Lady who lost touch with her brother reunites with him 6oyears later to discover his one of the world's richest men

A woman has been reunited with her long-lost brother after six decades (60 years) – and discovered he’s now one of the richest men in the world.

Ida Wilde bade a tearful farewell to Asgar Patel on a Glasgow railway platform 60 years ago... 

Asgar, who her family had given refuge to during the Partition of Indian troubles, had built up one of the largest logistic companies in India – and in turn become one of the world’s richest men.

His fortune placed him at No.45 on Forbes’ top 100 Indian business owners list in 2017 – and now he was heading to Irvine to see the adopted sister he had never forgotten.

Great-gran Ida, 83, told the Daily Record: 

“I hadn’t seen Asgar in so long. It turns out he’d spent years searching for his adopted Scottish family but we moved out of Glasgow and he couldn’t find us. 

“Then out of the blue I got a message on Facebook from Asgar and it was just lovely to hear from him again. 

“I couldn’t believe he had spotted my photograph after all these years – it was a miracle really. I’d said goodbye to a wee boy and now he was returning a hugely successful multi-millionaire. It was surreal.”

Back in 1947, Ida was a child growing up in the west end of Glasgow. At the stroke of midnight on August 15 that year, British rule was ended in India after a long struggle and the territory separated into two new countries, India and Pakistan.

Millions of people were forced to leave their homes to move to the other state in the largest mass migration in human history, with the majority of Hindus staying in India and a host of Muslims moving to Pakistan.

The split sparked riots between the two religions, with up to one million people losing their lives.
After six decades Asgar, now 78, spotted a picture of Ida holding a bunch of flowers at a family wedding which had been posted on Facebook.

Ida was stunned to hear from her long-lost brother and had given up all hope of ever seeing him.

Asgar, who is now based in Dubai, built up one of the largest logistics companies in India and is one of the country’s richest men.

He travelled to Irvine in August to visit Ida at her home and she says seeing him again was a special and emotional moment.

She said: “I just couldn’t believe it. He’s done so well for himself and he’s still such a genuine and lovely person. We chatted away for ages and he told me all about his family. He wants to fly me to Dubai to meet them and he’s coming back to visit again next year. 

“We keep it touch now and it’s just wonderful to have Asgar back in my life after so many years apart.”