by Kalyani Kurup

Created on: September 08, 2008   Last Updated: November 01, 2008

Mr. and Mrs. Batra were proud and happy when their son passed out of the military academy and became a commissioned officer. But in less than three years of his joining the army, came a war. The war swallowed his life at the age of 24. In an extremely daring operation, the young soldier gave up his life for the greater good of the country he was serving.

His life became the symbol of the soldier who fought fearlessly and chose honor and bravery above everything else. His parents today cope with the loss of that child in the glory of that memory.

At an altitude of 17000', the terrain was difficult, and the climate worse. But he fought against all odds and won a brilliant victory. And when he won, he called his father to let him know that he had won and that he was safe. But a few days after, there was another equally crucial operation and the young man did not return from it.

Before he left on that second decisive operation, a TV reported queried the young captain about his feelings. "I wish the families of the deceased soldiers are looked after well by the government and the society," was apparently what he said. Millions of people watching the transmission, including his parents, froze, spotting the ominous portents in it. Maybe he was already trying to help them deal with their grief.

His father, a school principal, and his mother today bear the loss of that precious child, by the pride in him. They deal with their grief in the supreme satisfaction that he was ready to give himself totally at the altar of duty. The loss of the parents is made lighter by the fact that the whole country understands the enormity and grandeur of that sacrifice. Again and again they coped with the loss of their child, when the father received on behalf of his son the country's highest military honor; when a movie was later made based on his heroic exploits.

They draw strength from their staunch belief in God and that this is the glorious destiny God had in plan for their child. No grief support system works better than that faith. They draw strength from their remaining son. The soldier's employers, the government of the country, does all they can for grief support and grief counseling. A petrol pump was awarded to them by the government in honor of the child they lost.

The many letters they have received from the defense minister onwards, the statue of their son that has been erected in their home town, the sharing of their grief with many parents who lost their children under similar circumstances, are all their grief support systems. They deal with their grief because they are the parents of someone whom nothing could deter and so probably have within them the same genes. They deal with the grief because a grateful nation and society remember the sacrifices of their son.

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