Hyderabad, July 24: A little over a decade ago, she shot off a letter to the then Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf demanding that he apologise to her grand daughter after her son, whom she still refers to as 2 RR (Rajputana Rifles), had sacrificed his life for the country. That sums up her spirit. She is not the one to cry. The brave lady and her family members cut a cake every June 21 without fail to celebrate their son’s birthday but ignore June 29, his death anniversary, and continue with their normal work that day.
‘‘You are a good son, you lost your life but did not let your country down,’’ is what she often tells her son when she talks to him in the backyard of her house in Hastinapuram colony every day. Inside house No 87, where the Acharyas live, one cannot miss the presence of the valiant Major Padmapani Acharya.
It’s as if he is still alive in the unique world of his mother Vimalacharya, father Jagannatham Acharya, wife Charulatha and daughter Aparajitha.
The Major’s death __ he went down fighting till his last breath while leading his men in Kargil in 1999 __ has not, as one would expect, emotionally broken the family. Not Vimalacharya at any rate.
“When I go to the backyard, I see him and we talk. He is with me every moment,’’ says she with a smile playing on her lips. At 67, she is as agile as her grand daughter Aparajitha. ‘‘We have Aparajitha, who is a good compensation for Babloo (the Major’s pet name),’’ she adds, pointing to Aparajitha.
Will she be visiting Kargil to see at first hand her son’s Karmabhoomi? Vimalacharya has received numerous invitations to visit Kargil but somehow, she hasn’t accepted any till date. “Next year may be. I want to see where my son went from there,” she replies rather cryptically. Her husband, a Wing Commander, is quick to remind her that she cannot! “You are an asthamatic,” he tells her. The retired Wing Commander admits that the loss of his son has been very painful.
‘‘The older you grow, the more you miss your children and start feeling lonely,” he muses and recalling his dear Padmapani, he says: “I remember, he was a fellow of practical jokes.’’ Asked if they are hurt by the UPA government’s decision not to celebrate Vijay Diwas, the Kargil anniversary, pat came Vimalacharya’s reply like an arrow: ‘‘We are apolitcal people. Sacrifice has been taught to us right from our childhood. Had my son and many others like him not died, Pakistanis would have captured half of India.’’ Her younger son, Padmasambhav Acharya, is also a soldier. He is with 17 Rajputana Rifles in Pune. The family now runs a gas agency allotted to them by the Indian Oil Corporation.
The elderly couple talk on about their son, but Charulatha, it seems, has not uttered a word on the topic for the last 10 years! She decided to stay with the Acharyas as their daughter after her husband’s death. ‘‘No, I don’t talk about him…’’ she insists when asked about him.
Aparajitha, who was in her mother’s womb when the tragedy struck, is in awe of her father.
‘‘I want to join the Indian Army and serve the country like my father,’’ is all that the Class V student says. Her uncanny resemblance to the Major has earned her the name Bubbles, derived from Babloo.
–Agencies–