Manasi Parekh details escaping Nepal floods, was on way to ravaged Gyirong port: 'Whole town was submerged' | Exclusive | Hindustan Times

Actor Manasi Parekh had a close shave this past week. The National Award-winning actor was in Tibet for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra when the flash floods in Nepal hit. The actor, part of a group sponsored by the Isha Foundation, was hours away from the Gyirong Port immigration centre when the deluge hit the building, submerging the whole town. One group from the Isha Foundation had reached the spot just minutes earlier. Manasi and her group were lucky, relatively, as they were hours away.Speaking to Hindustan Times from China, the actor details the harrowing last few days and her narrow escape.HT: Where were you exactly when the flash flood began?Manasi Parekh: When the incident happened, we were all on our way, halfway through to that place, actually. Because we were supposed to reach that building the next day.We were on our way to this place called New Dongba. And thankfully, we stayed overnight there. We could have gone straight away, but our itinerary was planned so that we had to stay back one night and then watch. And that's when this horrible incident happened. HT: You must have been stranded there because there was nowhere to goManasi Parekh: We were 5 hours away from the place where the incident happened. But thankfully, we were not stranded. In fact, we had reached our hotels. Now we didn't know what to do because there was no immigration there. The whole town was submerged. And it seemed like such unreal news because we were literally there, like, 6 days earlier, when we entered China. It was a huge structure. The fact that it completely collapsed was when one realised nothing in life can be planned. Anything can happen anywhere.HT: Then how did you guys proceed from there?Manasi Parekh: Thankfully, we had Wi-Fi, electricity, and food. So we were just grateful for all those things, really. And we had each other. There were around 87 of us in the hotel with Sadhguru. Of course, we were all devastated by the news because 77 people from Isha Foundation were missing, among the 1,500 people, at least if not more. And we didn't know what to do. We did not know what would happen or how many days we would be stuck in this place. But thankfully, Chinese authorities were very fast. And Isha Foundation were in touch with the PMO and with embassies of every country, including the Chinese government. Then we got permission to use another exit. So we are on the route that exit right now. We are in a safe space. HT: So are you all on your way back to India now?Manasi Parekh: Yes, we are going to figure out our plan now in the next couple of days.HT: Sadhguru is with you, right now?Manasi Parekh: Yes, he is, and we are just blessed and grateful that we have him. The amount of pressure and the amount of sadness that has happened is so much that we are still processing it. I just I don't know what to say what say after such an incident.