NEW DELHI, CHANDIGARH, June 18: The Brigadier's mailbox at his South Delhi residence is overflowing with letters. Condolence letters from friends far away, his former colleagues, relatives and from Mohit's friends of Doon School days.

``We are proud that our son died for the nation,'' says Brig M L Wigh (retd), putting on a brave smile. Major Mohit Wigh, his only son, was killed in an explosion engineered by militants in Kupwara, Kashmir, on June 4.Here's a family that is fighting a tragedy bravely, trying to hold back tears, and smile. Courage, it seems, comes naturally to the Wighs, a family of soldiers.

Mohit's mother is the daughter of a Nepalese General, and like his father, his father-in-law too is a decorated officer. ``I have promised my son not to weep. He was born for the nation and he has gone for the nation,'' says Sree Rajya Lakshmi Wigh, Mohit's mother, holding back tears.

At the Grewalls' house in Chandigarh's Sector 35, there is silence and gloom but, again, no tears. ``Now for heaven's sake, do not pity me. Okay, my husband was killed by a bomb planted by the militants. I know I am only 31-year old with two small children. But do not pity me,'' says Tina Wigh. Major Gen Surinder Singh Grewall's voice does not falter when he talks about his son-in-law. ``As an old soldier I have to bear the tragedy bravely. One has to take these things as they come,'' he says. But then his pain gives itself away.

``These boys in the Army move around in jongas while those in the police and Central Reserve Police Force have bullet-proof vehicles,'' he says. Mohit always wanted to join the Army, and the same brigade as his father: 2/5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force). ``Many people are not sending children to the Army. But Mohit insisted on being his father's son and joining the same brigade. He told me, `Dad nothing but the Gorkha Rifles for me,'' says Brig Whig.Mohit joined his regiment in the Valley on May 25 and celebrated his 37th birthday on June 2. Before going to the Valley, he was posted as the Brigade Major (BM) at Kasauli.

His commanding officer in the Valley told him that every soldier is given 10 days to acclimatise himself before going to the `post'. Major Whig, however, went to the post after three days, participated in the combing operations, and had narrow escapes on May 28 and May 31 when he came under militants' fire.

He was going in his jonga with another officer and four jawans when the remote-controlled explosion took place. Two of the jawans in the jonga were also killed. ``It is easier to reconcile to such deaths in a war. It is more difficult to bear them in peace time,'' says Lt Gen B S Malik, a friend of the Wighs. Mohit and Tina have two sons, the elder one is yet to turn three and the younger one, who is a paraplegic, is one-year old. ``The child's condition has not allowed Tina to take up a job,'' says Gen Grewall.

Tina is trying to reconcile to her husband's absence, imagining he is still around, with her.

For the past one year, she and her husband had been regular visitors at a place of worship in Patiala, to pray for their disabled son. ``I do not think God can look me in the eye now. I am not bitter. But I have lost the fear of what will happen if this or that takes place -- I see my husband through my children and I know he is with us,'' Tina says.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.