Mentally Disbalanced Bhutanese Man Reunites with Family after 13 Years

A Bhutanese youth had fled his country and shifted to India after a squabble with his father in 2011. After losing his job during the COVID-19 pandemic, he became mentally unstable following which he was admitted to a voluntary organisation which helped him reunite with his family after 13 years.

Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): In a heartwarming story of human compassion, a Bhutanese youth who was missing for 13 years reunited with his father after 13 years, bringing forth tears of joy and happiness. Shewang Wangdi, a resident of Thimpu moved to India way back in 2011, after a tiff with his father and reunified with him in May, 2024.

Wangdi worked at a bakery in Thimphu. In 2011, after a quarrel with his father, he moved to India from Thimphu via Samsi and began working at a hotel in Chennai. Neither did he contact his family, nor did his family find any means to contact their son as they thought it was futile to try to reach out.

Situations worsened after Wangdi lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic leading to his mental instability. After becoming mentally unstable, he was admitted to a voluntary organisation in Mumbai, the Nikhilesh Rehabilitation Foundation, which helped me return to his country.

Samar Basak, a member of the Foundation in Mumbai, said, "We rescued him from Chennai. We knew his name to be Fez. We picked him up and treated him in Mumbai. Initially, we started counselling him following which he gradually regained his mental stability. First, he could not even say his name. Slowly and steadily, he could recalled his house in Thimphu."

Basak said that after a few days of effort, they came to know that his house is in Samsi. "We travelled to Samsi on the India-Bhutan border and searched for his house extensively. His home was nowhere to be found. Later, Wangdi told us that he knew someone called Rajesh Pradhan from the Immigration Department of Bhutan. Through Pradhan, we traced his father, Namge Wangdi. Later, the father came and settled all government formalities and Shewang was able to return to his own country," Basak added.

Shewang's father, Namge Wangdi, was overjoyed after getting his son back after more than a decade. "My son shifted to India in 2011. Since then, we had not seen him. We thought we had lost him and had given up on all hopes. I cannot say how happy I am after getting him back," the senior Wangdi said.