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First-person account: What it takes to make it home in the time of Covid-19

After being stranded in the US for over two months, he finally came back to India under the government's national repatriation scheme. Abhishek Waghmare gives a first-person account of the experience

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Travellers have complained of lack of planning and coordination among the various agencies entrusted with the task

Abhishek Waghmare Pune
The Covid-19 pandemic has given some stress to everyone under the sun. After getting stranded in the US for more than two months, I came back to India under a national repatriation scheme by the Government of India. With due respect to all agencies that toiled to make this pain bearable, here is what I experienced as I changed the time zone, and lost the summer solstice mid-air.

It was past midnight on March 9. At 35,000 feet from the ground, I was browsing through a movie catalogue on board the Air India 103. My eyes froze on a film