The eldest of three brothers, Dinesh was posted to Drass sub-sector just two months back. Anxious not to worry his family, Dinesh did not even tell them he was going to Drass, telling them, instead, that he was posted at Srinagar. He was engaged to a girl from Modasa town.

Though little information is available on Dinesh's background, a letter he wrote on June 18 to his family gives an insight about his strong bonds with his family members. Tenderly reprimanding his mother for getting sentimental, he reminds her that he is not a ``little boy'' anymore. At yet another place in the letter, he apologises for any offensive sentence and says,``I have written the letter in anger.''

Like all God-fearing village youths, he begins the letter with the invocation of Lord Hanuman (Jai Bajrang Bali). The letter is addressed to his younger brother Naresh, whom he thanks for writing a letter. ``Keep writing. I too do not get time, but I regularly write to you,'' he says.

Assuring that he is safe, he makes a passing reference to his fiancee Shilpa. Then he turns to his mother. ``Shilpa has written to me that you were weeping when you visited Modasa. Mother, why are you so worried? Why are you making me angry?'' He continues: ``Mother, I do not understand why you are so worried about me.'' He assures the family that nothing can harm him as long as their love and blessings of Lord Hanuman are with him.

This small village of Nirmali comprising 5,000-odd families is in a state of stunned disbelief. As hundreds of people converge onto the house of the deceased's father Mohanbhai, heart-rending scenes are witnessed. It will take much longer for the villagers to erase the memories of the 22-year-old valiant jawan.

The news about the jawan's death was broken to the family members by the District Collector who received a message from the Army informing him that Dinesh had been killed in action in the Mushkoh Valley in the Drass sub-sector of Kargil. Though there is no official message yet about arrival of the body, it is believed that Dinesh's body will arrive late on Thursday night.