Last week, as the war in Ukraine broke out, Sheetal Gowda, a native of Hassan who was studying medicine in Kharkiv National Medical University, had lost all hope of making it back to India. Speaking from a bunker, she had pleaded, “Please request the Indian Government to speak to both countries about Indian citizens.”
By Wednesday, she had reached Poland. Sounding frightened and relieved at the same time as she spoke to The Hindu about her arduous journey to safety. “The situation in Kharkiv was very dangerous. We didn’t know if the train would be safe to take; if Lviv would be safe when we reached. We were stuck in Kharkiv as the government kept assuring us. We were hoping for some relief, but by the fifth day, our hopes diminished. There was a shortage of food and water was running out. We were in bunkers and the metro. It was so cold, we couldn’t even sleep properly,” she said.
The daily dose of bad news did not help either. The group of students tried to board a train to Lviv in western Ukraine every day, but they had no luck. There have been many reports of students alleging that preference was being given to locals to board trains. “But one day, we got onto the train to Lviv. It took almost 30 hours to reach the city. We didn’t know how much time it would take; we only had prayers and hope,” said Ms. Gowda.
In the train, there was no space to stand. There were adults, children, cats, dogs, everything, she recalled.
The next challenge was reaching a border from Lviv. The students did not expect any help once they got off the train, and decided to try for a bus or taxi on their own. “The taxi would not leave us near the border. He stopped about 3 km away, where the military stops public transport. So we walked for 1.5 hours carrying our luggage and food. It was almost 1 a.m. when we reached the check-post. It was a forest area and we were walking in the dark. We were 23-year-olds walking in the dark to the border,” she recalled.
After getting immigration into Poland, the Indian Embassy officials finally took them to hotels. She now hopes to be able to get a flight back to India soon.
