‘A bad dream’: 107 Gujarat students return from Ukraine

Of the students who returned, 34 from Surat who reached the city in the afternoon by bus from Gandhinagar, were from Ternopil city in Ukraine and were airlifted from the Poland border.

Their parents waited teary-eyed at the Circuit House in Surat city as their children returned safe to their hands from the war-hit country where they were doing their undergraduation course in medicine.

“It was a bad dream for us… We waited for two days and nights on the border.. I lost all my university documents, including identity cards but luckily, I had my passport in my shoulder bag,” said Vishwa Singada, a fifth-semester MBBS student from state university at Ternopil.

“There were no facilities for food and we had to struggle for drinking water. We finally got food from stalls near a petrol pump on the border. Students helped each other and we are happy on our safe return. There are several Indian students still stranded there… the Indian government should talk to the Ukraine government and make sure that their army does not discriminate against our students on the border,” he added.

Singada was referring to the alleged discrimination by the Ukranian army against Indian students by not allowing them to cross the borders.

Veni Dhruvil, another fifth semester student from Ternopil, had similar experience. “We were stranded in our hostel room since the war started. The scenes were similar to what we have seen only in movies so far… fighters flying past and sound of bombings…. It was a bad dream for us,” said Dhruvil who also claimed discrimination by Ukranian army.

“At the border, there was a queue of students from several countries that was kilometres long. When our turn came to cross the border, the Ukrainian army denied permission. They asked us to go back and stand in the queue again. We had to spend two days and nights under the open sky in freezing cold… We are happy to reunite with our parents,” added Dhruvil.

Kishankumar Pandya, 19, from Gir Somnath, managed to return after being turned away from one border to another. “We hired a private bus from the university to reach a border point with Poland where we were not allowed to cross. As asked by the Indian authorities, we hired another private bus and went to another border to cross over to Medyka in Poland. There we had to spend three nights, one in the open when temperature was minus 5 degrees Celsius,” said Kishankumar.

According to him, on the first day, 50 Indian students were allowed to cross the first check point at the border but denied clearance at the second check point. Thus, leaving them starnded at the border itself for two days.

Karm Raval, a third year medical student, from Thangadh in Surendranagar, also spent three nights at two borders after walking 30 kilometres in a day.

“We walked for 30 kilometres for 12 hours to reach the Poland border… We faced a lot of difficulty in getting food and water. After waiting for a whole day at the first border where we were not allowed to cross, we marched towards the other border. We spent the entire night in the freezing cold standing in queue waiting for our turn,” Karm told The Indian Express.

Concerned over his future, Veni said, “We don’t know how long the war will continue… If the situation turns normal, we will go back and complete our studies. My father took loan from his friends and also used savings for my education…”Dhruvil’s father Veni Shaileshbhai said, “We are thankful to the Government of India for their attempts to bring our children back… Since the war started, we could not sleep or eat well. Now my son has returned and we are happy.”

Advocate Mubina Dumasiya, whose daughter is still stranded in Ukraine, was at Circuit House to see the happiness of parents gathered there. “My daughter is doing her fifth semester in State University at Sumy state. There are over 700 Indian students stranded there. I came here to see the faces of parents when their children returned… I hope one day my daughter will also return… We are praying for her safety,” he said adding, “I request the Government of India to bring back our children safe.”

Patriarch of royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Nawanagar-Jamnagar, Shatrushalyasinhji Jadeja, thanked Poland for extending help in evacuating Indian students from Ukraine. Jadeja, said “I am very happy for the way you, the Government and people of Poland, looked after students from India….” Jadeja’s father MaharajaJamsaheb Digvijaysinhji, had hosted around 1,000 Polish children, many of them orphans, from 1942 to 1946 as they sought to escape World War-II.