JAIPUR: Major Sankalp Yadav, who spent his childhood in the colonies in and around the Nand Puri area of Jaipur, had given a nod to his parents to look for a suitable girl for marriage this year. Yadav was turning 29 on March 29 this month. However, he did not live to celebrate.
On Friday, Maj Yadav attained martyrdom when an Army Cheetah helicopter on an evacuation mission of an ailing soldier crashed in the Baraub area of Gurez in Bandipura district of Srinagar.
According to a defence release, the helicopter had lost communication contact with the forward post at Gujran in the Baruab area in the afternoon and crashed in which Major Sankalp Yadav, the co-pilot succumbed to his injuries at the 92 base hospital.
"He used to call me every day and we used to talk about various things mainly personal family matters. He was more like a friend to me," said Surendra Kumar Yadav, the army man's father, who retired as manager from Reserve Bank of India this June.
"Usne bol diya thaa papa ab aap ladki dekh lo (He had told me papa look for a bride for me)," Surendra said.
Sankalp’s family lives in the Nand puri locality near Hawa Sadak in Jaipur.
Surendra said the family had unconfirmed reports at 3.30 pm on Friday on the crash which were later confirmed. "He was a bright student and was also good at extra-curricular activities in the school. Initially, he had studied in a school close to our house, and later from Class 7 to 11, he studied at Maharaja Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya and he competed Class 12 from Kapil Gyanpeeth and had done his BSc in computer science from JNU, Delhi," said Surendra.
Recalling the recent meetings and phone calls, Surendra said, "He came to Jaipur on January 14 and after attending a few weddings within our family he returned to join duties on February 14."
Surendra’s elder son works in the IT sector and his wife (Sankalp’s mother) is a teacher. "He used to call me every day. I spoke to him on Thursday night," he added.
Surendra said, "He never discussed the operation. Since he is in the army it is obvious he would be on one mission or another. In 2017, he had participated in the flood relief mission for Sitamadi on the Nepal border."
The mortal remains are likely to arrive in Jaipur on Saturday.
