Naga woman reunited with kin after 50 yrs
Parvesh Sharma
Tribune News Service
Sangrur, October 14
After two years of efforts, a woman IAS officer from Lehragaga, now posted in West Bengal, finally succeeded in reuniting a 65-year-old widow with her family in Nagaland after 50 years.
Anita Singla, also known as Anita Faujan, had eloped with an Army man from Lehragaga and got married to him against the wishes of her family in 1967 and since then had never met her family. Her husband Wakil Chand Singla died six months ago.
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“I had lost all hopes of meeting my family after getting married with Waqil during his posting in Dimapur of Nagaland in 1967. We shifted to Lehragaga in 1971 after my husband got retired. Since then, I had been trying to meet my family, but it only became possible due to the efforts of Preeti Goyal (IAS), my neighbors’ daughter,” says Anita Singla.
As Preeti used to often see Anita crying while yearning for her family, she promised her nine years ago that she would unite her with her loved ones one day. Preeti joined as an IAS officer in 2013, after serving as an ETO in Punjab for some months.
By the end of 2014, she had begun efforts to locate Anita’s family with the help of some of her IAS and IPS friends in Nagaland. It was a tedious task as she had very limited information. All she knew was that Anita’s family stayed near a cinema hall in Dimapur on rent and around 40 years ago her father had shifted to another house in the same town. Finally three months ago, the IAS officer succeeded in tracing the family and even arranged a video conference between Anita and her brothers.
Anita’s granddaughter Kamini Singla says, “I went to Dimapur with my grandmother on September 29 and came back on October 7.” She recalls how her grandmother’s family had welcomed them and made a special vegetarian kitchen for them. Though Anita was really disheartened to know that her parents and four of the eight brothers had passed away, she says she got a sense of satisfaction and was happy to have met the rest of her family.
Preeti’s mother Kanta Devi, who is a national award winner, is a proud parent. She recalls how her daughter left no stone unturned in tracing Anita’s family. “I am happy that my daughter has succeeded in fulfilling her nine-year-old promise,” she says.
