the runaway man would be brought back from Himachal Pradesh Sunday, he added.
But his family members have approached the local administration, telling it that the octogenarian is not welcome back home.
One of Chauhan’s grandsons, who is the Jestwadi village chief (gram pradhan), has approached the local administration requesting it not to bring him back, the revenue officer said.
“It is no use bringing home someone who did not think of us all these years,” said 78-year-old Bugna Devi. “I don’t even remember his face now,” she added.
Twenty years after he left home, the family came to know that someone saw Chauhan at Solan in Himachal Pradesh. The family members subsequently traced Chauhan and pleaded with him to return home, but he did not heed to their pleas then, forcing them to return empty-handed.
“Dharasu” (the block in which his village is located) and “Jestwadi” (his village) are the only two words that Chauhan keeps repeating, the revenue officer, who spoke to him on phone, said.
Chauhan’s grandson said he too had spoken to his grandfather on phone but he spoke only Himachali language and not Garhwali.
PTI