The journey of a 26-year-old man named Vaibhav Joshi, a resident of Andheri (east), which began with a lucrative job opportunity in February, 2020, at the Qatar-based KAEFER company, as a fire safety permit coordinator turned out to be a cause of agony amidst the lockdown. Visiting the gulf county for the first time, he was unable to adjust to the new climate and decided to return after barely a month. He booked his return ticket for March 20. However, as international flight services were suspended worldwide due to the rapid outbreak of coronavirus, he remained stuck there. “Though India has started the Vande Bharat mission to bring back citizens from different countries, there is no direct flight from Doha to Mumbai. Moreover, the Maharashtra government has imposed restrictions,” his father Dattataray Joshi said.
Vaibha has been admitted twice to a hospital in Doha and is suffering from severe back pain. Seeing her son’s ailing condition, his mother Madhuri Joshi has pleaded to the Government of India for help. She has written several letters to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, urging him to make some travel arrangements for her stranded son. She has also uploaded videos on social media platforms to get the attention of the government authorities.
Sobbing for her son's well being, she told the Free Press Journal, "My son, for the first time, visited a foreign country. We allowed him because he got a good job opportunity there. But after just a few days, he started falling sick. Therefore, he resigned from his job and was supposed to come back. But as lockdown was enforced, the flight tickets got cancelled. He is alone there; we do not have any family or friends. Moreover, in this pandemic, he was admitted twice to the hospital. I want my son to come back home safely."
Since Vaibhav has already left his job, his family is sending him money for his expenses. Being from a middle class family, his father is a Hindu pandit (priest) and they all live in a small house in a chawl. Vaibhav said, "I have filled a form online at the Indian Embassy in Doha. However, so far, I have not received any reply." Meanwhile, his father stated, "Only a few flights were operating for Indian citizens. However, since the flight was from Doha for Delhi and Kochi and not for Mumbai, my son could not get a ticket. We thought that if he came to Delhi, then later, he could travel to Mumbai via train. But due to the state’s restrictions that is not possible."
