Nalika Naidu, 25, had been backpacking across India since October 2019, when she started noticing things changing almost overnight. “I don’t really pay attention to the news, and I was busy travelling across the country. The people here are so friendly,” the hatha yoga teacher from South Africa tells VICE on the phone from New Delhi. “But last week, when I reached Jaisalmer, I went on a camel desert safari for three days. By the time I came back, things had just flipped completely, like I was in a different world altogether.”

On March 22, when she returned to her Jaisalmer hotel after the safari, she found her belongings out on the streets, with the hotel refusing to let her in. The city had come under the “Junta curfew”, and every hostel or hotel refused to host her even though she had the health certificate from a local hospital that certified her as healthy. “It was insane. I felt such intense emotions from locals that it was flabbergasting for me. It was understandable because the coronavirus is scary, but I was literally on the pavement with all my things, crying,” says Naidu.

Call it chance, or just plain luck but when Naidu finally found a hostel that allowed her to take a bath (but only after confiscating her health certificate and passport), a guy knocked on her door. It was Shubham Dharmsktu, a Mumbai-based documentary filmmaker who had been in Rajasthan for the last few weeks. “He offered me to join what seemed like a ‘rescue team’ of sorts. There were other foreigners with him, and they were all going to take the last train to Delhi, before the Indian Railways shut down under the 21-day curfew. That’s how I am here in Delhi, all safe and sound!” says Naidu.

Over the last week, as the country came under complete lockdown, Dharmsktu has been “rescuing” foreigners stranded in different states. The lockdown not only suspended visas for incoming travellers but also grounded flights, allowing only the ones arranged by embassies. However, foreigners are hassled with more than just getting stranded. The growing misinformation, coupled with nationwide coronavirus-induced panic and xenophobia, have caused the locals to hurl hostilities and abuse towards several tourists who have no way out.

“I personally saw this craziness starting around March 22, when I met Nalika in Jaisalmer,” Dharmsktu tells VICE. “I just happened to find out about her, and slowly, I found out about many foreigners who’d been thrown out of their accommodations, and even thrashed. So I started using my Instagram, where a lot of tourists reached out to me. I also went to the local hospitals where I found more of them getting their health certificates made.” The 26-year-old then booked the last train from Jaisalmer to New Delhi on March 21, and travelled with around 10 foreigners. “On the train, we found even more people from different countries like Sweden, Spain, the Czech Republic and the UK. They didn’t know where to go,” he says.

In Delhi, things were no better. Every accommodation the group contacted immediately recoiled from their requests. “Even the big ones refused to let them stay,” says Dharmsktu. Eventually, one hostel called DatStop Hostel in south Delhi agreed. “Right now, we have some 35-40 foreigners here,” says Dhruvin Shah, the founder of DatStop Hostel. “They were first brought in by Shubham, and now, even the embassies have started bringing them. There are some who walked from one end of the city to here because their hostels threw them out and there’s no transport out there.”