This raksha bandhan was bitter sweet for a family in Chhattisgarh. While two brothers rejoiced that their mother, afflicted with a mental illness, who had walked out of the house 20 years ago, was reunited with them, the happiness was tinged with sadness as she had lost their sister whom she had taken with her. The reunion was possible on Thursday thanks to a social worker from a shelter in Mumbai where the woman was brought in June this year.

From Chhattisgarh, a joyous Prahlad Kumar Ratre, 24, the woman's brother spoke to this reporter on Thursday from his village, Kari. “I have been waiting for over 20 years to meet my elder sister Saurin, who disappeared with her one-month-old daughter from our house. I am blessed that my wish has come true three days before raksha bandhan.”