The coffin carrying Mahendra arrives at Mohanbari airport in Dibrugarh. Picture by Eastern Projections

Dibrugarh, Aug. 20: A bumpy ride on a rickety cycle to watch a bhaona in the next village — that was the last time the three Phukon brothers had been together.

Forty years later, they met at Mohanbari airport today — Mahendra frozen in a coffin, Tuben and Durganath on the tarmac to receive a brother they lost in a plane crash on the Garhwal Himalayas in 1968.

Last week, the army informed Mahendra’s family in Deodhai village in Sivasagar that his body has been discovered by an expedition team — 40 years after the strapping youth of 20 boarded the AN-12 to fly to his posting in Leh.

As the Tricolour-wrapped coffin was brought down from the Delhi-Guwahati-Dibrugarh Air Sahara plane by a battery of men in army fatigues, the two brothers, both retired armymen, tried their best to fight back tears.

Mahendra’s elder brother Tuben was with the 7 Assam Regiment and retired as a subedar in 1985.

Durganath was with the 5 Assam Regiment before retiring in 2002 as a havildar.

Durganath, in fact, was only 10 when he last saw Mahendra.

“Even though he was 10/12 years senior to us, he used to play with us. He used to take me to watch bhaona in the nearby village on his bicycle,” Durganath remembered.

The 316 Field Regiment, currently stationed at Sivasagar, has been given the responsibility of performing the last rites.

As the soldiers prepared to mount the small coffin on an army truck, a small group stood outside Mohanbari airport, 16km from this Upper Assam town, for a last glimpse.

The group dispersed as the three-vehicle convoy carrying the body slowly moved to Sivasagar.

“Our responsibility is to take the body with full honours and hand it over to the family for last rites. We are accordingly taking the body to Sivasagar. Today it will be kept at Sivasagar civil hospital and will be handed over to the family tomorrow morning. The cremation will take place according to the wishes of the family. We will co-operate in all aspects”, an officer from the 316 Field Regiment told the media.

For a family that has waited for 40 years, another day’s wait hardly mattered.

“We have waited long to see the body. Therefore, waiting for another day or a few more hours does not mean much,” Durganath said.