It’s a faded photograph dating back to the 1940s. But it’s given Monica Csango all the hope she needs.
Television journalist Csango and her scientist father Peter Csango were in Mumbai to explore the possibility that her grandfather Ferenc Csango was here.
Ferenc, a Hungarian Jew who was deported to a labour camp in Russia during World War-II, mysteriously disappeared in 1943. His fate remained a mystery until a traveller walked into the Csangos’ leather goods shop in Budapest one day and asked if they had a branch in Mumbai.
Csango Noitaskak, a family-owned leather goods outlet, was set up by Ferenc. The Mumbai store, Csangos, also sold similar products. The Csangos, who live in Norway now, resumed looking for Ferenc in 2002 and reached Mumbai on May 25.
On Thursday, Monica was introduced to a woman by Solomon Sopher, head of the Jewish community in Mumbai, who wanted to show Monica a photograph of a ball held at a posh city hotel in 1944.
One of the guests at the ball of the Bombay Zionist Association bore near-exact resemblance to Ferenc — only he had a slightly receding hairline and a little extra weight. Though excited by the latest clue, the couple left Mumbai on Sunday. ‘‘I know a little more investigation would lead to the truth. But my financial constraints don’t let me go ahead,’’ says Monica.