Sajid Thungal, 72, was presumed dead in an air disaster decades ago. He hid from his family because he considered his life a failure and therefore felt ashamed.
Four years ago he was taken to a homeless shelter. The pastor who runs the establishment began searching for his relatives and sent a request to a mosque in Kottayam to check if his family still lived in the city. Sajid's father had died long ago, but his mother was still alive, now 91 years old.