Walking through a war-zone

• Laxmi Vishwakarma, a 19-year-old resident of Navi Mumbai took her first solo trip ever on December 1, 2021. She flew to Ukraine to join the Kharkiv National Medical University to study medicine. However, on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded the country and thousands of students from around the world had to leave the place hastily. Laxmi was one of them. She tells Hindustan Times about the arduous journey she, together with her fellow students, undertook. Amidst shelling and bombings, sub-zero temperatures, and little to no food or water, Laxmi’s group made its way to the Romanian border, over 1000 kilometres away, on foot and, eventually, by bus. Her foster mother, Heena Samani, principal, Tilak junior college, Navi Mumbai, helped us piece the story together as she, along with other parents, mobilized social media networks to kept track of their children’s movements and reach out to Indian government officials for help. Still nurturing the hopes of returning soon to her university in Kharkiv, Laxmi told us what she and other students endured to leave the war-torn city.