Eight-year-old Harshan was quite different from children his age. When other children wanted to be engineers and doctors, he dreamt of joining the Indian Army. While still in Class 4, he persuaded his father K Radhakrishnan Nair to admit him to the Sainik School in Thiruvananthapuram so that he could realise his dream of becoming an army officer.
At the Sainik School, he excelled both at studies and extracurricular activities. There was no game he did not play; he was captain of the volleyball and basketball teams. In Class 12, he was the school captain and the best all round cadet.
He wanted to join the National Defence Academy, but failed in the NDA interview, which his father felt was due to over-confidence. “He was always an over-confident boy,” Radhakrishnan Nair recalls.
Tasting failure for the first time, Harshan was shattered.
He had no option but to obey his father and write the entrance exam for engineering colleges, in which he did well. He joined an engineering college in Kerala, but it was not possible for the youngster to abandon his dreams. Without his father’s knowledge, he again appeared for the the NDA entrance exam, and was selected.
After he secured admission to the NDA he broke the news to his father, who was insistent that Harshan finish his engineering course before joining the army.
But Harshan would have none of it. His dreams were more important than an engineering degree. His father requested a friend, a wing commander in the Indian Air Force, to persuade his son to first get an engineering degree. After speaking with Harshan for an hour, the IAF officer told Radhakrishnan Nair, ‘If you want your son to be happy, let him join the NDA.’
So, Harshan had his way and joined the NDA. After finishing the NDA course, he joined the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. His parents travelled from Kerala to Dehradun to see him commissioned in the Indian Army. Harshan took his mother to the Balidan Mandir at the IMA and told her, ‘Amma, look at the names of the soldiers who have laid down their lives for the country. Can you see the message to their mothers? That all mothers should be proud of their brave sons. Amma, you should also be a proud mother if my name appears here…’ He was assigned to the elite paratroopers unit. In 2002, Lieutenant Harshan of the 2 Para completed his training in Kashmir. He was one of six young officers sent to Israel for special weapons training. In 2006, he was posted to Kashmir. Baramulla, March 7, 2007. Captain Harshan and his Red Devils unit captured a terrorist and recovered a cache of weapons. His commanding officer recommended Harshan for an award.
While interrogating the captured terrorist, Harshan discovered there was infiltration at Kupwara near the India-Pakistan border. He told his commanders that he would conduct a combing operation.
He spent the next two weeks in Kupwara, but no terrorist was found.
When his parents asked when he would come to see them, he used to say, ‘I am needed here. If I take leave, somebody else has to work more.’
But after the unsuccessful Kupwara operation, he applied for leave to go home.
March 20. His bags were packed and he was about to leave for Kerala when he heard that terrorists had been spotted in Kupwara.
He rushed back to Kupwara with 20 men. The mission was successful, and the Red Devils captured the terrorists.
As the unit returned from the heights, Captain Harshan was fired upon. He was hit in the thigh. He returned fire. The gun-battle continued for some time.
The captain was injured, but he stayed in charge, killed three terrorists and saved the lives of his men.
Before he could savour success, a sniper shot him in the neck.
He died, protecting our borders from our enemies.
When others his age read fiction, he read the Bhagavad Gita.
When others his age spoke about movies, he spoke about what the Gita had taught him. When others his age enjoyed the comfort of their homes, he fought terrorists in Kashmir.
Yes, this 26 year old was an extraordinary young man.
Never had his plans failed earlier. He was planning to come home, and he did come home.
Alas! home they brought the warrior dead.
Captain Harshan’s name has now been inscribed at the Balidan Mandir at the IMA, Dehradun. He is also the youngest officer to receive the Ashoka Chakra, the highest honour awarded during peace time, posthumously.
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