Passport lost, Indian stranded in Bahrain for 4 decades finally returns home

India Today

25-04-2025

A 64-year-old Indian stranded in Bahrain for the past 42 years after losing his travel papers finally returned home and was reunited with his family on April 23. Chandran Gopalan, from Kerala, was stranded after he lost his passport along with all other travel documents. This was an emotional moment for his 95-year-old mother, Sanchalakshi. His father passed away while he was in Bahrain.advertisementGopalan was a resident of a village near Powdikonam in Thiruvananthapuram.He left home at the age of 22 in 1983 in search of better job opportunities. His life took a different turn than what he had expected following the death of his employer in 1986, according to the social media post of Pravasi Legal Cell, a Delhi-based NGO.
His father, Gopalan, passed away in 1985.After he lost his passport and documents, he had to live as an undocumented immigrant, and couldn't return. Hereafter, his primary focus was to evade the law.Gopalan worked as a mason to earn a better living for his family.He started working as a painter and kept moving from one place to another in search of work after the death of his employer. He lived in Manama, the capital city of Bahrain.INDIAN EXPATS IN BAHRAIN CAME TO KNOW OF HIS STRUGGLESadvertisementGopalan's struggles became known to the Indian expatriate community in Bahrain in 2020 when he was detained by the police following a dispute with another expat from Kerala.Subsequently, Pravasi Legal Cell learnt about Gopalan's plight and vowed to reunite him with his family in Kerala.The NGO's Bahrain chapter president, Sudheer Thirunilath, said that many undocumented migrants find themselves in trouble with the authorities soon after losing their documents, but Gopalan managed to evade detection for years.TWO GENERATIONS BORN WHILE GOPALAN WAS AWAY"It was Chandran's first encounter with the police since he arrived in Bahrain and remained elusive after losing all his documents. Many people in similar situations end up with the police very quickly, but for Chandran, it took decades. He was jailed for three months," Thirunilath told The Indian Express."The future is bleak and health is not on my side," Gopalan, who remains a bachelor, told The Indian Express."Back home, I have to track down my relatives and friends. While I remain a bachelor, two generations have been born in my family. The world I had left behind in Kerala has changed. If I go out, I will get lost," he added.The Pravasi Legal Cell has worked to bring Gopalan's story to light—navigating legal mazes, providing shelter, tracking down long-lost families, and coordinating with authorities, the NGO said in a statement.advertisementThe NGO team worked closely with the Indian Embassy in Bahrain and the country's immigration authorities to navigate years of administrative hurdles and ensure Gopalan's safe return to his home country.