Shaheed Naik
R. Kamaraj
His Other
Anniversary
Naik R. Kamaraj, 34, of
117 Infantry Battalion
In his last letter to
her, Kamaraj promised his wife Dhanalakshmi he'd be
home by June 11, their sixth wedding anniversary.
Little known to her, Death was notching up June 10
as an anniversary of another kind. "First it
was the Northeast, then the north. I used to think
the border he's serving is actually the border
between life and death," recalls his father, M.
Rajagopalan, an ex-teacher. His mother Krishnaveni
admits it was his money that helped them marry off
their three daughters; send their youngest son to
Saudi Arabia. Now Kamaraj was looking forward to
returning for good, after completing the mandatory
service period on January 3, 2000. Fate willed
otherwise.
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