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Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen were both born in the early 1980s in Mumbai and adopted as infants by two separate Dutch families through two different orphanages. The women grew up in nearby areas of the Netherlands without knowing they were related.
The two first met in the 1990s, while still teenagers, at an event organized by an adoption agency. Friends who were present that day immediately noticed how similar they looked.
Geltink, now 43, recalled the moment. "Our friends told us to look in the mirror," she said. "I noticed our noses were identical and that we even laughed the same way. I kept staring at her throughout dinner."
The pair exchanged phone numbers and addresses the following day. Although there was no known evidence of a biological connection between them at the time, they quickly became close friends. For years, they wrote letters to each other, addressing one another as "sister."
They shared details about school friends, boyfriends, and music and discovered they were both fans of the Backstreet Boys.
About 15 years ago, the two lost contact. Tijssen moved to France, while Geltink gave birth to her first child, and their communication gradually faded.
In 2017, Geltink took a DNA test after hearing about the practice at a gathering for people adopted from India. For years, the test produced no close relative matches. Earlier this year, she deleted the DNA testing app from her phone to free up storage space.
The situation changed on May 20, when Tijssen sent a message through Facebook asking, "Do you remember me?" Tijssen had taken a DNA test in April while visiting her family in the Netherlands and sent Geltink a screenshot of the result.
When Geltink reinstalled the app, the result was clear: the test showed the two women were full biological siblings, born to the same parents.
"I had a sudden rush of adrenaline and started crying," Geltink said.
"Minal was the missing puzzle piece I had been waiting for all these years. We already called each other sisters. The DNA result proved our instincts had been right all along."
The two women met in person again in August, for the first time in years, after learning they were siblings. "It was incredible. It felt like coming home," Geltink said.
"For years, there was a big void inside both of us. Now we feel complete."
According to Reuters, the reunion was marked by tears, embraces and laughter, and the sisters took their first selfie together.
Tijssen, 44, who lives in France with her partner and two sons, said she did not immediately realize that her DNA match was Geltink, the woman she had known for 30 years. She said she recognized the connection only after seeing photos on social media.
"Meena: my sister. I could not believe it," Tijssen said. "We were already friends before we knew we were sisters. We had been sisters the whole time; we just did not know it."
The two women were adopted from two different orphanages in Mumbai by two different Dutch couples.
Geltink said that at age 19, she visited the orphanage in Mumbai with her adoptive family in search of information about her biological family, but the institution did not share any details.
Since learning they are sisters in May, Geltink and Tijssen have spoken almost every other day. They have also met each other's spouses, children, siblings and extended families.
Geltink said people around them have noticed the resemblance. "We finish each other's sentences," she said. "Even the way we move our heads and the way we walk, are similar."
One of the sisters' biggest shared goals is to travel to India together. "One day we want to walk the streets of Mumbai together," Geltink said.
Reflecting on the years they spent apart, Geltink said, "There were times when both of us felt very lonely. I wish she had been there when I lost my father, or when I went through heartbreak. We could have supported each other through hard times and shared the good moments together."
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