By Indradyumna Swami
August 16
7:45 a.m. Completed twelve rounds. Managed to concentrate nicely.
9:00 a.m. Had a morning program.
10:20 a.m. A Chechen soldier arrived and told us that Mayüradhvaja Prabhu was coming up the road. He had come all the way from Moscow to rescue us. I couldn’t believe that someone would find us here. I ran out and embraced Mayüradhvaja Prabhu and Sriman Prabhu, who accompanied him. We were so glad to see them. They said they had been searching for us for three days.
12:00 p.m. We bade farewell to our hospitable Chechen well-wishers. I said, “Barrkalo, Aslan. Adik yoil.” (‘Thank you, Aslan. All the best to you!’) On the way out of Chechnya, we passed long caravans of refugees. Sometimes military officials stopped us and checked our documents, but Mayüradhvaja had everything in order. We reached Moscow in three days.
Postscript: Two weeks later, together with Kalikrit, I again came back to Grozny. We spent two days with Aslan. He and his rebel fighters took us to the little house on the hill so that we could get the rest of our belongings. We also visited the school. Everything was chaotic. All the food was gone, and only a big box with our books was in the middle of the room. Garik had been arrested by a group of Chechen fighters and later released, but not before they broke his ribs and head with the Deities. But now, by the grace of Krsna, we are all safe.
All except Andrei, who gave his life in service to Srila Prabhupada and Lord Caitanya Mahäprabhu. I pray the Lord took him home, back to the spiritual sky.