In today’s digital landscape, technology has revolutionised the way we connect, share, and discover. A remarkable story from across the Indian-Pakistani border illustrates the profound impact of social media and online platforms.

Hamida Banu was tricked into going to Pakistan 22 years back where she said she was “living like a corpse” as she was unable to reach out to her family back in India.

She was approached by a recruitment agent in 2022 who offered to arrange her a job in Dubai. In return, the agent asked her to pay 20,000 rupees. However, instead of Dubai, she was brought to Hyderabad, a city in Pakistan. She was detained in a house for three months.

“I was deceitfully taken to Pakistan by promising Dubai. I tolerated [the separation] for 23 years,” she told journalists.

Banu married a street vendor in Karachi who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In her 2022 video interview she recalled the details and her story made headlines in July, the same year when an Indian journalist Khalfan Shaikh watched the Youtube interview carried by Waliullah Maroof, a Pakistani social media activist. Shaikh subsequently shared the video on his platform.

Back in India, Banu’s grandson saw the video and informed the family. Later on Shaikh and Maroof arranged a call between Banu and her family in India.

“How are you? Did you recognise me? Where were you all these years?” Yasmin, her daughter was seen asking her on the video call.

“Don’t ask me where I was, and how I have been. I missed you all so much. I didn’t stay here willingly, I had no other choice,” Banu replied.

After Banu reached India on Monday, she was happy to be back with her children and siblings, but she did not predict that a two year old video would be fundamental in bringing her back home two years later.

“My video was shared two years ago. I was not sure if I would reach India. But the Indian embassy called me one year ago, saying you can go back. I have brothers, sisters, children there [in India], but I don’t want to be a burden on anyone”, she said.

India and Pakistan share a long history of conflict and extensive checks on her identity were conducted before her Indian nationality was confirmed in October.
 

Google Doodle pays tribute to India’s first woman wrestler Hamida Banu.
| Photo Credit: Google Doodle

It was on this day in 1954 when Hamida Banu defeated famed wrestler Baba Pahalwan in just one minute and 34 seconds. While Baba Pahalwan deemed it fit to retire from professional wrestling, Banu’s career expanded to international arenas and her victories reported across the globe.

Commemorating Banu’s victory and to pay tribute to her as “India’s first woman wrestler,” Google on May 4 put up a colourful doodle on its homepage.

Born into a family of wrestlers in the early 1900s near Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, Banu grew up wrestling, winning over 300 competitions throughout her career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s at a time when women’s participation in athletics was strongly discouraged.

Banu, however, competed with men anyway, and issued an open challenge to all male wrestlers, wagering her hand in marriage to whoever defeats her, Google wrote in a post.

Banu’s success in international matches gained her further acclaim. One of these matches was the one against Russian woman wrestler Vera Chistilin, who she defeated in under two minutes.

Having made newspaper headlines for years, Banu came to be known as the “Amazon of Aligarh”.

The bouts she won, her diet, and her training regimen were widely covered.

According to a BBC report, she weighed 108kg and was 5ft 3in tall.

“Her daily diet included 5.6 litres of milk, 2.8 litres of soup, 1.8 litres of fruit juice, a fowl, nearly 1kg of mutton and almonds, half a kilo of butter, 6 eggs, two big loaves of bread, and two plates of biryani,” the British media outlet reported.

Reuters noted that she slept for nine hours and trained for six.

A “trailblazer of her time,” Banu not only fought fellow wrestlers but the norms of her times.

“Hamida Banu was a trailblazer of her time, and her fearlessness is remembered throughout India and across the world. Outside of her sporting accomplishments, she will always be celebrated for staying true to herself,” Google’s note read.