One of the most vivid memories I have of my Ma is of her standing at the gate of our childhood home at the Gauhati University campus, when Dada, Bhaiti or I were even ten minutes late in arriving home from school. Her eyes would be glued to the road, and she would anxiously look at each school bus, as the students from various schools alighted in their different uniforms. In our youthful ignorance, I remember my brothers and I thinking it was a huge joke and betting if Ma would be at the gate, if our bus stopped at a spot for a minute longer than scheduled. Now that Ma is no more, and I myself am a mother of an eight-year old, who runs to check on him ten times even if he is making a snowman right outside the window, suddenly Ma standing at the gate, waiting for us is not funny any more. As I choke back my tears at the memory, I am thinking of Minati Aunty, another mother waiting for her son. But this time it is not just ten minutes. She and her ailing husband Anil Sarma have been standing at their gate for eight long years, waiting for the right bus to bring her only son, Milumoni (Sanjiv Sarma) home.
I have known the Sarma family since I was a little girl, growing up in the Gauhati University campus. I remember Milumoni Da well as a friendly young man, intelligent and well spoken. I had heard about him coming to the US in the late eighties, to study Mass Communication at Hunter College at the City University, NY. But as it happens all too often in life, if one doesn’t hear about a person one just assumes that they are well. So one day, in early September, soon after we moved to Denver, when I suddenly saw his youngest sister Mainu’s blog on the Internet pleading to the Assamese community in America for information on Milumoni, who has been missing for the past seven or eight years, it was a shock. Since then I have been in regular communication with her and have been trying in my own small way to provide some information to this grieving family. In the last couple of months, I could come up with the following sketchy information on Sanjiv Sarma.
While studying at Hunter College NY, which shows his attendance till 1998, Sanjiv Sarma faced some financial problems. He worked part time with one Mr. Nukka Reddy, who was starting a business during that time. Mr. Reddy still lives and conducts business in the New York area. According to Mr. Reddy, Sanjiv had reason to fear for his life, because of which he was reluctant to stay in his own apartment for a certain period in late 1997. Mr. Reddy put him up for a month after which Sanjiv flew to California. Mr. Reddy himself drove Sanjiv to the airport. He received a phone call from Sanjiv a month later, in which he mentioned that he was working ‘on a ship’. Sanjiv also said that he needed money urgently to pay his motel bill. That was the last Mr. Reddy heard from him. The last letter his parents received from him was dated May 11th 1997. In that letter Sanjiv mentioned that he was in ‘deep personal trouble’ and asked them not to write or call him for sometime. That was his last communication with his family. There is another angle to the story. The family has heard that there might be a young lady from South India who might have had a relationship with Sanjiv. There have even been rumors that the two might be married. But no one seems to have any information about who the girl is, where she might be now, or even which part of South India she is from.
The family is pleading for information; any information that would help shed light on what might have happened to their only son. His octogenarian father recently had multiple cardiac strokes and is lying in the ICU of a nursing home in Guwahati. He still worries about who will light his funeral pyre. The basic information about when Sanjiv Sarma came to the US, physical description etc can be found on Mainu’s page at http://sumitasarma.bihu.in or http://geocities.com/milumoni. I once again appeal to the Assamese community here to help with any information they might have which might bring some closure for this family. I do have a little more information on him like his Social Security Number, the reason why he was afraid for his life, results of some paid searches, contact information of Mr. Reddy, etc which I hesitate to publish at this time. But I will be glad to share it with anyone who is interested in communicating with me personally in this regard. Mainu has informed that quite a few Assamese people have written to her and have tried to help, for which the family is very grateful. I am hoping that since I am in America itself it would be easier for people here to communicate with me. I may be contacted at nandiniborahdas@gmail.com or over phone at 720-489-0675 (H) and 605-430-5839. I welcome anyone who would like to call or write to me with either information, or advice on how I may proceed further with this search.
- Nandini Borah Das, Colorado
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