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.
