Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 11

Several parents from Punjab, whose children would be passing out from IMA, Dehradun, this Saturday, have expressed their anguish for not being able to be with their wards in one of the most seminal moments of their lives.

“Had the world not been gripped by the coronavirus, we would left for Dehradun to be with our sons and celebrate their achievement. Like all parents, we too would have performed the pinning ceremony and got pictures clicked. We are finding it a tad difficult to come to terms with the fact that we won’t be there with our children,” say parents of several young boys, who had studied together at Sainik School, Kapurthala, trained together at NDA and will now be passing out from the IMA.

Couple Malkinder Bajwa and Harjinder Bajwa, both of whom are teachers at Sainik School, Kapurthala, said their son Harman Bajwa would be passing out from IMA, Dehradun. “In all these years, it will be for the first time that parents of cadets won’t be able to attend the passing out parade of their children. We had even readied a frame to be put on the wall of our drawing room, but now we won’t have the picture for it. Perhaps, it wasn’t in our destiny. Even, our son won’t be able to fly to us to spend his one month break. From the academy, he will be straightaway going to Assam, where he will join the Special Forces.”

Tarn Taran-based Birinder Kaur Dhillon, mother of cadet Akashdeep Dhillon, said, “Of course, it’s sad that we would be missing out on one of the important events in our son’s life, but we can’t do anything about it.”

Dasuya-based Arvind Gautam and his wife Anjani Kumari, both of whom are government school teachers, recalled, “Since when he was very young, our son Tapeesh Gautam wanted to join the Army. We supported him in fulfilling his dreams. And now, when it was time to see him accomplish his childhood dream, we won’t be able to celebrate his happiness with him in person.”