``My eldest son was 40 days old when my husband went off to fight in the 1965 war'', recalls the lady. ``Our men fight physical battles; our battles are mental.'' She'll have to call on those reserves of strength once again when Shreyas boards the Jammu-Tawi Express on Thursday en route to Kargil. ``This the opportunity of a lifetime'', says the lieutenant, who's obviously raring to go into battle.

An MSc gold medallist from M S University, Shreyas completed a year's training at the Indian Military Academy, Dehraden in 1998. ``My passion was physics, and I wanted to go into research'', he says. ``In fact, I was involved in some research at the Physical Science Laboratory, Ahmedabad.'' But the family tradition proved too strong to resist: If his father fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars, his brother retired as a Major after a short service commission. Another brother is a captain in Army Aviation.

``I saw an advertisement for technical graduates; the subject was of my interest. I applied and was selected. Joining the Army was my own decision'', says Shreyas simply. Though he is with the Army Education Corps, for the initial two years he will be given field exposure in the infantry. It is by this virtue that he has been summoned to Kargil.