Neighbours remember Capt Deepak Singh as affable man brimming with energy

Dehradun, Aug 16 (PTI) People at the Windlass River Valley Apartment who met Captain Deepak Singh even briefly described him as an affable man who was always brimming with energy.
The 78th Independence Day was not as bright and cheerful a day for the residents of the apartment where the slain martyr's body was brought in the afternoon.
Deepak's parents have been living in the apartment for the past few years.
As Singh's body, wrapped in the national flag, reached his house on Thursday afternoon, the entire apartment building plunged in gloom.
Deepak was the youngest of three siblings. Both his sisters are married. They waited for him for Raksha Bandhan, but providence had something else in store for them.
When he came home last time for his second sister's marriage a few months ago, he said who will he come home to now that both his sisters were married, an elderly neighbour reminisced. His words now sound so prophetic.
"It is hard to believe that a man like Deepak so full of vitality is gone," she said.
"Deepak was very affable and full of energy. He never missed a chance to play tennis on the apartment courts when he came home on vacation," Windlass River Valley Residents Welfare Association Secretary Pradeep Shukla said.
Deepak's father Mahesh Singh was in Kerala with one of his daughters when he received a call on August 14 night that shattered his world.
"The moment the man on the other side introduced himself as a Brigadier, my gut told me something untoward had happened," Singh who took voluntary retirement from the police in April this year said fighting back his tears.
Though proud of his son's sacrifice for the nation and deciding that he won't ever cry at his loss, the retired policeman fails to keep a stiff upper lip as he thinks of his only son.
Long silences creep in between the words he utters.
"Last time when he came home in May, he took me to Cantt area saying he wanted me to see a weapon he was buying.
    "He had bought a khukri. He said he was buying the weapon to attack the enemy with it, in case he ran out of bullets," Singh said in a choking voice.
The body of Capt Deepak Singh who succumbed to injuries sustained in a recent encounter with terrorists in Doda in Jammu and Kashmir were brought here on Thursday and consigned to flames with full military honours in Haridwar.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)