Radio station brings families closer amidst Puja festivities

This Durga Puja will not only see Goddess Uma arrive on an annual sojourn to her paternal home and bring joy to millions, but also mark the homecoming of a select few to their dearest ones after years.

For Soumitra Kanji, a diploma engineer working in Dubai, it will be a return to home after four and half years.

Abhik Mukherjee, pursuing PhD in the US, will see his parents after more than four years. All thanks to an initiative of a private radio station which aims to bring families together from overseas.

“I will not be able to make anybody understand my feelings. It’s after so many years that I will see my son (Soumitra),” says a teary-eyed Rikta Kanji.

It was in 2011 when Soumitra, a resident of South 24 Parganas district’s Mudipur, left for Dubai after completing his diploma in electrical engineering, his father, Dipendranath Kanji, said.

“I was working at a private factory and was unable to earn much to run the family and pay the tuition fees for my two sons. Soumitra decided to leave for Dubai,” he said.