Abandoned Sikh youth reunites with uncle after 20 years

Vadodara: Joy of 21-year-old Vir Singh, abandoned by his father, knew no bounds when he reunited with his paternal uncle after a gap of about 20 years here.

Vir, the youngest of the three siblings, was left at children`s remand home `Balgokulam` here by his father Biyant Singh when he was about one-and-a-half years old, since his mother had passed away and his father was finding it difficult to take care of him. Thereafter, his father went to Chandigarh along with his two elder sons and never got in touch with the remand home. After Vir turned 18, the remand home`s rules did not permit him to stay there any further, superintendent of Balgokulam, Seemaben Yadav said. However, being kind to him, the authorities employed him as a guard. "He was not entitled to stay in the Balgokulam after attaining the age of 18 years. So, we decided to employ him as a duty guard here as he had no place to go," Yadav said. In the meantime, Vir`s uncle Santok Singh Tonk, a resident of Khodiyarnagar locality on Waghodiya road here, last week referred to his neighbour about his elder brother Biyant, who had died some time back, and his missing sons. The neighbour then told him about a youth at the children`s remand home, following which Santok Singh and his wife met Yadav claiming that they were Vir`s uncle and aunt. Santok produced old family photographs and documents to establish the relationship to the remand home authorities, when they asked him to prove his relationship. Finally, after the verification, Vir met his uncle and aunt yesterday and was overjoyed meeting his family members. "I am very excited and delighted over meeting my uncle and aunty after a gap of 20 years and feel there is someone who are my close relatives and family members. I am sorry to learn about the death of my parents and missing elder brothers," Vir told a news agency today. "Though I am a Sikh, I do not know my mother tongue Punjabi, which I have started learning now," he said, adding that he will not give up his job as guard in Balgokulam, which took care of him all these years.