They took good care of me: 9-yr-old after solo flight back from Mumbai

Shiven had left for Mumbai on March 15 with his grandmother after his exams were cancelled on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. His holiday was unexpectedly extended when on March 24, the Centre announced a nationwide lockdown.

A day after domestic flight operations resumed in India, nine-year-old Shiven Desai was reunited with his parents in Bengaluru after being stuck with his grandparents in Mumbai for over two months because of the nationwide lockdown.

“No one could sleep till his flight took off. We were very worried that it would get cancelled,” said Neha Desai, Shiven’s mother.

But the boy, who took the flight alone, was more upbeat after his little adventure. “They took good care of me. As soon as I entered the airport, I was given sanitiser, gloves and protective gear,” Shiven told indianexpress.com. His temperature was checked upon arrival at Bengaluru airport, and he was instructed to stay at home in self-quarantine for the next 14 days.

“After it was announced that domestic flights would resume from May 25, I spent around three hours at the airport going from counter to counter to get answers,” Neha said. She was informed that there were no available flights from Mumbai on May 25. Her son was finally able to return home in a Spice Jet flight on Tuesday morning.

Shiven had left for Mumbai on March 15 with his grandmother after his exams were cancelled on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. His holiday was unexpectedly extended when on March 24, the Centre announced a nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Mumbai, which quickly became the worst-hit Indian city, has so far recorded over 32,000 Covid-19 cases.