In April 2020, soon after a nationwide lockdown was imposed across the country, Razia Begum rode over 1,400 km on a scooter to bring back her son who was stranded at a friend’s home in Andhra Pradesh. Two years later, the single mother has once again found herself wishing that her son was home with her instead of being stranded in war-torn Ukraine.
“My son is very bold. Even now he tells me not to worry and that he would come home alive. He wants me not to follow the news (of war). He fears I would not be able to digest it. He says ‘I am your news. I am safe. And I will stay in contact’.” For over a week now, Begum has spent every minute waiting to catch a glimpse of her son and hear from him.
Mohammed Nizamuddin Aman (21), a first-year MBBS student at Sumy State University, is among the thousands of students stranded in Ukraine, awaiting rescue. He has been holed up in the basement of his hostel along with 800 others amid dwindling supplies of food and water, patchy electricity and internet. Every time he comes on a video call, her son greets the 50-year-old Begum with a smiling face asking her to stay strong and trust in God.
“I keep checking my phone to see if he is online or can be reached. Sitting here at home, what else can I do other than offer prayers? I can’t go to Ukraine to bring him back, right?” Begum tells indianexpress.com over the phone from Salampad village of Bodhan in Telangana where she is the headmistress of the local Mandal Parishad school.
Two years ago, she had surprised everyone with her resilience by travelling alone on a scooter from her village to Nellore in neighboring Andhra Pradesh to bring Aman back home safely amid the first wave of the pandemic.
For now, she has appealed to the state government to bring back her son. The district collector of Nizamabad gave her an audience and collected all relevant details while local MLC Kalwakuntala Kavitha has assured all support, she says.
Aman called her on Saturday morning and late on Friday night. “The situation is very bad. There is a lot of bombarding and shelling happening outside. They are managing with whatever food they have, but that would not be sufficient for another day. They don’t have enough drinking water. Electricity and internet connectivity is mostly out,” says Begum, recalling her latest conversation with her son.
A video by students from Sumi State University had gone viral on Saturday noon where a group holding the Tricolor could be heard saying that they had run out of patience after 10 days of war and would start walking to the border rather than wait for evacuation. This comes after Russia announced a ceasefire in the cities of Mariupol and Volnovaka to allow civilians to evacuate. The distance between Mariupol and Sumy is over 600 km, a student could be heard saying in the video, even as she added that they were ready to risk their lives.
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