Naveen had gone to get food for friends and died, his friends told his eyes
An Indian student died on Tuesday morning in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Naveen SG, a 21-year-old student of medicine, became the first Indian to become a casualty in this war. Friends, who were with him in difficult times away from the country, tell that Naveen had gone out of the bunker to get food and became a victim of the ongoing conflict between the two countries. Naveen, a resident of Chalageri village in Haveri district of Karnataka, is now survived by his father Shekharappa Gyangodar, mother Vijayalakshmi and elder brother Harsh.
A group of students from Kharkiv National Medical University decided to leave the place following the sound of blasts. Amit Vaishyar, a final year student, told the newspaper, “One group had left on Monday, but Naveen advised the others to wait so that we can take the juniors with us, as they have to go to a hospital in Ukraine.” It was less than a year. It was his idea to leave Kharkiv on Wednesday morning.
He said, ‘Whenever the curfew was lifted, we used to go outside to buy goods. On Tuesday, I went to sleep at around 3.30 am and got up late. By 6 in the morning, Naveen had gone out to get food for all of us. The market was 50 meters away from our bunker. At 7.58 pm he sent a message to one of us that he was running short of money and asked to transfer it to his account. One of us called on his phone at 8.10 pm, but a Ukrainian answered the call and said that he is no more. ‘He died when he went to get food for us,’ Amit said.
Talking to reporters, Shekharappa says that Naveen called the family on Monday at around 10 pm. The father said, ‘He said the situation was very bad, but he is safe. On Tuesday morning his phone rang and spoke to his mother. After the war broke out and was calling 4-5 times everyday. We never felt that his life was in danger. When the son was sent to Ukraine, he said, ‘I had no choice, because medicine in India is very expensive and getting a seat is difficult.’
Shekharappa said that his son had secured 97 per cent in pre-university college. “Here the medical seat costs Rs 2-3 crore, so he went out because it cost less and the facilities were good… If the education system in India was good, I wouldn’t have faced this day,” he said.
The Vaishyar of Haveri was close to Naveen and describes him as very ‘kind’. He said that all the students in Kharkiv were “broken upon hearing the news, but were not allowed to go to the market to see what happened, as the blasts and firing continued”. Diya and said that they cannot provide any kind of transport and will be able to help only if we reach Hungary or Romania border.
Speaking to the newspaper, Sridharan Gopalakrishnan, a former fellow of Naveen’s hostel, said that around 200 Indian students had taken shelter in the college hostel and “there was no news about their evacuation.” He said, “All the students in the bunker are Indian. Were. The easiest way to get out would have been through Russia for Indian students by obtaining special permission, as this is the nearest border.
He told, ‘There are about 1500 Indian students in my college alone. There are three more big medical colleges in Kharkiv with more Indians. Since we were not given any assurance about our evacuation, many students tried to leave Kharkiv by train and cab. I was one of the 50 students who were planning to leave. But after hearing the news of Naveen’s death, he returned to the bunker.
Anina Anna from Mangaluru, Karnataka is also a medical student in Kharkiv. He said, ‘I am in the bunker, about a kilometer away from the market (where Naveen died). We are living on chocolate and biscuits. Market supply system has been affected and we have run out of cash. We can die of hunger or Russian gunfire. So we decided to take the risk and exit (to the Hungarian border). It would have been 30-40 hours by road, but we had no other way. At the same time, R Gautam, who was going to Lviv by train, told the Indian Express, ‘Please save the students present in Kharkiv.’
