Padmini Vanka (nee’ Tenneti) was born in Mylapore, Chennai on February 11, 1933. She was the youngest daughter of 4 daughters and 4 sons of Tenneti Suryanarayana and Tenneti Kameswaramma. She grew up in a well-educated family and excelled in music and poetry. She had a strong interest in organic chemistry, botany and zoology in college. She was fluent in Telugu, Tamil, English, and Hindi.

At the age of 24 she married a young Army officer hailing from Visakhapatnam, whose name was Captain Vanka Venkata Kameswara Rao. She was trained to be a teacher, but gave up teaching after her marriage. Her husband continued in the India Army for 36 years and they moved all over India, including Bombay, Poona, Calcutta, Delhi and Chandigarh to name a few.

After retiring to a home in Hyderabad, where they lived for over 25 years, they emigrated to the US in 2012 to be closer to their children. Brigadier V. V. K. Rao passed away in 2016. Mrs. Padmini Vanka passed away on 12th November 2021.

Padmini is deeply mourned by sons, Subbarao and Suryanarayana, daughter-in-law, Sivagami and three grandchildren Meenakshi, Nandita and Vishal, and a large extended family spread across India, USA, UK, Canada and Australia.