Students observe two minutes’ silence in remembrance of Major Shyam Sundar. Picture by Sanat Kumar Sinha

“What spirit would I show by wearing a bullet-proof jacket and headgear in the battlefield? I will face danger up front,” a soft-spoken teenager had told his friends in school years ago.

On March 5 this year, Major P. Shyam Sundar of 38 Rashtriya Rifles laid down his life doing just that — facing enemy fire to rescue an injured colleague during an encounter with terrorists in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir. He is survived by wife Deepa and three-year-old daughter Disha.

Major Shyam Sundar’s friends from Andhra Association School came together at their alma mater on Wednesday, the day he was born 31 years ago, to pay homage to him.

“We grew up with him. We felt the need to keep him alive in some way. Today is a start,” said Jaikumar Raman, a Calcutta-based chartered accountant who joined hands with 41 batchmates to form the school’s first alumni body since its inception in 1953. The alumni instituted a fund after Shyam Sundar for deserving students of the south Calcutta school.

In an emotional address, S. Panchapagesan urged the Class IX-X students in attendance at the programme to “not miss the chance of serving the army and follow the example of his son”.

Mother Lakshmi wiped off tears with the pallu of her sari as the retired police officer recollected with pride how their son had asked for a military uniform when he was four years old. Shyam Sundar was their only son, born after three daughters.

“Hopefully, by 2007, Shyam Sundar will get a gallantry award. Usually, only the martyr’s wife gets to attend the awards ceremony. I appeal to the authorities to allow me and his mother also to sit in a corner of the venue,” the father said to senior army personnel at the programme.

To show their love and respect for Shyam Sundar, his schoolmates presented his parents with a memento, while they, in turn, announced a grant of Rs 10,000 towards the alumni fund.

“I wanted to study in IIT. Now I want to join the defence forces. Major Shyam Sundar’s life and death is an inspiration,” said Rajesh Singh of Class X, after the gathering observed two minutes’ silence in memory of the martyr.