‘Vijayant at Kargil’: A Father Remembers His Martyred Son

Video Editor: Vivek Gupta

‘By the time Virender reached home, his devastated wife could hardly move. She broke down in his arms. Silent tears streamed down her face. They held each other; their perfect family had been broken.’

Excerpt from ‘Vijayant at Kargil: The Biography of a War Hero’

This is what Captain Vijayant Thapar’s family went through when he was martyred fighting the intruders in Drass, Kargil, in the Indo-Pak war of 1999.

Vijayant was just 22 when he died braving the enemy on the icy heights of Knoll and Three Pimples in Drass.

Now, 21 years after his death, his life has been chronicled in a book, Vijayant at Kargil: The Biography of a War Hero, written by his father Col VN Thapar. The co-author is Neha Dwivedi.

“It was very difficult. The moment I put the pen on the paper and started writing something about him, some event of his life, I relived the whole thing again and again.”

Col VN Thapar, Vijayant Thapar’s Father

In the book Col Thapar recalls how Vijayant got his name – and lived the legacy of its meaning, 'Victory till the end' – his obsession with body-building, and the moment when the family received news of his passing, among other incidents from a life lived and sacrificed for India.

It’s been more than 21 years that Vijayant left, but Col Thapar visits Knoll every year on the day of Vijayant’s martyrdom to relive his son’s memory.