Home was finally just a flight away for around 100 Indian students, who managed to cross over to Poland from war-hit Ukraine on Wednesday morning after experiencing several anxious moments over the last one week.
The students, who had to brave hunger and freezing temperatures amid a sense of uncertainty, heaved a sigh of relief when they crossed over to Poland. They now await their flight back home on Thursday.
"We finally made it after experiencing so many anxious moments in the last one week, including freezing nights at the underground railway station in Kyiv," said Ansh Pandita, a third-year student of the Taras Shevchenko National Medical University in the Ukrainian capital.
The students shared their picture as soon as they entered Poland.
From the border, they were taken into buses kept in readiness by the Indian mission.
"At Lviv, we saw a little over 20 students from the Kharkiv Medical College waiting to cross over," said Ansh, who hails from Ghaziabad and had taken over the role of the leader of the group.
The students had posted videos on social media platforms seeking help when they were stranded at the Vokzal station, Kyiv's main train hub.
Ansh and the other students who spoke to PTI over the phone from their hotel Prezydenckie in Rzeszow, located nearly 60 kilometres from the Poland-Ukraine border, said the Indian mission in Poland is organising their return, adding, "We are hopefully going to get our flight on Thursday."
"We were starved, tension was high for the last seven days, but now we are all safe and I can't even describe the happiness in words," an exhausted Ashna, the twin sister of Ansh, said.
The students, after being left to fend for themselves by the Indian mission in Kyiv, hired a bus after reaching Lviv from the capital city at night.
"Of course, we were in a dilemma whether to go to Poland or Hungary but then, all of us decided for Poland because it was nearer and we were dead exhausted," Ansh said.
After crossing the Ukraine border from Budomeriz, things went smoothly for the students. A mission bus took them to Rzeszow, where the Indian embassy staff registered them for their onward journey to India.
The students had a traumatising time on Monday at the railway station in Kyiv, where they were not allowed to board a train and in some cases, the Ukrainian guards even beat them up.
After they were pushed away from a number of trains, the students split into smaller groups and somehow managed to get on to a train to Lviv, where the officials of many embassies are stationed. The train was crowded and they could manage only standing space during the nine-hour journey.
Back home in Ghaziabad, Ansh and Ashna's parents Anil and Sunita breathed a sigh of relief following days of anxiety.
"Last one week -- seven days and seven nights -- were a nightmare for me and my wife as we were horrified, frightened for our twin kids who got stuck in Kyiv.... We had sleepless nights, only to keep faith in god that they will return safely.
"We, as parents, were providing moral support to them, keeping them strong and supporting them so that they face the tough situation but down within, tears and anxiety were gripping us," said Anil.
"Finally, they managed to leave Kyiv at their own risk and without any support from the authorities and somehow managed to cross over to Poland today. This gave us some relief, but we are waiting for their safe return," he added.
Anil recalled that he was a displaced Kashmiri Pandit and had to build everything again from the scratch.
"The government should ponder over why do we have to pay around Rs 1 crore for providing medical education to our children in India when it is cheaper in other countries," he said, adding that they had to send their two kids far away because of the huge fee structure in India.
