Daníel Chandrachur Annisius was eight months old when he arrived in Húsavík from a children’s home in Kolkata in the spring of 1990. Since childhood, he has known that his roots lie in India, but for most of his life, the only information he had about his origins consisted of a few lines in his adoption documents. After taking four DNA tests, a close DNA match finally appeared with a man living in Canada, and this summer Daníel flew out to meet his Indian cousin for the first time. Daníel sat down with Húsavík.com to share his story.
Daníel arrived in Iceland on 4 April 1990, when he was eight months old. He grew up in Húsavík in a family with roots in many parts of the world, and he describes his home as the Little United Nations. “My mother is from Scotland, my father is from Germany, my siblings were adopted from Turkey, and my wife is Swedish. I was adopted from India. I grew up here in our beautiful hometown, and it was an absolute privilege to be raised in Húsavík.”
Daníel’s parents were always open about the adoptions and the children’s origins. He could hardly fail to notice that he looked different from them. “I think I was about four years old. My father came in while I was sitting in the bathtub, scrubbing myself with a sponge. He asked me what I was doing, and I said, ‘I want to be like everyone else.’ Even at that age, I had clearly begun to feel that I was not quite the same as the other children.”
Daníel says, however, that he never felt like an outsider while growing up. At the time, several other children in Húsavík had also been adopted from different parts of the world. “The community welcomed us very warmly. I never experienced racism here in Húsavík. It probably also helped that there were several of us and that my family always spoke openly about everything.”
He was not the child they had expected
It was a coincidence, arising from a great tragedy, that led to Daníel becoming part of the family in Húsavík. His parents had already adopted twins from Turkey and had completed the adoption process for a boy from India. All the paperwork was ready, and all that remained was to travel to India to get him when the boy died.
“It was, of course, very sad. So I was kind of Plan B, so to speak. But I am endlessly grateful that life brought me here and that I had the opportunity to come here and grow up in this wonderful family and in the wonderful environment that Húsavík provides.”
As a child, he wondered about his origins, as most children who know they are adopted do. “As a child, you obviously do not realise how fortunate you are. But I have always been interested in India and in where I came from.”
Returned for the first time at the age of twenty
Daníel visited India for the first time in 2009 with his wife, Lia. They stayed there for several months, did volunteer work and visited the children’s home in Kolkata where Daníel had spent the first months of his life.
“I had waited until I was a little older before going. It was a genuinely positive experience. I was able to see where I came from and get to know the country, its food, music and culture. I am very proud of my Indian heritage.”
He returned to Kolkata in 2023, this time accompanied by his Scottish cousin. One of the main reasons for the journey was to meet Anju, the director of the children’s home, before it was too late. She had worked there since long before Daníel came to Iceland and was the person who handed him over to his mother, Jane, in 1990. Anju was also the person who gave Daníel his Indian name, Chandrachur, which means moonlight. Women who had cared for him as an infant were still working at the home.
“It was very special to meet the women who had looked after me and changed my nappies nearly four decades earlier. The children’s home is still in the same building where I lived. At that point, it was the closest I had ever come to my origins.”
Daníel’s adoption documents state only that his mother was a young, unmarried woman who placed him for adoption because of her social and economic circumstances. During his visits, he learned more about how the process had worked at the time. The mothers brought their children to the home themselves and were then given several weeks to reconsider their decision.
“It meant a lot to me to know that I had not simply been picked up off the street. This was a decision my mother made. After becoming a parent myself, I began to see her differently. Holding a newborn baby and deciding to place that child for adoption rather than trying to raise them in difficult circumstances must have been incredibly hard. I do not see it as rejection, but as a second chance in life that she gave me.”
Luna’s birth changed his perspective
Daníel’s interest in his roots grew even stronger when his daughter was born in 2018. She was named Luna, meaning moon, creating a strong connection with his Indian name.
“When she was born, I immediately thought: This is a little Daníel. She was the first person I had ever looked at and known was biologically related to me. I could look at her and see my eyes and my expressions. I had never been able to do that before.”
Daníel emphasises that biological ties do not determine who a person’s family is. Jane and Matthías are his parents, and Marta and Ómar are his siblings. Nevertheless, there are certain things that most people rarely have to consider. Daníel recently had to complete a form asking about hereditary illnesses.
“I could not tick either yes or no. I simply do not know,” Daníel says. He explains that there were other reasons for his growing interest in his origins. “Luna is half Indian, and this is her heritage too. After she was born, I began to think that I might regret it later if I did not try to learn more, for her sake as well as my own.”
He therefore took four DNA tests through different platforms. The first three revealed only very distant relatives. Daníel had almost resigned himself to the idea that he would get no further. The companies’ databases still have limited coverage in India, which can make searches of this kind difficult.
The final test changed everything
“Then, all of a sudden, a man appeared who was identified as a ‘second cousin’. We shared about four per cent of our DNA. I had no idea what all the figures and abbreviations meant, so I contacted people with expertise in genetics and received confirmation that this was a genuine and fairly close biological relationship.”
Months passed before a reply arrived
Daníel learned the man’s name through the DNA service and saw that he lived in Canada. He sent him a message through the platform but received no reply. Months passed, and for a while it appeared that the trail would end there. Eventually, Daníel found him on LinkedIn and succeeded in making contact.
The man’s name is Nilanjan Jana, although he goes by Nilu. He was born and raised near Kolkata. He later moved to southern India, where he studied and met his wife, Diplip. Both have worked in medical research. They moved to Canada during the coronavirus pandemic and now live in Kitchener, near Toronto.
“We began messaging each other on WhatsApp and immediately got along very well. He also found my story fascinating and was completely open to getting to know me.”
Despite the uncertainty, Daníel decided to follow his heart. He flew alone to Toronto at the beginning of July, travelled from there to Kitchener and spent five days with Nilu and his wife.
“Of course, all sorts of thoughts go through your mind. What if this is not what I think it is? What if we do not get along at all? But we clicked almost immediately. He is a few years older than me, speaks fluent English and was very easy to talk to. We had some truly wonderful days together.”
They went sightseeing, ate at several Indian restaurants, and Nilu cooked Indian food for them at home.
“We sat in the living room and ate with our hands. It was as authentic as it gets. At the same time, he is quite Westernised in many ways. That was nice too – we were able to connect both through our Indian heritage and as two men living Western lives.”
The clues point to his mother’s side
The DNA results show that Nilu and Daníel are closely related, although they do not reveal the precise nature of the relationship. They believe, however, that the clues suggest the connection lies through Nilu’s mother, who still lives near Kolkata. Nilu plans to visit her next year and has invited Daníel to join him.
“It would be a dream to go with him. He grew up in the area, speaks the language and understands the community. His father comes from another part of India, but his mother is from this region. Her surname also appears among several distant relatives in my DNA database. These are only clues, however. We still do not know anything for certain.”
If their theory proves correct, Nilu’s mother may be a close relative of one of Daníel’s biological parents, possibly a first cousin. The next step might be to arrange further DNA testing, but that is not straightforward because such tests are not as readily available in India.
A search of this kind requires great sensitivity. Daníel’s biological mother may have been very young when he was born. She may now be married and have a family who know nothing about the child she had at the time.
“I cannot simply enter a woman’s life nearly four decades later and ask whether she had a child whom she placed for adoption. There is no way of knowing what kind of position that might put her in. That is why I want to proceed very carefully.”
The confidentiality surrounding the adoptions was intended to protect both parties. It protected the young mothers, but also the children who later grew up in very different economic circumstances in the West.
Mother and son both searching for their roots
Daníel’s mother, Jane, has relatives in the Toronto area whom she had never met. Her father’s sister moved from Scotland to Canada, and her descendants still live there. Daníel contacted them before travelling abroad. A few weeks before his departure, he asked Jane whether she would like to join him. She arrived after he had spent his first five days alone with Nilu.
“My mother and I were therefore both searching for our roots on the same journey. She met relatives, some for the first time and others for the first time in more than half a century, and there were some very emotional reunions. We had not travelled together, just the two of us, since she came to get me from India in 1990. Having that time with my mother made the journey even more special for me. Of course, she also wanted to meet Nilu, and it was both beautiful and enjoyable to see them get to know one another. The journey therefore became about both of our roots, and about reconnecting with family and discovering connections we hadn’t known about before.”
Nilu and Diplip have long dreamt of seeing the Northern Lights. Before leaving India, they had even considered Iceland or Norway as possible places to live, without knowing that one of Nilu’s relatives lived here in Iceland.
“They discovered that Iceland and Norway were too expensive and ended up in Canada, but they still have not seen the Northern Lights. I showed them videos of the whales, Icelandic nature and Húsavík, and they are eager to come here for a visit within the next few years.”
“Every step is a victory”
Daníel realises that it may be a long time before he receives any further answers. The proposed journey to India is still only at the idea stage. He says, however, that he no longer views the search as having only one possible destination.
“The main goal is not that I absolutely have to find my biological mother or father. I try not to have any expectations because you never know what you will or will not find. This is a marathon, and it can mean taking one step forward and two steps back. But every step is still a victory, and the greatest victory so far is my cousin Nilu – I have found him. We connected well, and I now have a biological relative and a connection to the region I come from. Whether or not I discover anything more, this relationship will always remain. That alone is incredibly precious.”
