Satara district in western Maharashtra bid adieu to yet another of her bravehearts, as the last rites of Sepoy Nursing Assistant Sunil Suryawanshi of the 19 Madras Regiment, who was among the 1 >0 soldiers killed in an avalanche on the Siachen glacier , were performed with full military honours on Tuesday afternoon.
The grief-laden atmosphere at the tiny village of Mhaskarwadi, where Suryawanshi was born, served as another poignant reminder of the many sacrifices of the Indian Army.
A little more than two months ago, the district witnessed the funeral of the gallant Col. Santosh Mahadik, commanding officer of the elite, counter-insurgency 41 Rashtriya Rifles (RR), who sacrificed his life battling militants in the dense forests of Kupwara in Kashmir.
The 25-year-old soldier is survived by his parents, his wife Rekha and his one-year-old daughter Tanuja.
Thousands of mourners congregated to pay their last respects to young Suryawashi who died battling the cruel vagaries of nature.
For the valiant soldier, the grim, forbidding, ice-bound waste of the Siachen glacier was “a challenge to be surmounted.”
“He considered his posting at Siachen a dream one, as he loved the rugged outdoors and the mountains,” recalled his mother Sangita, crushed by her younger son’s death.
Suryawanshi, son of poor farmers, was recruited as a Sepoy in 2012 while he was only in his second year of graduation, pursuing a degree in Science from a local college in the district.
His teachers in Satara tearfully remembered him as a bright and enthusiastic boy, who was an ardent debater. Moreover, they recalled his many fine qualities as a person, warm, caring and respectful towards his elders.
“He had promised to stay for a little longer when he came home on furlough this time. Moreover, it would have been our third marriage anniversary last Sunday. And our daughter is having her birthday on February 19. We were looking forward to these moments of happiness, but instead are buried under an avalanche of grief,” said his wife Rekha.
