Friday, 22 April 2022 | Manisha Gupta | RISHIKESH
Vyacheslav Grinchenko, the manager of a group of 17 Ukrainian pilgrims stranded in Rishikesh says, “My day starts with reading the news with the hopes that my family is safe in Ukraine.” The group arrived in India on February 9 before the Russia-Ukraine conflict began and had planned to stay for a month but they are still here as their return flight scheduled on March 5 was cancelled due to the ongoing war. Their visas expired on March 9 and their budget is also running low due to which they are facing complications in continuing their stay.
Akshay Saha, the group’s music teacher from Vrindavan as well as a friend who is accompanying them in Rishikesh told The Pioneer, “We applied for their visa extension on March 1 to the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Lucknow. The visa extension of 10 people was granted, but for reasons unknown there has been no progress for the remaining seven and the extension granted is till different dates.”
The group associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKON), visited India as pilgrims to visit holy places in the country. First, they visited Jagannath Puri and then Vrindavan. And since the summer heat was rising, the group moved to Rishikesh on April 11. Saha said,“For Ukrainians, it is difficult to cope with the summer heat of India as Ukraine’s climate is much colder. These days when the maximum temperature is about 36 degrees Celsius in Rishikesh, the temperature in Kyiv does not go over 20 degrees Celsius.” For now, the group is staying in a guest house in the Swargashram area.
The group of Krishna devotees spends time chanting prayers, reading the Bhagavad Gita, visiting temples in Rishikesh and on its outskirts apart from spending time near the Ganga. Group member Grinchenko said that everyone in the group is worried about the situation of their family in war-hit Ukraine. He said, “We pray to the lord for our and our family’s safety and believe that lord Krishna will help us get out of this situation.”
Grinchenko asserted, “We are disappointed with the Ukrainian embassy. We tried contacting them several times, but the response was disappointing. We feel safe in India, and we can only hope to get a visa extension for all of us and some help in lodging and food. We can’t demand things from the Indian government because we are guests here, but we would be grateful if we get some help from them,” he added.
The group has members of different age groups. Raktaka Pabhu is the president of the Ukrainian group as well as a preacher. He has been visiting India every year for the past 17 years. This time he visited with his wife Radhika Priya and his son Giriraj.
