'After He Has Gone, We Have Only Him To Talk About': Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's Parents

The suburban housing layout in Bangalore into which the Unnikrishnans moved in around 2006 is a quiet, vacant locality. They had built the house after K. Unnikrishnan, who worked with ISRO, retired. 바카라�We loved it here. We were happy till 2008,바카라� says his wife C. Dhanalakshmi, 66. That바카라�s when life took a turn. Over these 10 years, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan바카라�s parents have grown used to spending a large part of their time travelling to events or meeting people. A few months ago, they were in Kerala to speak at a school, despite Dhanalakshmi바카라�s nagging backache. 바카라�I will go and speak as long as my health permits,바카라� she says. She has so much to share with people about her son. 바카라�After he has gone, we have only him to talk about.바카라�

Upstairs in their two-storey home is a gallery, a labour of love for their son. 바카라�He would keep his things very carefully. So we were wondering what to do with them. And that바카라�s how we created this,바카라� she says. There바카라�s an astonishing collection of personal articles and memories, painstakingly put together four years ago. A harmonica, a nursery-class gift from his father which Sandeep treasured; the first cup he won in a school sports tournament and several other accolades that followed; his clothes and shoes, all neatly pressed and polished, in a glass wardrobe; the Ashok Chakra medal and citation; the bag with a change of clothes that he carried into Operation Black Tornado and his entire kit; the dirt from the spot he fell, at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which the family visits every anniversary (a sofa from the room is now at the NSG바카라�s headquarters in Manesar); the Indian flag his body was wreathed in.

On another side of the room, a glimpse of the personal side of a man dedicated to his profession바카라�His 1999-model music system, an old point-and-shoot camera, his small collection of movies, among them Akira Kurosawa바카라�s Seven Samurai. He had told mom to keep the CDs safe, and so she did. There are other mementos: the towel she wrapped her four-month-old baby in when the family moved to Bangalore in 1977; a T-shirt the one-year-old had worn. It is still work in progress, she says. There are so many more articles to add.

Every year on Sandeep바카라�s birthday on March 15, his best friend from school brings a bouquet which his mother keeps alongside his photo until the next birthday. His military colleagues stay in touch and schoolmates, many abroad now, drop in with their kids. 바카라�Frankly, if you ask me, why was he so popular? I would say he deserved it,바카라� says Unnikrishnan, who is in his mid-seventies. 바카라�Sandeep is living in many minds.바카라� The family lives by the ideals that Sandeep set for himself. 바카라�We have learnt a lot from him,바카라� says Unnikrishnan. 바카라�I always make sure I dress well,바카라� his wife adds. 바카라�That바카라�s how Sandeep liked it.바카라�

By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore