{"id":27063,"date":"2017-09-14T14:42:51","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T09:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/?p=27063"},"modified":"2017-09-14T14:43:47","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T09:13:47","slug":"dubai-based-indian-bizman-turns-to-facebook-to-seek-long-lost-lankan-kin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apnlive.com\/world-news\/dubai-based-indian-bizman-turns-to-facebook-to-seek-long-lost-lankan-kin\/","title":{"rendered":"Dubai-based Indian bizman turns to Facebook to seek long lost Lankan kin"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]-By Zenifer Khaleel<\/strong><\/p>\n

KH Wahabuddin (67) hopes he can find closure to his late mother\u2019s case of lifelong suffering following her alleged abduction at the age of seven<\/em><\/p>\n

DUBAI: A Dubai<\/a> resident has turned to the social media to find his long lost relatives from Sri Lanka so he can \u201cfind closure\u201d to the case of his late mother who, he alleges, was \u201ckidnapped\u201d at the age of seven.<\/p>\n

Indian businessman KH Wahabuddin, 67, claimed his mother Sauda Ummal was brought to Kerala in India by her grandfather from her Sri Lankan home, unknown to anyone else in the family, in 1914 when she was just seven years old. \u201cShe was subsequently married off, although she became estranged from my father later,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wahabuddin said, \u201cMy mother led a life of seclusion and depression due to her circumstances and didn\u2019t quite recover till her death in 1984. I have long been trying to trace some relatives in Sri Lanka so I could ascertain the facts. A recent story of a Sudanese brother and Indian sister reuniting through the social media rekindled my hopes. So I asked my daughter Harida to put up a Facebook <\/a>post about my mother\u2019s story. If we get any leads, it will help provide closure to a case of lifelong suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahabuddin said his great-grandfather Syed Mohammad, who hailed from a small village called Edava in Kerala, migrated to Galle in Sri Lanka around 150 years ago. He married a Sinhalese woman and they had seven sons and a daughter.<\/p>\n

He said his mother Sauda was the only child of Mohammad\u2019s daughter. But she became orphaned some years later, following which she lived under the guardianship of her uncles.<\/p>\n

Precious to the family<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile Mohammad had returned to Edava where his family kept insisting he bring back his grand daughter Sauda. According to Wahabuddin, Edava followed Marumakkathaayam, a system of inheritance in which descent is traced by females. \u201cUnder these circumstances, my mother Sauda was precious to the family. So my great grandfather (Mohammad) travelled to Galle and kidnapped her when she was returning to one of her uncle\u2019s houses from school. She was too young to react or know what was going on,\u201d he alleged. \u201cFrom what my mother has told me, her uncles in Galle believed she had gone missing but gave up searching for her with time. Little did they know she was in a new country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahabuddin said Sauda was later married off to a man of the family\u2019s choice. \u201cBut she was not allowed to join her husband (my father) when he went to Singapore or stay with him even after he returned to Kerala . In the Marumakkathaayam system, a man who gets married lives in the girl\u2019s house rather than the other way round, so the family tradition is carried forward by the girl. But my mother\u2019s case was different. My father eventually remarried and moved on with his new family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahabuddin said, \u201cMy mother\u2019s troubled childhood and subsequent developments took a huge toll on her health. She suffered from epilepsy and was a quiet, withdrawn woman who often seemed to be in a trance. She died in 1984.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahabuddin\u2019s son Dr Shaji said his father had been looking for his Sri Lankan relatives ever since he could remember. \u201cMy dad came to Dubai in 1978. Ever since, he has been asking every Sri Lankan he meets if they are from Galle. With the tsunami of 2004, his dreams of finding his relatives were shattered as almost half of Galle was destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now after many years, the family\u2019s hopes have been revived thanks to the social media.<\/p>\n

Wahabuddin\u2019s daughter Harida posted her grandmom\u2019s story on Facebook on her father\u2019s request on September 3. She said the post has already received several shares and she is being asked to join Facebook community forums in Sri Lanka. \u201cPeople have told me I resemble my grandma. Hopefully, some relative back in Sri Lanka will also see the resemblance and help us connect the dots.\u201d<\/p>\n

(This article has been taken from a syndicated feed by Gulf News)[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"