In Chalageri, ripples felt beyond Naveen’s home: ‘Hoping son will survive’

Two more years, says a heart-broken Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, and all the sacrifices he had made to provide his son with an education abroad “would have been justified”.

Shekharappa’s son, Naveen S G, a fourth-year medical student at the Kharkiv National Medical University, was killed in shelling on Tuesday after he stepped out of his bunker at the college to buy food. The incident marked India’s first casualty in the war in Ukraine triggered by Russia’s invasion.

Says Naveen’s elder brother Harsha: “My father is a diploma engineer and toiled most of his life to educate us. He worked in the Gulf and later shifted to Mysuru to provide us with a good education. As he turned 60, he decided to spend the rest of his life in our village. He dedicated his life to ensure that both of us got jobs. He never spoke about financial problems with us.”

Harsha is the first post-graduate in the family, having completed an MSc in agriculture science, and is pursuing a PhD. Naveen’s mother Vijayalakshmi, 58, has been bed-ridden since being told about her son’s death. Harsha and Shekharappa, who are busy attending to guests pouring in to offer condolences, have “not had time to grieve” – yet.

With no space inside their small house in Chalageri village of Karnataka’s Haveri district, the family has installed a canopy outside to accommodate visitors — from local politicians to Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.

With Russian troops encircling the two key Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv, and the war entering a crucial phase on the seventh day, India has evacuated over 60 per cent of its estimated 20,000 nationals in that country, mostly medical students, after its first advisory on February 15 asking them to leave.

According to Naveen’s brother, “the government should have acted faster and that could have really helped bring my brother back”. “We have not seen my brother for six months and the government has assured us that they will bring back his body. It will be a big help but I wish this does not happen to anyone else. More than my brother’s body, the lives of others who are stranded there are important,” says Harsha.

According to officials, 693 students from Karnataka have been identified as stranded in Ukraine currently, including 10 from Haveri, while 64 others have returned home.

In Chalageri, a village of 12,000 residents, ripples of the tragedy are being felt beyond the walls of Naveen’s home — especially at the Ukraine education consultancy started by a couple, Sridhar Murthy and Kanyaka, whose son Suman was the first go there for higher studies and was scheduled to complete his medical course this summer.

The consultancy is affiliated to a Bengaluru agency, and played a key role in facilitating Naveen’s move to Ukraine. “About 70 students from Karnataka have gone to study in Ukraine through our consultancy after we saw the education infrastructure in Ukraine closely a few years ago when our son went there,” says Kanyaka.

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“My son is the most senior among many who are studying in Ukraine. If he wanted to return, he could have done it long back. But he is the leader of Karnataka students there and is trying hard to bring them with him. This morning, he said that a building near their bunker was attacked and there was no chance of survival if they waited to be rescued. We are hoping he will survive,” says Sridhar.

By Wednesday afternoon, the couple was informed that Suman and his cousin Amit K Vaishyar, another student from Chalageri who was Naveen’s friend, were at the railway station and waiting to leave for the Hungary border. “There was one train in which the girl students were taken. Suman told us that they would be taken in the next train,” says Kanyaka.

Says Amit’s father Venkatesh: “He told me that he was heading to the Kharkiv railway station on foot, a distance of about 6 km. He promised me that he would message every half an hour. I am not worried about his education now, I would be happy if he comes back alive. He is my only son.”

Says Venkatesh, who runs a provisions store in Chalageri: “We did not get a medical seat here and cannot pay hefty donations. In Ukraine, it costs just Rs 3.50 lakh for fees every year and Rs 2 lakh for other expenditure. It is a six-year course and much less expensive compared to India. But I still had to sell some agricultural land for his education. I studied only up to Class 10 and wanted my son to become a doctor.”