VELLORE: It was a tearful family reunion, filled with emotion. “Our prayers were at last answered,” said the sobbing family members of 35-year-old Reena after she was reunited with them at Tirupattur on Wednesday. The family found their only daughter who went missing, after a gap of one year. Reena, a B Com graduate from Chennai disappeared on Feb 28, 2011 and could not be traced. Her family, which resides in Chennai, had given up hope of ever finding her after attempts to locate her failed. They were pleasantly surprised when they received a phone call on Tuesday from Udavum Ullangal, the Tirupattur-based NGO which rescued Reena. The NGO runs a state sponsored home for psycho-social rehabilitation of mentally ill persons.C Ramesh, who manages the home, recalled that Reena was found wandering in Krishnagiri district, and was sent to them by the Uthangarai police. She began receiving treatment from a team of doctors led by Dr Anna Tharian, Department of Psychiatry, attached to CMC hospital in Vellore.While the woman was violent at first, she gradually responded to treatment. Interaction with other inmates helped her recover fast and Ramesh and his wife Prema tried to gather information about her. “She used to utter some names and numbers occasionally, which referred to some localities somewhere,” said Ramesh. Based on this, Prema began a Google search and shortlisted Kavangarai in Chennai as one of the possible locations where Reena’s family could reside. Prema then spoke to Ravi who runs a printing press in the area and who helped locate the family last week, bringing a happy end to the year-long search operation.“When we informed Reena’s parents that their daughter was safe, they could not believe it. The family had presumed that she was dead,” Ramesh said. The family, represented by the girl’s mother Kalavathi, brother Ranjith Joseph and sister-in-law Anadhi rushed to Tirupattur to bring her home. Udavum Ullangal was started six years ago as a trend-setter in Tamil Nadu. It presently houses 48 inmates including men and women who are mentally ill and await rehabilitation.
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