Mumbai: The Air India non-stop flight to Chicago that they boarded last week was not supposed take them on a journey into the heartland of Sweden’s socialism or grant them a first-hand experience of the Indian diaspora’s resourcefulness when it comes to helping a hapless desi. The senior citizen couple from Rajkot was flying to the US to attend their son’s wedding, but a midair medical emergency had the pilots divert to Stockholm, a city they had never heard of before
“I didn’t know where this place was or what it was called. The only country we had travelled to was the US where our son works,” said Dr Jaysukh Makwana (60), a dentist.
On November 9, AI flight 127 was approaching the Norwegian sea when his wife Usha (63) suddenly found herself immobile, her speech slurred. Luckily, a neurologist happened to be on board. ``In one glance, he said, brain stroke,” said Makwana. The aircraft was about to cross over from the land into the sea when Capt N S Billimoria had the Boeing 777 aircraft turn for a medical emergency landing in Stockholm. “Had she suffered the stroke later, over the Atlantic, help would have been 5-6 hours away, too late,” said Makwana.
In 45 minutes the flight was on the ground, the patient was put into a waiting ambulance, while the local police escorted the husband for an emergency visa to the Stockholm Arlanda airport terminal. “I was confused, anxious. I didn't know the flight had been diverted for us. I didn't know such a thing was possible," he said. "Had the Air India captain and crew not diverted and landed here, my wife would not have been able to undergo the critical surgery that needs to be done within four hours of a brain stroke," he added.
Still reeling from the quick change of events, the Makwanas disembarked in Arlanda airport, Stockholm. His wife was put into a waiting ambulance and taken away, while the local police escorted him to the airport terminal to get him a visa and complete immigration. "I didn't know which airport I was in. I heard them say `Orlando’ terminal and was relieved we had landed in the US as my son is here. I comforted myself saying I just need to make a call and he will come over,” he said. But he was in Arlanda, Stockholm.
Arlanda didn’t disappoint though. Air India had his four bags delivered in no time. “The police were immensely helpful with the visas and then they dropped me to a local hotel,” he said. "My son has an H-1B visa and so cannot fly down to Stockholm. He wired us money. I had no idea how would I find my way around in this country," he said. But by the time he reached the Karolinska hospital, Suresh Kumar from the local Indian Embassy had contacted Indranil Sinha, an Indian-origin researcher who worked in Karolinska Institute, located opposite the hospital.
Last year, during the peak of the Covid pandemic, the Indian Embassy had created a local Indian help community and that is how Kumar and Sinha got acquainted. “I showed up to see them, as I knew merely seeing an Indian in a foreign country would bring some comfort,” said Sinha. With his wife in the ICU and no friends or relatives in Stockholm, Makwana would have been left to himself to find his way around in a foreign country. But with a fellow Indian around that wasn't much of a worry for the dentist.
In the following days, Sinha took the vegetarian, Gujarati, and Hindi speaking Makwana to places where he could find agreeable meals, helped him withdraw money his son had sent, made him familiar with the Nordic neighbourhood and carried out the myriad jobs needed to stay put in Stockholm. “Since he was comfortable with Gujarati, I spoke to my Gujarati friends about the couple,” said Sinha. The word spread within the local Gujarati community and the Gujaratis took over.
On November 13, while Makwana’s wife was moved from ICU to the general ward, Kaushik Patel, a Gujarati Stockholmer moved him from the hotel to their spacious home. “They drop me to the hospital in the morning, pick me up in the evening daily. Another family brings me Gujarati lunch every day. Someone gave me a SIM card, another Indian bought me sweaters, the temperature is 3 degree Celsius. Someone else got me a mobile charger,” said Makwana. The hospital didn’t ask whether his wife was eligible to be treated there, whether he had the money, he said. “The benevolence of the doctors, nurses and hospital staff and then Indrajit bhai, Kaushik bhai, Jalpa ben, the Air India crew, the local police and Kumarji from the Indian embassy, I have never experienced anything like this in my life,” said the dentist, choking with emotion.
16/11/21 Manju V/Times of India
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