“I moved to Malaysia in 2015 and was settled there with my Husband until January 2019, when I came back to India for my delivery! I wanted my children to be born here. I had planned to return to Malaysia after my kids turned 1, that is, in May 2020. A couple of months earlier, however, in March 2020, I flew down to Malaysia for my visa renewal process. I didn’t think of a it as a big deal then- I was supposed to be gone for just a few days and couldn’t stop thinking about coming back and celebrating my boys’ big fat first birthday. I left my little ones with my family for two weeks and travelled to Malaysia to finish the formalities. It was all going well. I even shopped for my boys when I was at Malaysia. When I got to the airport for my flight back, however, I found out that it was cancelled. India had barred all flights coming from abroad, amidst the Covid-19 scare. We tried to look for flights via different countries and through different airlines, but to no avail. Travelling back to India was restricted. Luckily, however, I had a home to go back to and remain safe and well fed in Malaysia. Many old people, pregnant women, children, mostly tourists, we’re stuck helpless at the airport- with no safety measures or facilities. I decided to take initiative and made a WhatsApp group with all the people stuck. We tried our best to fight. We reached out to the Embassy, the press, local politicians and tried everything we could. But the lockdown on international travel had been imposed. Eventually, with the help of High Commision of India, they were all shifted to Gurudwaras and NGOs. After 2 months, it was only towards the end of May that we got the chance to fly back. It definitely wasn’t hassle-free, but the joy of returning home to our family and children was much greater. I couldn’t wait to hold my children in my arms again. They had turned one in our absence. They were hardly nine months old when they stayed away from their mother for nearly 3 long months! When we reached Vizag, we were quarantined at a hotel for 2 weeks before we could finally get home. I received a lot of backlash from people who assumed that I was selfish, heartless and greedy in leaving my kids behind. Rather, I’m glad that I did not put my children in harm’s way, left them in the safety of their grandparents and stayed with my husband in these tough times. I saw them on Saturday after almost three months and finally felt complete!”

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