It was in September 2019 that Mohit Bansal Rudraksh moved to the UK with his wife Neha and their twin daughters. Neha was to pursue her PhD from the University of Essex. Six months down the line, this family from Delhi is stranded in the country with no access to medical help, safety gear, soap or a way to go back home.
Mohit who moved to the country as Neha's dependent tells us that despite making numerous calls, the Indian High Commission in the UK is turning a deaf year to the family's plight. Previously, we'd written about Indian students who were stuck in the UK after India banned the landing of international aircraft in its airports. The UK has reported over 19,000 positive cases and more than 1,200 deaths until now. "Sensing that the situation would worsen, we had booked our tickets to go back to Delhi. But around the same time, the travel ban was announced and our tickets were cancelled," says Mohit.
Mohit recalls how one of his daughters was ill earlier in March. "She had got the flu and my wife's employer had asked her to not go to work, suspecting that my child may be positive. However, hers turned out to be a regular flu. But until then, the entire family's been stuck inside our home," he says. "My wife's employer is also not able to help her out. Since we've come here on the student visa, we do not have access to the medical care too," he adds.
Like the others in the UK, Mohit tells us how the shops are out of the necessary safety gear as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened. "Forget sanitisers and masks, the shops are out of handwash and soap too. I heard that toilet rolls are back in the market, but 6we couldn't find any. We go out risking our healths and making ourselves vulnerable," he says. "Thankfully, we had stocked up the ration and we are able to eat three times a day. My children do not understand how bad the situation is and the two keep on playing with each other during the lockdown. That is the only relieving thing to watch," he says.
