“My son Charan went to the U.S. to pursue higher education. I saw him a year ago and we are worried about his health as COVID-19 is rampant there. He is planning to return soon. We are very eager to see him,” said Narsayamma. “We have been chatting with Charan on social media and he explained us about the spread of virus, which killed several thousands of people in the U.S.,” she said.
With the Centre bringing back stranded Indians from different countries under the Vande Bharat mission, parents of many children expressed happiness and thanked the government for making the arrangements for the move.
“Saranya is staying with her family at California. We saw her two years ago. Once the Centre resumes international flight services, she is planning to come to India. All our family members and Saranya’s friends are waiting for her visit,” said her sister Nayana of Bhimavaram.
Lockdown experience
Explaining the torture they experienced during the lockdown, a senior citizen, Lakshmana Rao, said many parents, whose children were staying away suffered a lot during the pandemic. There was nobody to get medicines, essentials and recharge the phones in the last two months, he said.
“Our children are staying far away from us. Domestic helps have stopped coming and there is nobody to help us. My daughter Sirisha is staying at Bengaluru and son Sujit is Australia. We asked both of them to visit our hometown, Naraspuram,” said Sirisha’s father P. Narayana Rao. “From there, my son is enquiring us about our health regularly. He is worried about our well-being. Sujit’s friends are also waiting for him,” says Mr. Rao, a farmer in West Godavari.
“My son is ready for state or paid quarantine after landing in India. We are ready to follow COVID-19 protocol, but want to see my son and his family soon,” said M. Saraswathi of Vijayawada. Many NRIs settled in UK, Australia, Singapore, Canada, USA and other countries are planning to return once flight services are resumed.
