A boy from Srinagar who has enrolled on the electronics and telecommunication engineering course at Jadavpur University this year was joyous when assured of a hostel room on Wednesday but anxious when he couldn’t share the news with his mother back home.

The boy and his father, who has accompanied him to the city, have been cut off from the rest of the family over the past few days.

The last time he managed to speak to his mother on Sunday, she had alerted him about the military build-up in the Valley. “But she did not sound worried. She said such build-ups were common in Jammu and Kashmir and there was nothing to be scared of. But we had no idea that the build-up would lead to the scrapping of Article 370,” said the boy.

The boy, who has been staying in a hotel since he reached the city on Tuesday, went to the office of the dean of students’ affairs at JU, Rajat Ray, on Wednesday to enquire about hostel accommodation.

“I was told the university is ready to provide me a hostel room whenever I wanted. That is definitely a relief. But the fact that I have not been able to establish contact with home over the past three days has left me tense. My mother is alone at home,” said the boy who will soon decide whether to stay in a paying-guest facility or at the hostel.

The university on Tuesday decided that students from Jammu and Kashmir who have taken admission this year would be given hostel accommodation immediately without the routine wait.

During his visit to the campus in Wednesday, the boy was seen speaking to a senior student from Srinagar who is in the fourth year of electrical engineering.

“I am consulting him about the hostel facilities. But I cannot get over the tension over my mother. The phones are not working. The Internet is down. I have heard the army has even taken control of the police stations,” said the boy who enjoys coding programmes at leisure.

He even tried calling the office of Greater Kashmir, an English-language newspaper printed and published from Srinagar. “I was hoping for some update but the calls did not get through,” said the boy from Bagaat, about 4km from Srinagar.

The boy’s father is scheduled to fly back to Srinagar on August 18, a day before the BTech classes begin at JU.

“I know this (revoking Article 370) was in the election manifesto of the party (BJP). But we could hardly have believed it would actually be executed. I am still in a shock to think the Kashmir where I have spent all my life, is no longer a state. Look at the way it has pushed the place into an utter chaos,” the retired government employee said.