Captain Harshan's home is located in a quiet lane in Thiruvanathapuram's Sreenagar area. Photographs of him in uniform line a table in the living room as his parents prepare to make the toughest journey of their lives.
Harshan is the 40th soldier to be honoured with the Ashok Chakra after Independence and the youngest recipient of the medal.
His parents quietly talk about their son and how they do not feel emotionally strong enough to make the trip to Delhi. "Ours is an ocean of grief," says his father Radhakrishnan Nair. "They say a soldier never dies but for us our loss is unimaginable. It is a void that will remain forever and no Ashok Chakra can bridge that gap."
"He was a brilliant officer -- smart, so promising. People say he made the supreme sacrifice but we are bargaining with the lives of our young officers. They are fighting militancy with AK-47s when the terrorists are using AK-56s. Pakistan is just dumping these weapons for them," continues the heartbroken father.
When Harshan joined the 2 Parachute Regiment -- a Special Forces unit -- in December 2002, his parents did not know that the Paras are often involved in some of the most dangerous missions during an insurgency or war. "He used to say 'Amma, you pray that I get my branch', but I did not know it was the Paras he wanted," says his mother.
"He volunteered for the Special Forces," continues Mr Nair, "I believe 40 of them applied with him and only 7 made it."
Image: Harshan's mother with his photographs and medals. Photograph: Rajesh Karkera
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