Daijiworld Media Network – Sirmaur

Sirmaur, Nov 21: A life that had drifted miles away from its roots returned home after 45 long years when a second head injury unlocked memories once lost. In Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, a man known for years as Ravi Chaudhary walked into Nadi village last week — but this time, he returned as Rikhi, the boy who vanished at the age of 16.

His homecoming left the village overwhelmed. Residents gathered with flowers and music, while his siblings — Durga Ram, Chander Mohan, Chandramani, Kaushalya Devi, Kala Devi and Sumitra Devi — broke down on seeing their long-lost brother. “Such instances are rare. There is so much happiness in the family and in the village,” cousin Rudra Sharma told PTI.

Rikhi’s life changed in 1980 when he suffered a severe head injury after a road accident in Ambala while working at a hotel in Haryana’s Yamunanagar. The trauma erased every detail of his identity — his name, home, family and past. Friends began calling him Ravi Chaudhary, and with no memory to guide him, he moved to Mumbai, did odd jobs and later settled in Nanded, Maharashtra. There, he married Santoshi and raised three children.

Months ago, a second head injury began stirring his lost past. He saw flashes of a mango tree, narrow village lanes and a courtyard in a place called Sataun. Slowly, he realised they were not dreams but fragments of his childhood. With the help of a college student, Rikhi searched online and found a phone number linked to Nadi village. A call connected him to village elder Rudra Prakash.

The news spread quickly. Relative M K Chaubey identified the clues, and on November 15, Rikhi finally returned to the family that had mourned him for decades.

“Though nothing is impossible, such cases of memory restoration after injury are rarely documented. The exact cause can be known only after medical investigations and brain scans,” mental health expert Dr Aaditya Sharma told PTI.