Surbhi Singh and Pallavi
8 March 2022: Several students, relieved to be back home in India, are catching up on lost sleep. All of them said that living in Ukraine through the war for the last two weeks has been an emotionally draining trial.
Zainav, from Deoria, Uttar Pradesh, who found the entire experience in Ukraine traumatizing, slept for several hours as soon as she reached home, secure in the knowledge that she was no longer in a war zone. She was haunted by several incidents from the harsh living conditions in Ukraine and especially the incidents that took place as she was evacuated.
She lived in Ivano, Ukraine, with six Indian students and had to walk on Thursday to the Romanian border from Ivano. They reached the border from where a gate led them to Romania. A crowd of 6,000 people stood near the gate, which would be opened only for a few minutes when four students would be allowed through it. Further, girls were being prioritized while entering the gate and the boys would be at the back. “But no one followed that rule,” she said. She was extremely worried about whether she would be allowed through it or not.
Also in Romania, she witnessed firing that left her shaken. To add to her stress, her friends,
desperate to get into Romania, began shouting for the gate to open only to be beaten up.
When she reached Delhi, she and other students were besieged by the media. However, she was too tired and emotionally overwhelmed and she quietly left the place. Her friends did speak to the media. She took her next flight home, hugged her father, “went blank” and did not talk to anyone beyond her family. She said, “The district magistrate (DM) wanted to speak to me but I politely declined.”
Urmila Kumari, an Indian student from Lohardaga in Jharkhand, studying in his First Year, in Dnipro, central Ukraine, reached India on Saturday. She found Delhi airport crowded but she was enthusiastic about talking to the media. As soon as she reached home, she felt safe and caught up on lost sleep. She felt good and was elated meeting her family who expectedly were worried about her safety.
She said, “When I first heard the siren in Dnipro, Ukraine, I was traumatized and I cried. After that, I got used to it.” Some students have been able to deal with the situation they found themselves in because they were in relatively safer parts of Ukraine.
Shadab Hussain, a 21-year-old student studying at Danylo Halytsky Lviv National Medical University, Lviv, in western Ukraine, is feeling fine. He reached Dhanbad, Jharkhand, before the conflict in Ukraine escalated.
He said, “The experience taught me a lot. I heard only the sirens and I am glad I am home.”
Students get calls from government officials
Some students who have come home from Ukraine have been receiving calls from government officials in India offering help. However, it is not clear what the help is except that there is a “plan” that will be offered to them.
Urmila said she would return to Ukraine if the situation improved. She said if that did not work, she had been told on the phone that the Central government had a “plan” for students who had returned from Ukraine.
Several politicians and MLAs and people in Jharkhand tried to speak to Urmila when she reached home. She also met Sudarshan Bhagat, MLA, Lohardaga, who told her he would help her in any way that she may require.
Inchara, from Karnataka, who was in Ukraine, said she heard from friends that the government
would help students who are back home. Zainav said she did not get a call, but she had heard of a government plan to help them.EOM
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