A man s8teps out of home in search of livelihood and does not returns back for long. The worried family members wait for him for years but get no clue about his whereabouts. However, after 40 years while they had almost lost hope on him, albeit were sure of his demise, they get a sudden letter from the missing member!

Gouranga  Padhi, a resident of Jadida village under Soro block, wrote the letter to his father Ganesh Prasad Padhi. But Ganesh died about a decade ago. So his wife Pati Padhi, who is currently residing in her daughter’s matrimonial house at Ananatapur under same Soro block, received it.

The letter was written from Kangra of Himachal Pradesh by Gouranga last month and in it he requested his father to send his voter identity card so that he could return to his native place early.

“It gave a great relief to us. The district administration and the Government should try to bring him back,” urged Pati.  local MlA Parsuram Dhada said, “I had a talk with the district Collector to know where Gouranga is and urged him to bring him back.” In the letter, Gouranga mentioned while working in Punjab border he strayed into Pakistan with 40 others and was lodged in a jail in Pakistan.

Gouranga, when around 22 years age, had gone to Punjab in 1975 leaving his wife,  a 5-year-old daughter, Annapurna  and 2-year-old son, Radhagobinda. He used to send part of his income to his family. However, since 1978 there was no news  about him.

In the meantime, his son died about two years ago.