Two women adopted from orphanages in Mumbai in the early 1980s have gained a confirmed biological relationship, and the discovery has turned a long friendship into an active sisterhood. Meena Geltink, 43, and Minal Tijssen, 44, restarted near-daily contact after a consumer DNA match this spring and met in person in August.
Both were placed with separate Dutch families within months of birth and grew up close to one another. The pair first encountered each other as teenagers at a weekend event run by the adoption agency their parents used, noticed strong physical similarities, and stayed in touch by letter for years. Their contact lapsed after Minal moved to France and Meena’s life became busy.
Meena took a consumer DNA test in 2017 but did not find close relatives then. This spring Minal completed a test while visiting her Dutch parents and sent Meena a screenshot on 20 May. When Meena logged back into the matching app she found a single, unmistakable entry: the test listed her as a "full sister," which Meena describes as meaning "we shared the same biological mother and father."
Meena said the revelation felt sudden and overwhelming. "It was like I had an adrenalin shot. I cried. Minal was my missing puzzle piece I had waited so long for. We had called each other sister," she said. Their first reunion since the discovery was framed by the women as an emotional homecoming, marked by tears, hugs, laughter and a selfie. "It was amazing. It felt like homecoming," Meena added, and said the reunion helped fill a long-standing emptiness, "We feel like we've been completed. Everything now feels like it's supposed to be."
Since May the women have spoken roughly every other day and introduced each other to partners, children, brothers and parents. Meena, a mother of three who grew up in a small Dutch village where both her adoptive parents worked at a private school, said observers notice how they "finish each other's sentences" and move in similar ways. Minal lives in France with her partner and two sons.
Both say they would like to return to India together to revisit Mumbai and the places tied to their earliest lives. Meena recalled a 2003 visit to the orphanage as a young adult, when staff declined to share details about her biological parents. For now the pair are focused on everyday rebuilding: deepening their relationship, meeting extended family and planning a joint trip to the city where their lives began.
