Kadam and his wife Smita were both in the army. Smita, who was in the army from 1995 to 2000, was part of Kadam's 8th division that was involved in Operation Vijay in Kargil. He was in the thick of action while Smita, a dentist, was in the support staff. While Smita chose to opt out of service and work for an ex-servicemen health scheme in New Delhi, Kadam spent more than 15 years at the front. He did two stints with the Rashtriya Rifles, the crack counterinsurgency unit formed in 1990.
"The first time, when he was a captain with the RR, he nabbed a dreaded militant with the help of just one more person. It is very rare that someone is posted with the RR for a second time. Thinking about the second RR stint, I feel like his destiny was chosen for him," she said.
Kadam, who was planning to quit the army in two years' time when he would have completed 20 years of service, was studying for his masters in business administration in New Delhi's Shastri College. "His last exams were in April and he had just sent his submission for it."
"The last time I spoke to him, he was worried that he was not getting enough time to study for the exams," Smita said.
Though both of them served in the army at the same time, theirs was an arranged marriage. Smita's mother was looking for a suitable match when an acquaintance came to her with Kadam's proposal. "The first time, I rejected it outright, since I did not want a Mumbai boy for my daughter. But them, this person took me out for dinner and tried to convince me that Kadam would be a really good match for Smita. I decided to take the matter forward. Smita also always wanted to marry an army boy. We had so many proposals from doctors, but she was firm that she wanted to marry someone from the army. So when I found out that Manish was a product of the National Defence Academy, I said yes to the proposal. Both Smita and him were captains at that time," Kadam's mother-in-law Pushpalata Ranjitsingh Chavan, said.
Image: Captain Smita Kadam.
Also read: Kargil's first hero
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