When Ham Radio Reunited Brother-Sister Across Two States:

Amateur radio, quintessentially a geeky hobby, has come to the rescue of a 35-year-old woman from Tamil Nadu who had puzzled doctors at a West Bengal hospital for four years for her inability to recall a shred of information about her life. In a few days, Visalakshi is all set to be united with her family here, over 1,500 km away from her native Krishnapuram village in Tamil Nadu, thanks to a network of Ham radio operators -- or Hams -- spanning the two states. It was four years ago that she was brought in by locals to the Barasat District Hospital in North 24-Parganas district (about 30 km from state capital Kolkata) after they spotted her wandering about in the area. "She was unable to recall anything initially. She has been with us for four years and is under treatment as a psychiatry patient. We even arranged a translator as she was unable to communicate with us in Hindi or English. We tried to contact the local police in Tamil Nadu but couldn't make much progress," the hospital's Superintendent Subrata Mondal told IANS. But, as her memory improved, Visalakshi began to plead with Mondal to contact her family. "Once her condition improved and she seemed to recollect pieces of information, we decided to try out Ham," Mondal said, especially as the police seemed of little help. "We approached West Bengal Radio Club (Amateur Club) and provided a video recording of Visalakshi talking about herself," Mondal said. Led by Ambarish Nag Biswas of the club, a team of around nine Hams hooked up with some of their counterparts in Tamil Nadu.

from Ham Radio Times http://ift.tt/2s63Jyr
via IFTTT