Illustration by Katie Doyle

Sathvik Nagendra Vasishta left India last month eager to fulfill his work placement in Ontario to complete George Brown College’s (GBC) Strategic Relationship Marketing (B409) program. At the same time, B409 student Arsheen Chopra was returning home to Delhi, India to be among her family in a state of emergency, as the second wave of COVID-19 was on the rise. Now, as India faces its largest COVID-19 surge to date and reports record-breaking numbers around the globe, both students are left coping with the emotional stressors of their country in crisis. 

Back in February 2021, health professionals in India were perplexed by their good fortune as COVID-19 cases were lowering, hospital beds were opening up, and demand for ventilators was still manageable. As numbers of new cases in India hit global record breaking numbers in April 2021, however, international students from India are left feeling hopeless about what lies ahead for their country. 

Chopra, who returned back home to Delhi to be with her family in April, says she has lost four loved ones in just four days and “does not know how to react.” 

“Delhi and India as a whole has been severely affected by the crisis. There is a shortage of basic resources that a patient would need. From oxygen cylinders to basic medicines and a hospital bed, everything has become a luxury right now,” says Chopra. “And the worst part is that some people are taking advantage of this unfortunate situation and are charging prices multiple times higher as they know people in need would pay any price to save their loved ones.”

“I have lost four loved ones in a matter of four days back to back and at this point, I don’t even know how to react.”

On April 30, 2021, India became the first country to report over 400,000 new cases in a 24-hour period. As cases continue to hit record breaking numbers throughout the country, hospitals have been forced to close their doors to new patients as medical supplies and oxygen run scarce. With images going viral on social media of bodies heaped in makeshift crematoriums, many have placed blame on India’s government for failing to stem the tragic increase in cases. 

Though watching his country go through this much devastation has been anything but easy,  Vasishta says that he will “let nothing impact his experience adversely.”

“It’s hard being away from my family, as my parents are the only ones staying in Bengaluru and myself and my sister are staying together in Toronto,” says Vasishta. “At the end of the day, we all miss our families back home.”

 Vasishta and Chopra, like many of the other thousands of international students studying in Canadian colleges and universities from India, are struggling with remote learning while coping with the crisis going on back in their home country. Indian students make up roughly 27 to 30 per cent of the international student population at GBC. And although enrollment numbers for Spring semester are lower than Fall and Winter, GBC currently has around  1000 international students from India, according to Tenzing Kunga, Manager, International Student Integration & Support. 

In terms of support being provided by GBC, however, Vasishta says that nobody at the college has  reached out to him. When asked whether or not he thinks that the college is providing sufficient emotional support for their Indian students at this time, he said he “did not observe as such”.

“There should be more campaigns aimed at offering support, something transcending just emotional support. The lack of awareness is also a factor as GBC hasn’t made the students aware enough to let them know of such emotional support services existing.”

Vasishta also adds that while members of the Student Association of George Brown College (SAGBC) were eager to contact him at the time of elections, he says that they are “nowhere to be seen now.”

“The people asking for votes during the SAGBC elections are nowhere to be seen or heard from now.”  

The SAGBC funds the Dialog. 

Currently residing in Toronto with his sister, Vasishta is originally from Bengaluru, the capital of the South Indian state of Karnataka. He says that Bengaluru has been severely impacted by the crisis as it’s a migrant labour-intensive city. He adds that his close family members have endured their own battles with COVID-19 recently, from which he says they were “lucky” to recover. 

“It is a migrant labour intensive city, which means that there is a record number of daily migrant movements from neighbouring states, which has amplified the problem in my city.”

“Luckily, one of my cousins has come back to life from the jaws of death due to COVIDas they got timely care. After getting COVID, the virus intensified into pneumonia and if not for timely oxygen supply and medications, my cousin would have been just another number in India’s record death count.”

Although it has become troublesome to quantify the number of cases, medical health experts are currently predicting the numbers being reported as vastly undercount. While The World Health Organization says countries should be doing 10 to 30 tests per confirmed case. According to Our World In Data, however, India is only doing five tests for every confirmed case, explaining the undercount in data. 

“There are still lots of people who are not getting tested,” says Dr. Prabhat Jha of the University of Toronto. “Entire houses are infected. If one person gets tested in the house and reports they’re positive and everyone else in the house starts having symptoms, it’s obvious they have Covid, so why get tested?”

India’s second wave has left international students from India in a state of fear for their country and their loved ones. Chopra, who is currently completing her work term remotely while living in Delhi, says that it has been stressful trying to function amid these circumstances, but, “you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.” 

“It’s stressful but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I try to meditate, spend happy time with my family as much as I can and get back to work with a straight mind so that I can build a better future for me and my family.” 

Meanwhile, Vasishta who left India to live in Toronto, says daily interactions and time with his sister are what has been getting him through. 

“Daily calls and interactions help in the family bonding time,” says Vasishta. “Having conversations on a daily basis either by video call or audio gives us solace that our parents are keeping safe and taking all precautions and are few lucky ones in the country who have had both shots of the vaccination, which is another positive note to reckon with, but my heart goes out to the ones who have lost their loved ones even after being vaccinated.” 

Whilst the future is unpredictable and times are scarce, India has recently begun witnessing some positive news. For the first time in two months, active cases in the country have dropped, but nevertheless, it is crucial that the GBC community come together and provide support for its Indian international students during this time.