24-yr old Indian Army braveheart H.Vaisakh enthusiastically asked for Kashmir posting, recall kin

Aged just 24, he was the family’s lone breadwinner while serving the Indian Army from the age of 19, he had managed to secure a loan(that is still being repaid) and recently built an own house for his mother and sister and also purchased a car for the family.

Despite the immense responsibility that he had to shoulder from a very young age, he had enthusiastically asked for a posting in Jammu and Kashmir(one of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world), to serve his motherland.

“Chasing my dreamz”, accompanied by emoticons of a uniformed soldier, a home, a bike, a car and family is how he described himself on his WhatsApp. That’s H.Vaisakh for you, the young braveheart from Kollam, Kerala who made the supreme sacrifice for India while fighting terrorists in J&K.

According to his younger cousin Abhijith, it was barely four months ago that Vaisakh’s mother and sister had moved into their new home which Vaisakh had built at the Odanavattom village, their native place.

The new residence signfied a ray of hope for the family which had been plagued by financial issues. During Vysakh’s childhood the family had to stay in a rented house for several years after selling their own house and land to meet their financial liabilities. It was after Vysakh started serving in Indian Army that he saved every bit of his income to take care of his tightly-knit family which meant the world to him.

“It was about two months ago following the death of his maternal grandmother that he stepped into his own home(which he so dearly planned and constructed). Back then, he couldn’t make it on time for the funeral but he came on leave a couple of days later and performed the rituals. That’s when he told us about his decision to voluntarily ask for posting in Jammu and Kashmir. None from our family have served the Armed forces but from a very young age Annan(elder brother) was extremely determined on joining the Army," Abhijith recalled.

Naushad, the secretary of Quilon Mallu Soldiers (a registered non-profit trust working for Armed forces personnel and their families), recalls Vaisakh as a dynamic young man who always took active part in their events.