A 70-year-old man who returned to his house in a village in Uttarakhand, some 45 years after he had abandoned his family, was shown the door by his wife and children.
However, the man who had nowhere to go was quarantined at the panchayat Bhawan in Jestwadi village in Chinyalisaur block of Uttarkashi district. Village residents said efforts are on to convince his family to “forgive” him.
As per media reports, the man, Surat Singh Chauhan had left home sometime in 1975 and worked in an apple orchard in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan until the lockdown forced him to return. When migrants stranded in various states began coming back to Uttarakhand, Chauhan was among those who registered.
But when the family was informed of his impending arrival, they told officials they did not want him back. Chauhan returned to his native village on Saturday, but his family which included his 68-year-old wife and two sons, both almost 50 – had no interest in welcoming him.
V S Rawat, tehsildar, said, “Chauhan has been sent to the panchayat Bhawan for a 14-day quarantine period. It’s a family matter and administration will intervene only if needed.”
The man’s grandson and village pradhan Ajaypal Chauhan said, “My family had traced my grandfather to Solan and had requested him to come back years ago, but he didn’t. It is only my grandmother who can forgive him but she feels he has no business coming back home when he didn’t care for us all these years. I’m trying to convince her to let bygones be bygones.”
Village residents said some members of the community were trying to persuade the family to make peace, given the man’s age.
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