KANNUR: Seven years ago, a 50-year-old woman named Seetha Kanal went missing from Kapilavastu, Nepal—the legendary land of Lord Buddha. Someday, somehow, she arrived in Kerala, wandering aimlessly with no recollection of her past, her home, or even her own identity. Much like the protagonist of the classic Padmarajan movie Innale, her mind had become a blank slate, erasing all yesterdays.
Today, after a long and arduous journey of healing at the Hope Rehabilitation Centre in Pilathara, Seetha is finally returning home.
A Journey Through Forgotten Identities
When Seetha was found wandering and brought to the Hope Rehabilitation Centre by the police, she didn't even know her own name. The staff initially named her Lakshmi.
Managing Trustee K.S. Jayamohan and the Hope team worked tirelessly to bring back her memories. Following months of medical treatment at Pariyaram Medical College, fragments of her memory began to return. At one point, she claimed her name was Vanamala, stating she had a husband and six children. The Hope team continued her treatment under this name using health insurance. By late 2019, another memory surfaced: she said her name was Bimala and that she was a native of Nepal. Yet, the full picture remained out of reach.
At the time, she could not remember her husband, Devraj Kanal, who serves as a priest at a Buddhist Vihara in Nepal, nor could she remember her children.
The Breakthrough: Justina Steps In
The turning point in Seetha's life arrived in 2021 with the arrival of Justina, an MSW (Master of Social Work) student from BVM College, Kottayam, who joined Hope for her internship.
Justina took a special, dedicated interest in Seetha. To spark her memory, Justina began showing her various pictures and locations in Nepal using Google. The breakthrough happened when Justina showed a picture of Lord Buddha—Seetha immediately folded her hands in deep reverence. When an image of a place called Butwal in Kapilavastu appeared on the screen, Seetha exclaimed, "This is my land!"
Justina spent a month continuously talking with her, which led to a massive leap in Seetha's memory retrieval. Slowly, the pieces fell into place. She remembered her true name: Seetha Kanal. They discovered she was a resident of the 8th Ward in Buddhabhumi Municipality, Kapilavastu District, Lumbini Province, Nepal.
Following these revelations, inquiries were made through the Ministry of External Affairs, which officially confirmed that a woman matching her description had indeed been missing from Kapilavastu.
The Journey Home
With her identity restored, Seetha is now preparing to reunite with her loved ones. The Hope team is escorting her to Delhi, from where the Nepalese Embassy will facilitate her return to Nepal. Because her family lacks the financial means to travel to Kerala, the Hope Centre is bearing the full cost of her flight tickets and travel expenses to Delhi.
An official farewell is being held today at the Mahatma Mandiram in Kannur.
"This is a moment of immense joy for Hope and for me personally," said K.S. Jayamohan, Managing Trustee of Hope. "Seetha Kanal's family is very poor and does not have the financial capacity to come here and take her back. Because it involves transferring her between two countries, it can only be done through diplomatic channels via Delhi."
As Seetha embarks on her journey back to the land of Buddha, one mystery remains unsolved even in her regained memories: how exactly did she reach Kerala from Nepal seven years ago? Police suspect she may have accidentally boarded a train bound for the south, setting off a seven-year detour in a life she is only just now getting back.
