European Union in NE backyard

GUWAHATI, April 27: It is a "sweet" lost-and-found tale spanning two continents and over half-a-century. From South Wales, Lesley Sweet and her father John Arnold Sweet will be flying into this city early next year to meet 43-year-old John Earnest Duchi - their only living relative in Assam. Duchi, a state government employee, is Lesley's paternal uncle. It will also be the first meeting between cousins John Arnold and John Earnest though their parents were in touch through mail till the early seventies. "It will be a reunion and I can't wait for it," Duchi said. "But the most excited member in the family is my daughter Sheena. She is desperate to meet relatives from her father's side," he added. "My family and I are hoping to visit Assam sometime next year and we are quite excited," Lesley Sweet e-mailed The Telegraph in her reply. Her husband and mother will also accompany her to the state. The story dates back to World War I, when Duchi's Italian grandfather Arnaldo Duchi arrived at Tezpur. He later married Mary Das, a local girl and settled there.The Duchis, in fact, became Assamese to the core with John Earnest's father George too marrying an Assamese girl in Tezpur, where he settled. Earnest, whose wife is also Assamese, shifted to Guwahati in 1984. The Sweet family's relationship with Assam dates back to the 1940s. During World War II, Ernest Sweet, Lesley's grandfather, had been posted in Tezpur as an officer with the Royal Air Force.It was in Tezpur that Ernest met Rosemary Duchi, John Earnest's paternal aunt. They soon fell in love. Lesley's father was born in Tezpur in 1943 and his brother George a year later. "When my grandfather came back to this country, he brought his wife and the two children with him," Lesley Sweet wrote. "Ernest Sweet died in 1994, but my grandmother will be 81 this year," Lesley added. Lesley's hunt for her relatives began when her father expressed his desire to travel to the place of his birth: Tezpur. "I thought it would be a good idea to find out a bit more about Assam. I wondered if it will be possible to trace any family member in the area," she wrote. In response to a letter written by Lesley, the regional tourist office here asked her to contact a local tour operator who had successfully undertaken such tasks in the past. Lesley soon made contact with the tour operator through the website, www.networktravelsindia.com. Lesley's search for her uncle ended in Silpukhuri here but the happy ending must wait till next year. "It will be a dream come true for me and my family," Lesley said.