From an orphan to Netherland Mayor, man in search of mother comes to India 41 yrs later

In Nagpur, in 1985, an unmarried mother, fearing social stigma, left her newborn baby, just three days old, at a shelter home. About a month later, a couple from the Netherlands came to India and adopted the child, taking him with them.

Today, 41 years later, that child has become the mayor of Heemstede, a city near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Mayor Falgun Binnendijk recently visited India in December 2025 in search of his birth mother.

Expressing his emotions, Falgun said, “I have read the Mahabharata, and I feel every Karna has the right to meet his Kunti. I just want to meet my mother once and tell her that I was raised with a lot of love and that I am living a successful life today.”

Falgun was born on February 10, 1985. His mother left him at the ‘Matru Seva Sangh’ shelter home in Nagpur, where he stayed for about a month. As he was born in the month of Phalgun according to the Hindu calendar, a nurse at the shelter named him ‘Falgun’.

In 2025, Falgun visited India three times, and with the help of an official, he was able to trace the nurse who had named him. By August 2025, with the assistance of Nagpur Collector Vipin Itankar, Falgun reached the nurse’s home. Falgun said, “Meeting the nurse who gave me my name was a joyous experience. Meeting her was memorable, as she gave me my identity in this world.”

Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhary helped Falgun locate his birth documents. According to the records, Falgun’s mother was a 21-year-old unmarried woman who, fearing societal judgment, had left her child at the shelter. While the documents mention the mother’s name, Falgun has chosen not to disclose it publicly to respect her privacy.

Although Falgun was raised by a Dutch couple, he knew from a young age that he was originally Indian. As he grew older, his curiosity about his roots increased, and today he is determined to reconnect with his biological mother.