His family stood by him, and he stood by the country. That is how the citizens of this town will remember Colonel B. Santosh Babu.
His father, Upender, a retired bank manager, had a deep desire to join the Armed Forces but circumstances did not allow him to. But his dream never died. “My brother fulfilled that dream by being commissioned into the prestigious Indian Army, by former president APJ Abdul Kalam himself,” recalls Shruthi, sister of Col. Santosh Babu.
When Babu was 10, he was introduced to the idea of Armed Forces, but his relatives discouraged him. Destiny, however, had other plans. He secured all-India ranks, went on to shine in the entrances to the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, where president Dr. Kalam reviewed the 119th regular course in 2006.
“When he got admission into Sainik School of Korukonda, my father was serving in Adilabad. Through several requests, he got a transfer to Vizianagaram, to be with him,” she said.
Mr. Upender feels proud to say his son served in important posts, “achieved much for his age, but died too young”. The Colonel was only 37.
He was at the forefront in fighting infiltrators at the India-Pakistan border, completed the Peace Mission at Congo and served in other critical postings. “When Abhigna (Babu’s son) was born, he was in Congo. Three years after Anirudh, he is no more. We were expecting a rejoining, that he gets transferred to Hyderabad unit in September,” he said.
“Mujhe papa ke paas jaana hai”, Shruti recollects Anirudh’s cries and weeps inconsolably.
Residents of Vidyanagar, where the Colonel’s family lives, said they seldom saw the officer spending much time in Suryapet. “He was active and friendly. He would have taken voluntary retirement after five more years of service and looked after the family,” a neighbour said. Another added that Mr. Upender is a heart patient and mother Manjula has age-related illnesses.
According to Mr. Dileep Kumar, a resident in the colony, Suryapet could not get more proud than for the Colonel’s sacrifice. “It will be really painful to see him back home, wrapped in the tricolour. He will be an inspiration to many youth,” he felt.
Col. Santosh Babu will be given military funeral honours at the family’s agriculture land in Suryapet on Thursday.
