Kashmiri students in the city remained cut off from their families and were uncertain about their well-being on Tuesday.

Most of them said phone lines had stopped working since Saturday, two days before the Centre unveiled proposals to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and declare it a Union Territory.

A girl from Srinagar said she would go back to her hometown “whatever it takes”.

“I can’t be torn away from my family like this. My grandfather is terminally ill. My parents, given the chaos, might find it difficult to admit him to a hospital. I need to be by their side,” she said.

Calcutta has no direct flights to Srinagar. To reach Kashmir, she would have to fly through Delhi.

A young man from Pulwama found the satellite phone numbers of the station house officer in his hometown but could not get through. “Every time I called, I got a recorded message that said the phone was switched off,” he said.

“The last time I spoke to my parents, they told me about how the air force was on high alert and paramilitary forces had been stationed,” said the boy who shared with Metro on Monday a poem he had penned to give vent to his frustrations over the developments in the Valley.

Sitting next to him, a boy from Srinagar kept sending text messages to his parents. “I have sent several messages to my parents because it is the only service that is apparently working. But I don’t know if they are reaching. There have been no replies,” said the boy who loves Kashmiri folk music.

His sister is scheduled to fly home from Bangalore on Wednesday. “The blackout in communication lines has left us tense. I am going without informing them,” said the girl from Srinagar who is fond of trekking and collecting stamps. She had recently trekked to Shankaracharya temple and Pari Mahal in Srinagar.

She was, however, unsure if she would be able to find any transport to take her home near Bakshi Stadium from the Srinagar airport. “I have heard there is a curfew. Chances of finding a vehicle would be slim. In that case, I would have to walk 15km to reach home. I do not even know whether I would be allowed to walk,” she said.

A research scholar of history who was to return to the city from Kargil on Monday is not yet back. “The last time we spoke was on Monday morning and he sounded worried. He spoke about the blackout and curbs. I suspect he is stranded,” a friend told Metro.