Kargil martyr’s son keeps his father’s legacy alive
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service
Lucknow, June 11
“My childhood dream has come true. I had been chasing it since I was five. All I can say is that I am very happy.”
This is how 24-year-old Lt Hitesh Kumar expresses his feelings at being commissioned as a lieutenant in the Indian Army and joining his Kargil martyr father Lance Naik Bachan Singh’s Rajputana Rifles.
He is one of the 457 gentlemen cadets who passed out from the Indian Military Academy on June 9 adding another feather to the family’s glorious contribution.
“I was five-and-a-half when my father died at Kargil and became my inspiration. But it was my mother who struggled the most to keep me on track”, says Hitesh.
Mother Kamlesh Bala’s happiness is infectious. “Meri 19 saal ki tapasya puri hui. Abki June 13 ko unko shaheed hue 19 saal ho jayenge (19 years of prayers have been answered. June 13 will mark 19 years of my husband’s martyrdom),” said Bala over the phone from Muzaffarnagar, their ancestral home where the family is being felicitated for the achievement.
Both born on October 23, 1994, Hitesh has a twin brother Hemant, a minute older than him, who like his father and twin is also preparing to join the army.
Sharing his 19-year-long journey to achieve his dreams Hitesh said that soon after his father’s martyrdom his mother put him in Rashtriya Military School Chail in Himachal. After Class 10 he moved to the RMS in Belgam because he wanted to opt for Commerce.
A B.Com Honours from Delhi University’s prestigious Shri Ram College of Commerce, he had the option of joining the Faculty of Management and a high-flying corporate career.
“But for me life without being in army was unthinkable. I had decided that if I fail to do so I would join the paramilitary forces. After school I had cleared the NDA written but failed to clear the interview,” Hitesh said.
A keen sportsperson, he plays basketball and loves reading historical fiction and mythology.
He occasionally watches movies. The last one he saw was Tom Cruise’s ‘The Last Samurai’, which was part of the training drill at IMA.
His favourite male actors are Robert De Niro and Dilip Kumar. And the only time Hitesh sounds like a spontaneous 24-year old that he is when he reveals that his favourite female actor is Jacqueline Fernandez and Aishwarya Rai.
