Kyiv: Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently embarked on a historic visit to Ukraine, becoming the first Indian leader to visit the war-torn nation after establishing diplomatic relations in 1992. However, the journey for Indian journalists covering the visit was filled with many challenges.
As soon as I was assigned to cover PM Modi's visit to Ukraine, I was excited to cover it, but reaching the destination was a great challenge as air connectivity to Ukraine was not operational. I could either take a train or a bus to cross the border. As the train tickets were difficult to get at the 11th hour, the only option I was left with was to reach there by a bus. Hence, I decided to hop on a bus. I knew the journey would be a long one, as I had to travel for more than 800 kilometres.
I was the only female journalist among the delegation of Indian journalists who went to cover the visit, despite the fact that the only male passengers on the bus were Indian. Since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had barred men between 18 and 60 years of age from leaving the country, arguing that they should stay back and defend the country, the bus only had female passengers except the staff and three male Indian journalists.
A 20-hour bus ride to Ukraine
The online ticket showed the journey time to be around 13 hours and 10 minutes. However, it took us more than 20 hours to travel from Warsaw to Kyiv. Since we were travelling with a note verbale from the Ministry of External Affairs, we presumed our journey at the border would be smooth. We started our journey at 9:15 pm from Warsaw West Bus station.
The bus stopped after a few hours for its first halt for around 10 minutes. I went outside to grab something to eat as it was a long journey and also to freshen up. I found around a dozen women standing in a queue outside the washroom. The bus made several such halts after this for 10 minutes for passengers.
It was almost dawn by the time we reached the Poland-Ukraine border. At the Polish border, an officer came to collect our passports. As the MEA had issued a note verbale mentioning the names of the journalists visiting Ukraine, we assumed it to be a smooth journey. However, we got our passports back after an hour.
An agonising wait for document verification
We crossed the Polish border and were stopped again at the Ukrainian border just 200 metres ahead. An officer at the Ukrainian border came and took our passports. We kept waiting on the bus for an hour to get back our passports. However, we were asked to get down from the bus and were taken to the office of Ukraine's State Border Guard Service.
We were four journalists. After some time, a person came and asked us to wait in a room. A few moments later, he came again and asked one of our colleagues to accompany him to an adjacent room. That colleague returned after some time to tell us what documentation we needed to keep ready.
I was the last person to be called. When my turn came, the man in an olive green uniform asked me to show all my documents and enquired about the purpose of my visit. He filled all the information on his database and told me I would not have to wait this long the next time I visited Ukraine. Meanwhile, other passengers in then bus were getting impatient. We were also filled with guilt for keeping them waiting. After a few hours, we were handed back our passports and the journey resumed.
A helping hand in Kyiv
As we approached Kyiv, my assignment desk in New Delhi wanted me to record some piece to camera (PTCs) to show my journey, as PM Narendra Modi was also taking a train from Poland to Ukraine. It was already over 12 hours in the bus and I was left with little energy. However, to establish my arrival in the war-torn city, it was important to record those PTCs.
I started preparing for my PTC and recorded a few while the bus moved closer to our destination. Since all the other passengers on the bus were tired as well, I ensured my PTCs were not loud enough and started whispering my words into the microphone of my camera. Female passengers on the bus did not wish to be filmed, so it became a challenge to record those PTCs so none of the fellow passengers appeared in the frame.
It may sound easy, but doing so on a moving bus proved to be a challenging job. After a few hours into Ukrainian territory, the bus halted for 10 minutes at a shopping complex and I looked for a washroom. A fellow passenger gave me the directions. After I went there, I was told that I had to pay 8 hryvnia (Ukrainian currency) to use the washroom. The woman at the counter did not seem to understand that I did not have Ukrainian currency with me, and refused to accept the Polish zloty.
While I was using Google Translator on my phone, I saw a fellow passenger behind me, who told me not to worry and paid 8 hryvnia on my behalf. After buying a bottle of water, I boarded the bus and our journey resumed again. Finally, at around 8:30 pm, we reached Kyiv, a beautiful city. We were now all set to cover the historic visit of PM Modi, who was the first Prime Minister in Ukraine after both countries established diplomatic ties in 1992.
