'Nothing short of a miracle': Amnesiac man in India regains memory after 45 years

A man in India who lost his memory in 1980 recently reunited with his family after a new head injury miraculously brought back forgotten visuals of his hometown. 

Rikhi Ram, now 62, grew up in a village in Himachal Pradesh, northern India. At 16, he moved to the neighbouring state of Haryana for work, when a car accident caused severe memory loss, reported ETV Bharat. 

His family had no way to contact him or know where to search for him. 

According to local reports, Rikhi was given the new name Ravi Choudhary and started life afresh. 

Hopping from job to job for the next 10 years, he eventually settled down in Maharashtra state in west-central India and married his wife in 1994. 

Decades passed, with Rikhi still in the dark about his parents and the siblings he had left behind — until he met with another accident in 2025. 

"I kept dreaming of mango orchards and the village swings. Slowly, images of home returned," he was quoted by ETV Bharat as saying. 

An online search pointed the man to the phone number of a cafe located in his hometown. After several calls to verify his identity, Rikhi was connected to his family. 

Rikhi, his wife, and their three children returned to the village on Nov 15, where his six siblings tearfully welcomed them. 

His parents had died without knowing what happened to him. 

Rikhi's overwhelmed younger brother, Durga Ram, reportedly said: "We believed he had left this world long ago. Seeing him stand before us after 45 years feels like witnessing a second birth. 

"This is nothing short of a miracle." 

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lim.kewei@asiaone.com