‘Call my son,I want to speak to him’

A day after,at his home in Mahmadpur village,Narendra’s father Dhan Singh lay on a charpoy surrounded by his neighbours. All he could say was that when he spoke to his son last,he had rebuked him for not taking care of his health.

Mother Barfi Devi is still to believe that her elder son is dead. “Call Narendra,I want to speak to him,” she was telling visitors. Narendra’s wife Saroj was too shocked to talk. They have a one-year-old son,Kunal. Zile Singh said Narendra wanted to study further. “My brother could not complete his MA final year from Rana Degree College as he was selected in CRPF in 2002. But he wanted to study more and had to appear for a B.Ed entrance test this month. I never knew it was our last talk.”

The villagers,too,remembered Narendra as someone who was keen on education. “The father is a labourer and the brother a high school passout. He was the only one who pursued education. Whenever he would see children playing in the village,he would advise them to take their studies seriously,” said Mukesh,a villager. Narendra always took care that his family did now about the serious nature of his work. “He never used to discuss his posting. He only once said that he was tensed and feared he would not return home. We could never understand his life was in danger,” said Zile Singh.