Nagpur: Abandoned as a three-day-old baby in Nagpur, Falgun Binnendijk, now the Mayor of Heemstede in the Netherlands, has returned to the city of his birth in a renewed attempt to trace his biological mother. Reported by Ved Ghulghule , Sumukh Kulkarni from TOI.
More than four decades after he was left at Matru Sewa Sangh (MSS) on Ambazari Road, the search for his roots continues.
Official records show that Falgun was born on February 10, 1985, and was surrendered three days later by his 21-year-old unmarried mother at MSS, an institution that shelters abandoned infants and women in distress.
He stayed there for about a month, during which a nurse named him Falgun, after the month of his birth in the Hindu calendar.
Soon after, legal adoption procedures were completed, and the infant was taken to Mumbai, from where he was adopted by a Dutch couple.
He was raised in the Netherlands in a comfortable household, largely unaware of India except as a distant place on a map. Over time, however, curiosity about his origins began to grow.
Falgun says adoption was never hidden from him. “It was like an open book,” he told TOI during his visit to Nagpur last month. He later entered public life, built a career in politics, and was eventually elected Mayor of Heemstede, located about 30km from Amsterdam.
His first visit to India was in 2006, when he was 18. Travelling as a tourist, he explored several parts of the country, including south India, and felt an unexpected sense of familiarity.
“People would walk up to me and start speaking in Hindi. They assumed I was Indian.” The experience deepened his desire to understand his roots.
Years later, another influence strengthened that urge — his reading of the Mahabharata. The story of Karna and his relationship with Kunti struck a deep chord. “Every Karna deserves and must have the right to meet his Kunti,” he says.
In 2017, Falgun returned to Nagpur with a clear purpose and approached MSS to trace records related to his surrender. While the institution located limited documents, including his date of birth and his biological mother’s name, missing addresses and the passage of time stalled the effort.
“We tried, but we couldn't reach her. At that point, I felt maybe this is it,” he says.
He returned to the Netherlands, got married, became a father of four, and continued his political career, but the sense of incompleteness remained.
“Everything in my life was complete, but there was something unfinished,” he said, adding that it was his wife who encouraged him to resume the search.
In August 2024, Falgun came back to Nagpur seeking official help. With support from municipal commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhari and district collector Vipin Itankar, older records were accessed and departments coordinated, but the search again hit a dead end.
Undeterred, he returned in December 2025. This time, officials and his team, led by senior district administration official Vinod Jadhav, traced a retired nurse who had worked at MSS at the time of his surrender and was now associated with an NGO. When Falgun met her, he realised she was the nurse who had named him.
She remembered the infant, the month of his birth, and the circumstances of his admission. Falgun understood that he had unknowingly met one of the first people in his life.
Both were moved to tears. “It was overwhelming for me. I had just met the woman who gave me my name — my identity,” he told TOI.
Speaking about his mother and the possibility of meeting her after decades, Falgun said, “I believe she may be living in guilt, thinking she had done something unpardonable.
I just want to meet her once and tell her that I am okay, I have a beautiful life, and that her child grew up loved.”
This visit, Falgun was accompanied by his wife and four children. He has given them both Indian and Dutch names and has named his daughter after his biological mother.
He says he plans to return again next year. The search, for now, continues.
ISSUE
Leave a Comment