It was a regular 10-second Instagram video, amid a sea of countless others, put out on Independence Day. But an innocuous, gap-toothed smile captured in this reel shot in a Kerala village triggered an unusual chain of events, bringing to end almost a decade-long search of a Jharkhand family for its missing son.

Among its one million viewers was a family member of a specially abled man captured in the reel. He had grown older – from 26 when he went missing to 35 now – but that smile was unmistakable.

In Kerala, the man was called Rasheed. But for the Sheikh family in Jharkhand, he was their Yasin. On Thursday, Yasin began an almost 2,500-kilometre-long journey to reunite with his family that lives in Sahibganj district in Jharkhand.

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It was sometime in 2017, when Yasin had stepped out of his home in Narayanpur to play with his friends in the village. When he did not come back home, his family filed a missing person complaint and began looking for him.

The same year, local residents in Cheruvadi village in Kerala’s Kozhikode district spotted a youth wandering in the area. They alerted the police who produced him before the district child welfare committee as he looked much younger than his years. As per the procedure, the committee lodged him at a welfare and care centre, managed with the assistance of the Social Justice Department of the state government.

As that care home was designated only for children below the age of 18, in 2023, the authorities shifted the youth to Karunyatheeram – a campus for specially abled people run by an NGO, Health Care Foundation, at Kattippara area of Kozhikode.

Says Karunyatheeram’s chief operating officer P I Navas, “His speech was often indistinct, making it difficult to understand what he says. He could not articulate his name. We named him Rasheed as there were no official records to show his real name.”

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At Karunyatheeram, “Rasheed” discovered his affinity for the camera. “He had been active in all celebrations and was keen to stand before the camera. Rasheed had also appeared in a short film titled ‘One Smile’, which bagged state-level second prize in a contest by the Social Welfare Department,’’ said Navas.

A longing for home

Even as he settled into his life in Kerala, “Rasheed” would often speak about his mother and his village, expressing his desire to return home. But no one knew where that elusive “home” was, the way no one knew how he ended up in Kerala.

Then came Independence Day when social media influencer Pevundara Yasir came to Karunyatheeram campus. He captured a short video showing Rasheed and his friends walking, a proud smile plastered on his face, with the national flag in hand. Yasir shared the video on his Instagram handle “belikeyassir”. The video went viral, clocking more than 10 lakh viewers.

Among the viewers was “Rasheed’s” cousin. The family reached out to Karunyatheeram and spoke to him on call. There was no mistaking – this was, indeed, their Yasin. They shared his Aadhaar card and other details to verify his identity. The local authorities cross-examined the details and confirmed that the youth who has been living as Rasheed in Kerala since 2017 is Yasin Sheikh of Jharkhand.

A bittersweet reunion

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“After watching the viral video, his cousin suspected that he saw Yasin and commented accordingly on Instagram. We shared the contact address, which helped them reach him. After his identity was confirmed, Yasin spoke to his father, Sohrab Sheikh, and his siblings through a video call. We have also got in touch with the police in Kerala as well as in Jharkhand as per the official procedure. He is now aged 35, as per records,’’ says Navas.

His younger brother Ajul Sheikh came all the way to Kerala to take Yasin home.

But the joyful reunion also brought in painful news for Yasin. “The mother he used to talk about so fondly had died in 2023, waiting for her missing son,” says Navas.