Manipuri Man Missing For 40 Years Reunites With Family Thanks To YouTube
Image Credit: The Indian Express, ANI
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A Manipuri man got reunited with his family after a Youtube video of him singing went viral. Gautam Singh, now 66 was found on the road begging and singing old Hindi movie songs when Firoze Shakir shot a video of him and uploaded it on Youtube facilitating the joyous reunion of him with his family after 40 years.


Why did he leave?

Khomdan Gambhir Singh was 26 when he left his house in 1976, reported NDTV. His family had no idea about his whereabouts since then.

Last October, Firoze Shakir, a Mumbai-based photographer and fashion designer came across Gambhir. In his Youtube channel, he writes that the kids used to tease Gambhir by calling him Nepali, but he would reiterate and say that he was a Manipuri, an Indian.

Every morning he would come to Bandra bazaar where Firoze lived. “He would regale the people on the streets with old Hindi songs. I would sometime buy him snacks or give him money…He took a liking for me as I shot his pictures,” he said

Gambhir told him that he has served in the army. “He once told me he was in the Army which he left when his father died. He came back to his hometown to till their farms. Due to some misunderstanding with his brothers, he left Manipur,” the Firoze Shakir told PTI, as reported by NDTV.


How did the family get to know about him?

The Youtube video caught the attention of his family’s neighbours. They then brought the video to their attention.

The family members thought that he could be the man who went missing 40 years ago and approached the Imphal police and they got in touch with their counterparts in Mumbai.

“They sent a photo of the young Singh to us. Based on that, we located the person at the Bandra railway station and brought him to the police station,” said a police official. After his identity was confirmed his family members flew to Mumbai to get him back home.

Yesterday he was reunited with his family. Tears of joy ran down his cheeks. “This story is a ray of hope. If a video can change a man’s life there can be no bigger miracle than this,” said Firoze.

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Editor : Poorbita Bagchi

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