‘Shock would have been lesser had Ravi died saving his country’

His father S D Mehta is confined to bed in the Kelyston home, after being operated for prostrate cancer, where R D Mehta had spent his childhood days. ‘He is full of anger’, warns Brigadier Mehta’s brother’s wife Anuradha, who has stayed back to nurse his father, while the entire family is in Delhi for the cremation.

“Two months back he had warned the military that the Indian embassy in Kabul was in security risk. Had the government of Indian responded on time, the things could have been different”, says S D Mehta. He says, “Had Ravi been killed saving his own country the shock would not have been so unbearable”.

The message about Brigadier Mehta’s death was conveyed to family by his son Udit Mehta, Indian Air Force flying Officer, who was visiting his parents in Kabul for a holiday along with his sister Bhavya. “Papa is no more. He was disembarking from his vehicle outside the embassy when the bomb went off”, was the message he gave his aunt Anuradha.

Holding out a black and white photograph S D Mehta shows a family photograph of his eldest son’s marriage, with a deep sigh he points towards his son and daughter-in-law Sunita in the picture and says ‘life was a party for him’.

Brig Mehta was commissioned into the Indian Army in June 1976 when he was 20 years of age. He was posted to Kabul in January 2008 and his promotion to the rank of Major General was due, says his father.

Some of his friends and old classmates from St Edward’s School also came in to mourn his death, says Mehta senior. And suddenly his face creases into a smile. “They still remember him as the master mathematician.” But the very next moment a tear trickles down his cheek as he says: “His calculation of threat to the embassy two months ago was also spot on.”