Indian Family Miraculously Reunites in UAE
The power of media and compassion spell and happiness and relief for a distraught trio.
If anyone ever doubted the impact of journalism, here is a true human story that confirms and validates it. Thanks to the partial initiative of a reporter with UAE’s Khaleej Times newspaper, 53-year-old Sanjay Motilal Parmar was able to reunite with his wife Komal and son Aayush after three long years. When numerous letters to the Indian embassy proved fruitless, the distraught woman and youth arrived in the UAE on September 8th, 2024 and approached the newspaper’s Dubai bureau in a desperate attempt to track down the estranged man.
A news article about their predicament, which was published on September 19th, went viral and was noticed by an Abu Dhabi resident – Ali Hasnan. It just so happened that this Pakistani technician and his Mohammad Nadeem, had been housing Sanjay over the entire period he had gone "missing". A couple of phone calls and a mere 10 hours later, the Khaleej newsman drove Sanjay’s wife and son to that special residence where the family fell into each other’s arms and shed tears of relief and joy.
It turns out that on arriving in the UAE in 2021, Sanjay had been tricked by an Indian recruitment agency, which left him unemployed, homeless and with an expired visa. The shame and guilt of failure was too overwhelming for Sanjay to intimate his family of the same. That is when Ali and Mohammad came to his rescue. On meeting in a chance encounter and learning of Sanjay’s plight, the compassionate duo welcomed him into their hearts and residence.
Along with food and shelter, the brothers provided Sanjay a job at assisting them in their bike delivery service and running other errands. Sanjay’s hosts even set up a separate kitchen under their roof for this vegetarian Hindu from Vadodara, Gujarat. But despite this special arrangement, their guest would join them in observing and breaking the fast during Ramadan. “We clicked instantly”, Mohammad said. “Sanjay is like an older brother to us.” Over a special farewell lunch at a nearby vegetarian restaurant, he added, “It feels like we are losing a brother, not just a roommate.”
Sanjay’s emotional wife Komal was overwhelmed at Ali and Mohammad’s extraordinary humanitarian gesture, one that rose above nationality and religion. “It’s incredible how people in the UAE, no matter where they are from, come together in times of need,” she exclaimed. And now, thanks to the Gulf nation’s Amnesty Programme which runs till October 30th, Sanjay plans to regularise his residency status, secure legal work and leave the country without being financially penalised. After such a long time of anxiety, separation and uncertainty, how’s that for a happy ending!
