Bhubaneswar: For 19 years, Soumya Ranjan Mallick has lived with a blurred memory of his father and the emptiness of his absence.
“I can’t recall how he looked but I miss him a lot. Whenever I see children playing with their fathers, it doesn’t make me sad but it puts a smile on my face because I can see him in all their happiness,” he said.
Soumya Ranjan’s father, Lance Naik Sachidananda Mallick was martyred while fighting the enemy during the Kargil War on June 28, 1999.
Soumya Ranjan is now a student of fourth year Electrical Engineering in the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), the faculty of engineering of SOA (Deemed to be University). He was only three when he lost his father.
The shy student has been in news after he wrote an open letter to his father that was published in a nationally circulated news magazine. The moving letter had captured his sense of loss, struggle and dreams.
While paying tributes to the martyr, SOA on Wednesday felicitated Soumya Ranjan and his mother Nibedita saying the nation was indebted to their family for the supreme sacrifice the jawan from Odisha had made.
SOA Vice Chancellor Prof Amit Banerjee felicitated Soumya Ranjan and his mother at a function attended by the Deans of different institutions, directors, professors and others by presenting them with bouquets, shawls, mementos and a citation.
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