Even as Assam students are claiming life to be normal inside Ukrainian cities, they have started leaving the country in batches at the call of parents and following advisories that are being repeatedly issued by the Indian embassy.
Many were earlier reluctant to leave Ukraine and take a break from the much-awaited offline classes in the post-pandemic situation, but as Russia-Ukraine war-mongering has reached new heights, they are not taking any chances.
Sneh Adhyapak, a first-year student, is studying at Ternopil National Medical University, situated in the far western region of the country. Because of the geographical location away from Russia, they haven’t seen any turmoil or panic in their region and not even in Kyiv, where they reached just a few hours before boarding the flight on Wednesday evening. Sneh and four other friends, after travelling about 500 km by train from Ternopil to Kyiv, said “everything is normal”.
“Nothing looks volatile deep inside Ukraine, even today. But for our safety the embassy has advised us to leave the country. Our parents have also asked us to come back home. Our classes will be held online. This option was provided by the university,” Adhyapak told TOI from Kyiv hours before leaving the country. It’s a 8.5 hour-long flight to New Delhi.
Not all of the Indian or Assam students are returning home, and for the Guwahati lad, leaving Ukraine is a painful moment when the studies were going well. “The embassy asked all the non-essential personnel and students to leave, if possible,” he said. Sneh and his friends have paid for the flight tickets as they couldn’t book the one sent by the Indian government.
Chiranjib Deka of the same university is also leaving on the same flight. He said the only issue that they have started facing is that flight tickets are hard to come by as the number of students who are willing to return is quite high. “Moreover, the price of air tickets is too high at this crisis hour,” he added. “People are busy in their usual life, buses and trains are working as usual,” said Chiranjib.
His batchmate Daisy Medhi said there is no panic situation in Ternopil region but her parents are worried about the war-like situation.
About 850 km away, another Assam student Jakaria Atikur Rahan Hussain of Nagarbera in Kamrup district is pursuing MBBS in Sumy State University in the city of Sumy, which is in the northeast part of Ukraine. Jakaria also said the situation in Sumy seems “quite normal”, though his university informed that it will hold online classes for the students who wish to return home, till May 1. So he has decided to return to India on February 25.
But some final-year medical students said they are not ready to sacrifice their careers and will stay in Ukraine till the end. Mahfuz Siddiqui from Nagarbera village is one such student who is not ready to return. “We are still attending offline classes. I am not going home as it’s my final year. So if I go home, I have to come back before April 1. The university can conduct the class online till April 1 for the sixth-year students. Exams are always offline here,” he said.
