On Tuesday afternoon when the local tehsildar broke the news of the death of Suresh, shops and institutions downed shutters and the village beat a path to the doorstep of Vishnu Karbhari Sonawane to condole the death of his son, who died fighting the enemy in the Poonch-Rajauri sector.

Vishnu (55) wept pressing the letter to his chest. The irony was too much to bear, even before Suresh's letter could reach his family, the soldier had died, on June 6.

Suresh decided to join the army in 1987, recalls a disconsolate Vishnu, but he was not confident of being selected, because he feared that he had ``neither money nor influence''.

Happily the Army proved him wrong.

Ironies pile up for the family; Vishnu cries``Suresh had told us that he will come back as nobody would select him''. Now his son would never come back, he says wistfully.

For Vishnu's family it is another blow of fate. One of Suresh's two brothers had drowned in a well three years ago and the other, Kailas, is mentally challenged.

Today the whole village waited and an uneasy calm greeted the contingent of Army jawans and officers that arrived with the dead body of Suresh, wrapped in the national tricolour, as the air rent with the military salute and sobs of the bereaved family.

A similar story was repeated itself in Deghat village, about 135 km from Nashik. Chaitram Khairnar received a missive on Monday from son, Lance Naik Eknath, that all was well, and that his brother Pandit in the BSF posted in Kashmir, was well. Then came the news on Tuesday evening.

And as with Sonawane, when the letter (written on May 28) arrived, Eknath was already dead somewhere in the heights of Kargil.

Devghat village has a tradition of sending people to theArmed forces and about 24 youths of the village are in military service. Still, when this news broke in at sunset, the darkness of gloom shrouded the village marking the passing away of a martyr ... and it was decided one more memorial would come up -- a growing number as operations show no sign of abating in Kargil.