“Just take care of my son, he had said, gazing at our 11-month-old child. And for the last 35 years, I have been doing that. More than anything else, it is his fighter’s spirit that has kept me going,” recalls Kanta Lakhanpal, who lost her husband, Major D P Lakhanpal, in the 1971 War.

At the time, 19-yr-old Kanta was still studying at GCG-11. The Major was posted at Shimla. “Very handsome and extremely fond of ice-skating,” is how she describes him. In 1971, while commanding a unit of Gorkha Rifles in the Chham Sector, he was called to the Front.

Tears rolling down her eyes, Kanta says: “Bravery is in our blood. My entire family is in the Army, even my son wanted to serve the country, but could not, because of an eyesight problem. My only regret is that the tank blast left nothing. We didn’t even get a chance to cremate his body. My son has grown up just seeing him in photographs.”

Life has not been easy for Kanta. From completing her education to looking for a job and being there for her son, it has been a ceaseless struggle. After the Major’s death, she survived on a pension of Rs 630 a month and salary from ad hoc jobs. Six years later, she got a permanent job with PNB.

Now she is a manager in PNB and enjoys playing with her grandchildren in her Sector 15 house. But come family functions, she still misses the gallant man who left her left her too early in life.