DEHRADUN: The plight of 21-year-old Rishabh Kaushik finally ended when he reached his home in Dehradun from Ukraine on Friday evening with his pet dog Maliboo, without whom he had refused to leave the war-torn country. The Indian Air Force (IAF)'s evacuation flight from Budapest, Hungary, had in the morning reached Ghaziabad, from where Kaushik hired a cab to reach Uttarakhand.
Rishabh's plight was highlighted by TOI on February 27, following which a Bengaluru-based pet relocation firm named Felcan Pet Relocation Worldwide offered to help him fly out of Ukraine with his pet dog. Rishabh, a third year student of software engineering in Kharkiv National University of Radio Electronics, had adopted Maliboo in February last year. Since then Maliboo has been living with him as a "family member".
Thanking TOI and the pet relocation firm for their efforts in helping him out, the student from Dehradun, Rishabh said, "I am elated as I finally managed to bring my Maliboo safely with me to India."
"The journey was not easy. Amid the intensified bombings in Kyiv where I stayed put, I decided to move towards Lviv in the country's west so as to reach the Hungarian border as per the plans chalked out by the pet relocation firm. I faced many challenges during my journey to the border," said Rishabh.
"The first major challenge was to board a train at Kyiv; it was extremely difficult for immigrants like me. And, boarding a train with a pet was more difficult. Finally, I somehow managed to board a train," he said.
"Maliboo was completely exhausted due to the constant travelling and the stressful situation all around. During the 25-hour-long train journey, I couldn't feed him properly as he would vomit due to motion sickness. But he remained calm and a good companion throughout the journey till Budapest, where we reached on March 2," said Rishabh. As per the evacuation plans by Indian authorities, Rishabh and Maliboo finally boarded an IAF flight from Budapest on Thursday evening. "During the whole flight of about 9-10 hours from Budapest to Ghaziabad, he stuck to my chest shaking as the noise in the military aircraft made him jittery," said Rishabh.
Upon reaching home, Maliboo was somewhat calm, said Rishabh, adding that his sister and parents lovingly accepted his pet.
