Nine years ago, he was like any other cadet at the Officers’ Training Academy, toiling for excellence and waiting to serve the country. Today, he is present as not only a symbol of courage and determination but also an inspiration to all the cadets at the Academy.
The fibre bust of the officer, Major Mukund Varadarajan, who was killed in an encounter with terrorists on April 25 last year at Shopian in South Kashmir, was unveiled by his wife Indhu Mukund (31) at the Jessami Company barracks of the Academy on Monday, as his parents looked on.
“I am very proud. Though there is an element of sadness about the loss, I am happy that he has become an inspiration to many youth,” says Ms. Mukund, who is teaching at the Army Public School in Bengaluru.
The martyr officer’s four-year-old daughter Arshea Mukund was a happy girl, playing around the bust unaware of the significance of the event, distracted by flashing cameras and decorated flowers.
“He was awarded the Ashok Chakra posthumously, the highest gallantry award in peace time. He is a role model not just to Jessami Company to which belonged when he was a cadet here, but to all cadets in the Academy,” Lt. Gen. Ravindra Pratap Singh, the Commandant of the Academy, said.
Major Mukund Varadarajan, who trained at the Academy between April 2005 and March 2006, was commissioned into the 22 Rajput and was serving with 44 Rashtriya Rifles when he was killed in action last year.
