S'porean woman posts TikTok of grandmother's 93rd birthday, ends up finding long-lost family she never knew about

It was a message on TikTok that one woman in Singapore almost ignored.

But as fate would have it, a video of her grandmother's 93rd birthday celebrations posted to the platform set off a chain of discoveries and uncovered family histories, leading to the elderly woman finding her long-lost sister after 90 years of separation.

"How come we never knew about this person?" the grandmother of Vikneswari Rethinam, 45, wondered.

Grandmother was separated from birth family at three

In an interview with Mothership, Vikneswari, who also goes by Viki, said that her grandmother, ⁠Santhakumari Kanagasabai, was born in Singapore in 1932 and was separated from her birth family when she was around three years old.

Her parents were unable to care for her, and she was taken in by another family, who eventually married her off at the age of nine.

Viki said:

"She hadn't even attained puberty yet, and I always asked her if it was a child marriage, and she said it was so common in those days. She had a really rough upbringing."

All her grandmother remembered was her father's name, that she had an elder brother and a younger sister, and that the sister later had a daughter named Kasturi Bai.

"My mum heard from someone long ago that granny’s sister was around somewhere in Singapore."

Not much to go on at all.

'She reminds me of my grandmother'

Just last year, Viki's grandmother experienced heart failure, and Viki was not sure if she "would make it to her 93rd birthday, but she did".

On the elderly woman's birthday on Jan. 1, 2026, Viki posted a video on TikTok showing her grandmother making a wish over a candlelit birthday cake.

A month later, she received an unexpected message on Jan. 31 from a woman named Angel, who noted that her own grandmother, Thayanayagi, bore an uncanny resemblance to Viki's.

Over a series of TikTok messages, the two women found that their grandmothers even had similar backgrounds — both had been given away by their families at a young age.

'Same name'

As Viki conversed with Angel, she was shocked to find that their great-grandfathers had the same name.

Although transliterated differently on their NRICs, both women's root patronymic name, Kanagasabai, was the same.

Traditionally, Tamil names do not use inherited family surnames; instead, a patronymic system is employed where the father's given name takes the place of a surname.

When Mothership asked Viki about the possibility of conducting a DNA test to make sure, she said she was "certain" and that there was no need to do so.

She cited two reasons — the first being their shared paternal name.

The second was the name of her newfound aunt — Kasturi Bai.

Grandmother's sister died of cancer in 2020

Thayanayagi had actually passed away from stomach cancer in 2020.

Meanwhile, Viki was a full-time teacher with the Ministry of Education for 15 years before she resigned to care for her elderly grandfather. 

After her grandfather passed away in 2016, Viki became her grandmother's main caregiver.

Nevertheless, she planned to reunite both sides of the family.

"She is my world, and after the life [my grandmother] has lived, I want her story to feel complete. I never want her to carry a quiet regret about the family she was separated from."

When asked what takeaway she had hoped to receive from the reunion, Viki said "comfort" and "the certainty that she did not leave this chapter unfinished."

When Viki was asked if she felt a sense of pressure or duty as the gatekeeper of her grandmother's story, she teared up.

"I'm the primary caretaker of my grandmother, and I even designed my job as a teacher around my grandparents. I think these are very big decisions that not many would make."

The reunion

The reunion between the two families took place at Thoondil Seafood Restaurant on Feb. 18, 2026. 

Viki anxiously awaited the arrival of Angel and her family.

Upon meeting each other, Viki's grandmother looked visibly overwhelmed.

During lunch, the family, now whole, excitedly chatted and shared family stories.

Viki's grandmother got to meet multiple generations of her late sister’s family, including her great-grandchildren.

Angel said, "I'm just so glad to have found them after all this time".

Viki said that "seeing this reunion come together for her has been deeply meaningful" and that it was a "full circle moment" that she never knew she would be able to witness. 

'Power of human connection'

Viki said she hoped readers would feel "a renewed appreciation for the power of human connection". 

She firmly believes that social media played a meaningful role in reconnecting her family, saying that this experience showed her that it was a "bridge between people who would otherwise never cross paths".

"A short video shared simply out of love for my grandmother ended up reconnecting two families who had been separated for nearly 90 years, something none of us could have imagined."

Top photo from Mothership