It's Eid and I'm away from family: Cancelled flight forces Assam man to spend 24 hours at Mumbai airport

A 24-year-old who was vacationing in Mumbai after graduation has been stuck in the city for the past two months. Today, he hoped to catch a flight to Guwahati to reach home in time for Eid. But his flight was cancelled at the last minute and now he has nowhere to go.

24-year-old Ashraf had just finished his B.Tech in mechanical engineering in Hyderabad and had plans to tour Mumbai and head to Goa for a vacation before looking for a job.

He landed in Mumbai on February 20 and planned to go to Goa on March 25. He was staying with his friend near Kharghar in Navi Mumbai when the government announced the lockdown on March 25. His friend Ravi and he both stayed over at their friend Nafis's house but soon the landlord started objecting.

"The housing society did not want outsiders to stay in premises during the lockdown but we told them that we cannot go back to Hyderabad or Guwahati where we hail from. We somehow managed to convince them and they asked us to continue living with the condition that we will not come out of the house at all. We did that," says Ashraf.

Having managed to stay completely locked-in, the duo registered with the local police to travel home via Shramik special trains but did not get a call.

"I went thrice to get registered. Even then, I did not get a call. Travelling all the way to Bongaigaon district near Guwahati by road is just not feasible. So when the flights started, we immediately booked tickets on May 22," says Ashraf.

Ashraf booked seats on the Indigo flight 6E-958 from Mumbai at 5 m on May 25.

Hence, Nafis dropped Ashraf and Ravi to the airport at night. But soon they got to know that the flight was postponed to 1.30 pm on May 26.

Since Nafis had left by then Ashraf and Ravi did not know what to do.

"We have gone and looked for some restaurants around to see if food is available. We just have water with us. But going back to Kharghar is not an option for us. We will wait here at the airport until we board our flight. I cannot walk 30 kilometres to Nafis's house as the society will not take us in," said Ashraf.

Ravi, however, did not look so sure as he said, "It seems like even tomorrow's flight will be cancelled, how long will we wait here at the airport?"

The duo was not allowed to get into the airport despite having valid tickets. They will be allowed in only four hours before their scheduled flight.

With tears in their eyes, the boys settle down on the plastic chairs opposite the tricolour flying high at the airport.

Ashraf said, "It is Eid and I am so far from family and friends without food and water. I spoke to them over the phone and hope this gets over soon."