Parents welcome students returning from Ukraine with warmth, relief

Mangaluru: Relief was writ large on the faces of students disembarking at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) on Monday, their ordeal in war-torn Ukraine finally behind them. On the other hand, parents were overjoyed to behold the sight of their children safely returned, and expressed their delight clutching their kids in a tight embrace.
Anaina Anna, Clanton Osmond D’Souza, Ahamed Saad Arshad and Shalvin Preethi Aranha landed at MIA around 10.50am, each with an agonising tale of the days spent in uncertain anxiety, before light finally shone at the end of their quite literally dark bunkers.
Mangaluru student Ahamed Saad Arshad admitted to feeling gripped by a nigh-paralysing stroke of anxiety when he witnessed his hostel building being bombed. “We spent a week holed up in the bunker, surviving on bread and chocolate. We received permission to leave the bunker after a week’s time, but the railway station was crowded, and there was confusion as to which direction we should be heading in. In fact, I had meant to travel to Hungary, but ended up boarding a train to Slovakia. Fortunately, the Indian Embassy in Slovakia was most helpful. I truly have no words to express my happiness,” Ahamed said.
‘Harrowing’ was how Anaina Anna described her journey from Kharkiv in Ukraine to neighbouring Poland. The experience of staying in Ukraine in the days following the Russian invasion was an exhausting one, particularly mentally, she said. “Cooped up inside the small space in the bunker with limited supply of food added to our agony. It was only after five days that we had an opportunity to travel to Poland, but we had to contend with discrimination at the border, with officials there giving priority to Ukrainian nationals. We had travelled for 16 hours, by train, taxi, in addition to walking for around two hours. We had to wait at the border in extreme cold, and it was with relief that we spotted officials of the Indian Embassy there. All my anxiety vanished on seeing my mother here. We are hopeful that the Government of India will allow us to continue our education,” Anna said.
Clanton’s mother Olin Maria Lasrado expressed her gratitude to both the central government, and the district administration of Dakshina Kannada for successfully ensuring the return of their children.
In the afternoon, Sakshi Sudhakar arrived at MIA, while Moodbidri student Naimisha, Sheikha Mohammed Taha of Mangaluru and Udupi student Glenwill Fernandes are yet to arrive in India, along with students from other districts of Karnataka.
Her companion was a cat
For Lakshitha Purushotham, her arrival in MIA was a two-fold triumph: From Kyiv, Lakshitha had travelled with her cat, a European shorthair, as her companion, and she succeeded in bringing her pet safely back with her. “I bought the cat last May. The cat was rather frightened at the sound of the explosion. I tended to it even when were in the bunkers, and carried it with me to Slovakia,” she said.