For most medical aspirants, the NEET-PG exam is the culmination of months, sometimes years, of preparation. For Tanvi, however, the three-hour test on August 30 came with something far heavier on her mind.Her parents were missing in Nepal.Tanvi’s parents, Venkatram Annamdevara and Anagha Annamdevara, were travelling with a 67-member group on the Kailash Yatra when devastating floods struck Nepal’s border region on August 26. The group has not been reachable since the floods, leaving families waiting for news of their loved ones.Still, Tanvi went to her examination centre and sat for the NEET-PG test.But keeping her mind on the questions proved almost impossible.In a video shared on Instagram after the exam, Tanvi said she spent about half of the three-hour paper crying.“Out of the three hours exam, I think one-and-a-half hours I spent just crying,” she said.She showed the blue ink mark on her thumb from the biometric process and explained that even reading the questions became difficult at times because of her tears.Yet she kept going.“I want to, I have to do it for him. I have to do it for my parents,” Tanvi said.
A photograph of her father made the exam harder
One detail inside the examination hall hit her particularly hard.Tanvi explained that the NEET-PG screen displays two photographs, including the photograph from her admit card. That particular picture had been taken by her father.“On the NEET PG screen, the questions you’re giving it, right, there’s two pictures on that. The admit card photo. And that photo was taken by my dad. And that made NEET PG so much more difficult,” she said.The photograph, which would normally have been just another part of the exam process, became a painful reminder of the uncertainty surrounding her parents.Tanvi said she knew her father would have wanted her to take the exam. That thought helped her continue.“I just knew that my dad wants me to give this exam and I have to do it for him, I have to do it for my parents.”
The ritual she missed most
It wasn’t just the exam itself that made the day difficult.Tanvi also spoke about a small family ritual that she missed more than anything. Before important events, her mother would give her dahi shakkar – curd and sugar.This time, she wasn’t there.“The more difficult part was, you know, in the morning before exam, my mom would usually make dahi shakkar (curd and sugar). And my dad would have wished me luck. It’s just that in this exam, that didn’t happen,” Tanvi said.She ended with a simple hope that has become central to her family’s wait.“They have to come.”
Parents among 67-member Kailash Yatra group
Tanvi had first spoken about her missing parents in a video posted on August 29.She said her parents were part of a 67-member group travelling with Richa Tours and Travels for the Kailash Yatra. After the floods, she said she was unable to contact her parents or other members of the group.Tanvi said the group’s last known location was around the immigration centre and the Friendship Bridge in Nepal, both of which were badly affected by the disaster.In her earlier video, she said she could only hope that her parents and others in the group had managed to reach safety and were waiting somewhere to be rescued.The Nepal floods have left families across the region desperately searching for information about missing relatives. For Tanvi, that uncertainty followed her right into an examination hall.She had three hours to write an exam that could shape her medical career. And somehow, through the tears and the fear, she finished it.
