‘I thought I had a best friend until DNA test revealed who she really was’

When Meena Geltink and Minal Tijssen first met as teenagers, they were struck by their remarkable similarities.

The two women, now in their 40s, were both born in India but were adopted as babies by Dutch families and raised in the Netherlands.

They became fast friends after meeting at an event hosted by the adoption agency their parents used, and other attendees immediately noticed how alike they looked.

‘They said, “Look at yourselves in the mirror,”’ said Meena, 43.

‘And I was like, “Oh my God, she has my nose! We have the same laugh.”’

She told the BBC that over dinner she ‘kept looking’ at Minal and that the pair exchanged phone numbers the next day.

They formed an instant bond and remained in touch over the years, sending letters to each other about boys they liked, school, going out and their mutual love of the Backstreet Boys.

They addressed each other as ‘Sis,’ because ‘we felt that way’.

Their correspondence continued for several years until they lost contact after Minal moved to France and Meena had her first child.

In 2017, Meena went to another adoptees meeting, this time for people from India, where she heard about DNA testing.

She took a test, but no matches came up and eventually she deleted the app to clear storage on her phone.

But in May this year, she received an unexpected Facebook message – from Minal.

‘Remember me?’ it said.

Minal had also taken a DNA test the month before while she was visiting her parents in the Netherlands.

Along with her message, Minal attached a screenshot of her results – which came as a huge surprise to Meena.

‘I reinstalled the app,’ Meena said. ‘I was so nervous, I entered wrong passwords 10 times before I was able to log in.’

Once she managed to access her profile, she saw something staggering – she and Minal were ‘a 100% match’, meaning they were biological sisters.
Since making the discovery, the friends-turned-siblings have spoken every day and have met one another’s partners, children, and adoptive families.

The pair finish one another’s sentences and even have similar body language.

‘Minal was my missing puzzle piece I had waited so long for,’ Meena added.

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