For most of his life, he believed he was Ravi Chaudhary. But when fragments of a forgotten past began reappearing, a village road, a mango tree, a familiar courtyard, everything he knew about himself suddenly shifted.
Last week in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, a man disappeared as a teenager returned to Nadi village as Rikhi, the son lost 45 years ago, sparking emotional scenes and celebrations across the community.
Tears, music and an unbelievable reunion
Villagers greeted him with garlands and drums as his six siblings, Durga Ram, Chander Mohan, Chandramani, Kaushalya Devi, Kala Devi and Sumitra Devi, broke down while welcoming the brother they had mourned decades earlier.
“Such instances are rare. There is so much happiness in the family and in the village,” cousin and local resident Rudra Sharma told PTI, still in disbelief.
Rikhi’s life veered off course in 1980. At just 16, while working at a hotel in Yamunanagar, Haryana, he met with a severe road accident during a trip to Ambala. The resulting head injury erased every detail of who he was, his name, his home, his family. Friends gave him a new identity: Ravi Chaudhary.
He drifted from city to city, eventually reaching Mumbai and later Nanded in Maharashtra, where he found work at a college. He married Santoshi and raised three children, a son and two daughters, building a home far from the hills he was born in.
A second trauma rewires fate
Everything changed again only months ago when another head injury triggered flashes of recognition. In dreams, he saw landmarks his mind had buried, a place called Sataun, narrow rural lanes, and a courtyard that felt like home.
Trying to decode these visions, he asked a college student for help searching online. Their search led them to a café number linked to Nadi village. When he called, he reached village elder Rudra Prakash, and the truth finally began to unfold.
Word quickly spread, and relative M.K. Chaubey pieced together the remaining clues. On 15 November, after nearly half a century, Rikhi stepped back onto the soil where his story began.
Mental health professionals say cases like his are extraordinarily uncommon. “Though nothing is impossible, such cases of memory restoration after injury have been rarely documented. The exact cause can be known after medical investigations and brain scans,” mental health expert Dr Aaditya Sharma told PTI.
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