Nerul girl back to Mumbai from war-hit Ukraine

Daksha’s father Pradeep (48), and mother, Neha (44) were at the airport. “Usually I do not approve of such practices but the situation was such that everybody’s prayers were welcome,” Pradeep said

Mumbai: For 13 days, 79-year-old Nerul resident Malan Kanade immersed idols of gods praying for the safe return of her 19-year-old granddaughter Daksha Kanade, a student of Kharkiv National Medical University who was stuck along with several of her batchmates following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began last month. Daksha finally landed at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International airport on Tuesday evening.

Daksha had left India on February 10 to join Kharkiv National Medical University, which insisted on conducting physical classes despite the ongoing pandemic (Abhinandan Sood)

Daksha’s father Pradeep (48), and mother, Neha (44) were at the airport to receive her. “Usually I do not approve of such practices but the situation was such that everybody’s prayers were welcome,” Pradeep said.

“I gave up food because I knew my daughter had none. Their food resources were affected right from the beginning of the war as a missile had landed near their bunker in Kharkiv. Displaced students from an adjacent building had taken shelter which meant that they had to ration their food,” Neha said.

The Kanades spent weeks in trepidation as their daughter made her way to the Romanian border — more than 1300 km away from the university— from where she and eight other first-year students boarded a flight to New Delhi and landed on March 7.

Daksha had left India on February 10 to join Kharkiv National Medical University, which insisted on conducting physical classes despite the ongoing pandemic. She had already lost a year due to the pandemic, having cleared her class 12 in 2020.

On March 4, the young woman and 500 others braved their way through the war-torn country, walking hundreds of kilometres without little to none food and water, residing in basements converted into bunkers, enduring bombings to reach to the safe zone on Romania’s border to reach India.

“From Kharkiv to reach to a safe zone we walked 30 km distance via foot. It was extremely difficult to walk with our backpacks and many of us suffered injuries, but our university seniors showed amazing resilience and maturity. If it were not for the Indian flag, today we wouldn’t be with our parents. The kindness shown by the Ukrainian and Romanian officials, who realized that Indian students were getting evacuated, is something I will never forget,” Daksha said.

The sense of patriotism among the students was palpable, Daksha said. The students who landed in Mumbai were unanimous in their praise for the government’s evacuation project, titled Project Ganga.

Pradeep could not hold back his tears when he saw Daksha walking towards him at the airport on Tuesday evening.

“The only time I felt that the worst would happen was when locals prevented Daksha and her batchmates from boarding the train at Pisochyn to lviv from where they could head to the borders of either Poland, Hungary or Romania. At same time, heavy shelling had begun which put their lives in danger. She called me to update me of the situation and asked me to save her and to direct her on what way to go further as their internet access was restricted. I almost fell apart that day. I decided that I would do whatever was possible and told her that I will arrange for help, but I had no clue what to do,” Pradeep said.

Pradeep joined several groups on social networking sites comprising parents in a similar situation and began to reach out to embassy officials in the hope of drawing attention to the travails of his daughter.

After the invasion began, the Indian embassy informed the students that they needed to vacate Kharkiv immediately. “The students grabbed the passports, some documents and money and left the hostel. The embassy informed them to reach nearest metro station and board a train to Rakhiv and from there the students were to be evacuated via Hungary. The nearest Kharkiv metro station was around 12 km away. They had no means to travel, so around 500 Indian students from various colleges in Kharkiv started walking. They walked for 12 km with whatever food they had,” Pradeep had told HT last week.

“They waited at the station for six hours. Four trains passed but none of the citizens there allowed them to board the train. With much difficulty some boys helped around 50 girls to board a train but my daughter could not. After six hours of waiting there with no food, suddenly firing and bombing started as it was an open station,” he had said.

The students stayed in Pisochyn for three days and attempted to book bus tickets to Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine. However, the transporter insisted on cash payment which created a problem, Pradeep said. “Eventually the Indian embassy intervened and arranged five buses. After assessing the condition in the country, the journey was changed at the last minute and the students were ferried to the Romania border via Chernivtsi road,” he added.

The students reached the Romanian border on March 7 after a 48-hour journey. They took a flight to New Delhi landing in the National Capital at 4.30 am on March 8.

“This war has shown me that my daughter is very strong-willed and brave. No sooner the war had begun we began looking for airline tickets to get her out but she put her foot down and said she will only come with her group. I was surprised to see the drastic change in her personality.”

The Kanades had sold their flat to pay for Daksha’s higher studies.