Hyderabad, February 23: Anxiety writ large on her face, Jenu, a Chinese national is engrossed in a deep conversation with her friends at a shady corner inside the EFLU campus.
The animated discussion between expatriate students was about the Telangana protests which rocked the campus on Monday.
“How will I go home now?” questioned Jenu, a student of MA (English). She resides near the main gate of the Osmania University campus, at the other end of the EFLU campus.
“Every time there are protests, it worries me. If the protests start when we are at home, we stay indoors. But when they happen during the time we are in the campus, I have to take a detour to reach my residence.”
With the proposed Chalo Assembly programme ending in violence between agitating students and police on Monday, the campus is back on boil leading to many foreign students expressing concerns about their safety.
A Turkish student, Omar Farukh is visibly perturbed due to a recent incident. “One of my friends was caught in the middle of the agitation while he was coming to college, and got injured. Now whenever there are protests, we think twice before venturing outside the campus.”
These students also seem upset over the fact that their academics have taken a beating with on-and-off protests. Murad Beerdieuu, a Turkmenistan student of EFLU says, “The campus was closed for a month because of the protests. Sometimes classes are also suspended. Since we have come so far for education, I hope the protests don’t affect our studies.”
Surprisingly there are those who relate to the issue. “We exactly do not know what the Telangana issue is all about,” confesses a Palestinian student Majid Dawood, who is pursuing his Ph.D in English.
“But I understand it has something to do with freedom and oppression. I personally know what suppression of people’s wishes can lead to since I come from a nation which has been fighting for its freedom as well.”
–Agencies