August 30 was supposed to be an important day in Tanvi's journey towards becoming a doctor. After spending years preparing for NEET PG, she walked into the examination hall knowing she had three hours to give the test her best. But her thoughts were elsewhere.
Her parents, Anagha and Venkatram Annamdevara, were among a 67-member Kailash Yatra group travelling with Richa Tours when the group was caught in floods in Nepal. Tanvi had still not been able to contact them. Yet, amid the uncertainty and fear, she went to the examination centre and sat for her NEET PG exam.
'I still have hope'
In an emotional video shared on Instagram, Tanvi gave an update on her parents and the other members of the group. She said that as of August 30, her parents were still missing, along with everyone travelling with the Richa Tours group. According to Tanvi, she had contacted the Indian Embassy, the Ministry of External Affairs, Nepal and China, as well as others she believed could help locate them.
"We've not been able to contact them still. I've contacted the embassy, Indian Embassy, Ministry of External Affairs. I've contacted Nepal, I've contacted China. I've contacted whoever and whatever I could contact," she said. Tanvi admitted that the situation had been extremely difficult, but said she continued to hold on to hope. "Now, is there hope? I still have hope. Maybe it is a little delusional, but I have the hope," she said. She added that she believed her parents and the other members of the group would be found and return home soon. "They have to be found and all of them are for sure going to come back to us soon," she said.
'Out of the three hours, I think one and a half hours I spent crying'
Tanvi then spoke about the NEET PG examination she had taken that day. She said she struggled to concentrate during the three-hour exam and spent around half of it crying. At times, she found the questions difficult to read because of the tears in her eyes. "Out of the 3 hours exam, I think 1 and a half hours I had spent just crying," she said. Yet she stayed through the examination because she knew her parents wanted her to take it.
"I just knew that, you know, my dad wants me to give this exam. I want to, I have to do it for him, I have to do it for my parents," she said. Tanvi said she eventually sat through the entire exam despite everything she was going through. "I sat there, I sat through that exam," she said.
Her father's photograph made the exam even harder
One detail from the examination made the day particularly emotional for Tanvi. She explained that the photograph on her NEET PG admit card had been taken by her father. Seeing it during the exam reminded her of him at a moment when she was desperately hoping for news about her parents.
"And that photo was taken by my dad. And that made it, that made NEET PG so much more difficult," she said. For Tanvi, the exam was therefore not simply about answering questions. It was intertwined with memories of her parents and the routines that usually surrounded an important day.
'My mom would make that dahi shakkar'
Tanvi also remembered what normally happened on the morning of an important examination. She said her mother would usually prepare dahi shakkar for her before the exam and give her a spoonful, while her father would wish her good luck. "In the morning before the exam, my mom would usually make that dahi shakkar, you know, and dahi shakkar ka chammach deti thi vo," she recalled. Her father would then tell her, "Best of luck, Tanvi."
This time, neither of those familiar moments happened. "It's just that in this exam that didn't happen," she said.
'They have to come back'
Despite the uncertainty, Tanvi continues to hold on to the belief that her parents will return. "They better come back. They have to come back. They cannot not come back. They must come back," she said. She ended with an especially personal reason for holding on to hope: she wants her mother to once again feed her dahi chini before an important day. "Because they have to, they have to feed; my mom has to feed me dahi chini again," Tanvi said, before asking people to pray for her parents. "Please pray for them," she said.
Her emotional account has highlighted not only the uncertainty facing families of those still missing after the Nepal floods, but also the extraordinary circumstances under which Tanvi was forced to sit for an examination she had spent years preparing for.
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