A school teacher in Nizamabad, who had travelled 1,400 km on a two-wheeler all by herself to bring back her son stranded in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, following the sudden imposition of lockdown in March 2020, is in distress again.
Razia Begum’s 19-year-old Nizammudin Aman is stuck in Sumy, a city in north-eastern Ukraine, where he is pursuing MBBS first-year studies. He is among the 500-odd Indian students cooped up in hostel rooms or bunkers even as Russia has escalated the military offensive on the war-hit country. The students stuck there say Sumy, close to the Russia border, has been badly affected. The nearest metro station was blown up, and roadways are damaged too, they say. The distressed mother has written to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali, and senior State government officials on Wednesday requesting help in evacuating her son from Ukraine. Back in March 2020, Nizam had gone to Nellore to drop off a friend. They were undergoing coaching for NEET-PG. As lockdown was suddenly announced, Ms Razia, who works as a teacher at Salampad Camp village at Bodhan in Nizamabad, set off on a solo journey to rescue her stranded son.
With just a pack of rotis, fruits, and a five-litre fuel can on April 6, 2020, Ms Razia embarked on a long, arduous journey on her two-wheeler. She drove alongside heavy vehicles on highways, even at night, and reached Nellore the next day. After picking up her son, they drove back to their home in Bodhan. Ms Razia lost her husband, also a school teacher, 14 years ago due to kidney failure. In the letter addressed to the government officials, she stated that the medical condition and helplessness made her son opt for the medical profession so that he could serve such patients in future.
Nizam is once again stranded, this time in a far-away country, amid a hostile situation, and Ms Razia cannot stop feeling anxious. “They are not able to get out of there since it is not safe to step out. I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rescue my son along with other Indian students stuck there,” she appealed.
