It had been a week of sleepless nights for California resident Bhargavi Panchangam. Then on Monday night the terrible news came, followed by a Supreme Court of India decision that made things much, much worse. Her 64-year-old father, admitted to an ICU in Hyderabad after a brain haemorrhage, had passed away, even as Bhargavi and her mother, who had come to visit her daughter and newborn grandchild, were frantically trying to find a way to fly back. At the time of death, the only immediate family member around was Bhargavi’s brother, emotionally distraught to the point of breakdown.
Ever since hearing about the hospitalisation, Bhargavi, a bioinformatics professional, had done everything humanly possible to get herself and her mother on an India-bound flight, hoping to beat the COVID-19 related international travel restrictions. “We were even prepared to fly cargo, since we were told most of those flights were empty. But we were denied at the last minute because my father already had another blood relative by his side – my brother – so our request was not deemed critical,” Bhargavi told TNM.
Not far from her, another California resident is also fighting a similar battle against increasing odds. San Jose-based Sharada Balaji’s 67-year-old father is critically ill in a Bengaluru hospital in what the family fears could be his last days. The only caretaker is his 62-year-old wife who “is in no position to handle this all by herself.” The rest of the elderly relatives are unable to help, given the lockdown conditions in the city.
Sharada has been ceaselessly petitioning officials at the Consulate General of India in San Francisco and also tweeting to @PMOIndia, hoping to get on an ‘evacuation flight’. So far, she has drawn a blank, but will not give up fighting. “I understand that mass evacuation of Indian nationals in the US is not possible for either government now. But there should be provisions for exceptional situations like ours. I’m prepared to fight as long as it takes,” Sharada said.
All over the US, as cities enter huddle under hermetic COVID-19 quarantines and the death toll increases, thousands of stranded Indian nationals continue to wait for the mythical ‘evacuation flight’ to India, desperate to beat the unprecedented international travel restrictions that show no signs of ending. Some are here on family or business visits, some are hanging on to expired visas, many have lost jobs. And there are the students whose college dorms have unexpectedly shut down, leaving them hopelessly adrift.
The most heartbreaking stories are of those grappling with family emergencies back home: a parent’s last rites, a critically ill family member in the last dregs of life or terminal cancer treatments deferred. There is only one wish list: the Indian government should be able to evacuate – through a specially arranged flight – all Indian nationals stranded in the US and/or facilitate emergency travel arrangements for those dealing with personal or medical emergencies. The constantly shifting goal posts have not helped: earlier the travel restrictions were to be lifted on April 14, now it would be May 3. Authorities have been hinting at another extension till the first week of June.
A newly formed Facebook group, USA to India Evacuation Flights, has rapidly swelled to more than 1,200 members in the past few days, to try and petition the Indian government to evacuate at least those faced with medical or personal emergencies.
“Our group consists of many senior citizens, pregnant women, women with infants and people with medical and personal emergencies. We request that an emergency evacuation be offered by the (Indian) government. as was done when thousands of other Indian citizens were evacuated from countries like China, Italy, Spain, UK, UAE during earlier such instances,” Michael Khanna, who runs the group, told TNM.
Though Indian consular officials have assured all possible assistance, they have also made it clear that unless travel restrictions are lifted globally, there is very little that could be realistically done. The group members say this isn’t a response that they can accommodate given their circumstances. “We have nowhere else to go to for help. We cannot stay put. We have to get back home to our families or for other emergency reasons. We will continue our efforts to engage all relevant machinery and networks to reach out to (Indian) Members of Parliament and local, state and national governments to aid a quick solution,” Khanna added.
During a call-in earlier this month arranged by a cluster of community organisations, the Deputy Consul General of India in New York, Shatrughna Sinha, expressed empathy but acknowledged there is very little the diplomatic corps can do.
“In the interests of your family, community and country, please stay put wherever you are. Even if we handed out emergency visas, you still wouldn’t be able to travel till flights resume,” the Deputy Consul General said.
Many of the pleas, during the online Q&A curated by the New Jersey Tamil Sangam, were about repatriation of the mortal remains of Indians who had died in the US while waiting for the travel restrictions to lift.
“The majority of the questions were desperate pleas about giving dead Indians the dignity they deserved in their deaths,” said Venkatesh Sadagopan and Karthik Rangarajan, the duo who had arranged for the interaction.
“We will be happy to provide whatever documentation you need,” Sinha said in response, “but the US authorities, citing local rules and guidelines, have also been insisting that we cremate the bodies right here.”