31 years on, adopted daughter meets mother

Thirty-one years ago when an unwed mother surrendered her month-old baby at an orphanage, little did she imagine that her daughter would find a way into her life while she battled cancer at the age of 53.

In a heartwarming rendezvous, Carina Roodenburg — adopted by a Dutch couple in 1982 from Pune — was reunited with her biological mother (name withheld) in Dhankawadi near Pune last week. While the kindergarten teacher from Utrecht in Netherlands kept a leash on her emotions, the mother who hails from a small village on the Pune-Satara Road broke down after coming face to face with the daughter she had written off from her life.

"When I first saw her, I said this is it. This is the woman I have been thinking of all my life," Roodenburg told The Indian Express. Looking at a picture of herself in a salwar kameez next to her saree-clad mother, she said, "Everyday I see more and more resemblances. I think I do look like her."

Social worker Anjali Pawar, who facilitated the search for Roodenburg's mother, said, "Carina's mother appeared tense at first. They didn't even hug each other. But she wept profusely later... She was filled with emotion and guilt. She kept saying it wasn't her fault. She took time to get comfortable."

Roodenburg had first visited India in 2009. She visted the orphange then too, but it refused to share any information about her mother. "This time, when I leave India I am going to leave something behind," she said. She is also keen to help with the expenses for treating her mother's throat cancer.

The reunion was, however, marred by a language barrier as Roodenburg is fluent in English, Dutch, French and German, but her mother speaks only Marathi. "I didn't mind that I couldn't talk to her. It was good enough that I could sit next to her," Roodenburg said. "On my first trip to India, I visited the orphange but they refused to give me any information about my mother."

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