While many Indians who were working or pursuing higher education in China returned to their homeland, some chose to stay back with the only intention of not to spread COVID-19 among others.
Saahil Hussain, a medical student studying in the Jiiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine is one person who decided to stay back. Saahil is originally from Tumkur in Karnataka. He says, "I have been pursuing medicine in this university for more than two years now. When China encountered thousands of cases, we were staying in the hostel on the university premises. We also followed the principle of social distancing and self quarantined ourselves which is what people in India are doing currently. I have seen news of people walking around in India at this time also. Here, we were quarantined for 45 days. My college closed on January 25 and I was frustrated to stay inside the room."
Meanwhile, Saahil chose to start his YouTube Channel called Saahil Hussain two weeks ago to spread awareness about COVID-19 among Indians, especially among Kannadigas. He says, "In places like Tier II and Tier III cities and rural areas, people end up believing in rumours about COVID-19. Therefore, I uploaded my first video on March 13, 2020 soon after a few cases were reported in different parts of Karnataka. My first video was about a Kannadiga in China in which I spoke about how this disease spreads and what must one do to avoid it from spreading. The second video was about my experience during the quarantine where I told people how they must stick to their routines and not to loose confidence."
This third year medical student has posted nine different videos now including what food he eats in China, about the Hantavirus and how it spreads, and how to prevent the virus and take precautions while buying groceries, How's life in China now? Saahil says, "I will be coming up with more such videos once everything is open. Currently, the situation in the country is normal but our university is still locked and we are not allowed to go outside. Even if they find students having these symptoms, they are being quarantined and treated in a separate hostel."
Saahil has been received a good response to his videos and people message him on Instagram and Facebook. "Sometimes, my followers on social media ask me few doubts about COVID-19 and I do videos on that particular subject. For example, people might have seen the videos about wet market in China. So they asked me of what I prefer to eat when am in China. Therefore, I shot a video mentioning various Indian food items and how I have learnt to cook myself in the hostel," he explains.
When we asked why he chose to study in China, he says, "We spend lakhs of money to pursue medicine in India. After completing class 12, I checked for several options to study medicine and found this place to be less expensive. Studying traditional Chinese medicine was a plus point to me. Hence, I prepared and passed several entrance exams to be here."
