New Delhi: Anamika first met Deepak beneath the golden domes of Bangla Sahib Gurdwara on a chilly winter morning in 2018. Seven years later, she returned to the same place, not to pray together, but to wander its premises alone, showing strangers his photograph and asking them if they had seen her missing husband.Originally from Varanasi in UP, Anamika met Deepak in Delhi, fell in love and they soon married. They took up odd jobs in hotels and offices, gradually building a modest life together in a small home in southeast Delhi’s Badarpur. For them, life was simple: morning tea, shared breakfasts, separate shifts and coming home to each other.May 23, what was otherwise an ordinary day, turned their world upside down. “Deepu (Anamika’s affectionate name for her husband) called to say he was on his way home,” Anamika said. “Buthe never showed up.”She spent that night in panic, making desperate calls to friends and relatives, none of whom had any answers. The next morning, she filed a missing person complaint at the Sarai Khwaja police station. What she didn’t know was that Deepak was in a serious road accident and lay unconscious in a hospital bed, unknown and unidentified.“I was so desperate that I stopped working. I was on the street asking people in familiar spots if they had seen him,” said Anamika, her voice quivering and eyes tearing up. “I also started checking the faces of homeless men out of desperation.”Deepak, unknown to Anamika, regained consciousness a week after being admitted but had no memories of his life. With information gathered from the fragments of memories he gained over the next month and a half, assistant sub-inspector Satish and constable Balram began looking for his kin.Back at home, Anamika was left to make a tough decision. “I was still looking for him in the late hours of the day. But the worst part was coming back to an empty house. Main agar job chhod dungi toh khaungi kya (If I leave my job, what will I eat?)”Losing faith by the day but still managing to pick herself up every day, Anamika received a call on July 11 from police. They informed her that head constable Nitin of the Sarai Khwaja police station had recognised him as her husband from a photo. Anamika’s world turned into a blur when she finally met her husband. “My heart quaked in disbelief. I broke down in his arms,” she said.Deepak is still recovering from his injuries as Anamika, now the sole earning member of the household, takes care of him and enthusiastically rebuilds their lives. She said, “There are days when he doesn’t recognise me. There is a lot of uncertainty but I have my faith back fully.”
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