As news of Operation Sindoor, India’s latest cross-border military operation against terrorism, dominated breaking news headlines and flooded social media posts, 21-year-old Nora Varma, a final-year student at a prominent private university in Haryana, was on campus when tensions first began to stir. The Goregaon resident recalls, “When the news broke last week, the campus was eerily calm. Then, when Haryana was officially placed on high alert, that calm quickly turned into chaos.”

Outstation students scrambled to advance their flight bookings back home and panic set in. But for Varma, the anxiety wasn’t just about the crisis itself, it was about the confusion around it.