It was in early February that Chennai-resident Viswanathan Raghu, 64, reached Sydney on an extended visit to Australia. He tried getting back to India on March 13, as soon as the Centre issued a circular that incoming flights were going to be barred from midnight GMT that day, but narrowly missed the cut-off time. Today, neither Australia wants visitors like him to hang around nor has India opened its doors, as a result of which he was forced to travel to the U.S., where he feels he has higher chances of contracting the novel coronavirus.
Uneventful
“I had uneventful flights from Sydney to San Francisco and then to New Jersey [where his son lives]. But the biggest surprise was that I was never screened or questioned before takeoff at Sydney or after arrival at San Francisco and also at Newark. I picked up my bags and came home,” Mr. Raghu told The Hindu soon after he reached the U.S. on Monday.
Mr. Raghu, who graduated from the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) in Kolkata, moved to the U.S. back in 1981 and became an American citizen, but at the age of 60 returned to India to again make Chennai his home.
Inveterate traveller
An inveterate traveller, he went to Australia in early February to catch up with friends and family members spread out there, and he had barely returned to Sydney after a brief visit to Perth — where a niece and a former ISI classmate live — before news came that India was barring incoming flights from March 12.
Mr. Raghu said: “You should read the Government of India circular of March 12. According to it, the cut-off time was 12:00 GMT at port of departure on March 13. But people at the airline interpreted it as arrival by 12:00 GMT. So I missed the arrival cut-off by three hours. They didn’t allow me to board.
“The friend I was staying with in Sydney had scheduled to renovate the house after my departure. Out of desperation, I called my niece in Perth who was herself a paying guest. Staying with my ISI friend was also not an option because he had his daughter and son-in-law as visitors. Finally she requested her host to let me stay with them and I quickly bought a ticket to Perth. I got a seat on Virgin Australia and there were rumours they will file for bankruptcy leaving me with a worthless ticket. Fortunately, my flight took off and very soon thereafter Virgin stopped all flights.
Fitness freak
“But because I missed the flight to India, I was able to enjoy Perth. I am a fitness freak and just cannot be locked up for too long.
“With no end in sight for India letting me in, I had to find some activity to keep my sanity and health going. Luckily, Perth had its lovely bicycle trails everywhere, including by the side of highways. So, I took a spot decision to invest in a used bicycle.
“Initially, I found it hard to be on the bike for even an hour, but soon my leg muscles got used to it and within two weeks I was able to comfortably do three hours every day. Weather became cooler and on weekends I did even up to four hours with my young niece. I fell in love with Perth.
“But when India extended the lockdown and denied entry to even stranded Indian citizens, I became desperate and contacted both the Indian and the U.S. consulates, asking them to request the Australian government to extend my stay beyond the 90-day limit. Both of them sent me stock responses via email.
“The message from Australia was clear to all visitors: Go back.
“The only flight to the U.S. was from Sydney and so my challenge was to find a ticket that took me via Sydney. Though Australia is also under lockdown, each state was operating one flight a day for essential travel and I guess I fell under that category.”
“Now, in the U.S., there is the fear of the dreaded medical bills should anything happen, God forbid. I can only pray and hope I do not contract COVID-19.”
