Hope shattered for the family of 22-year-old Sepoy Dhondiba Desai who died in a mine blast at Kargil this May 25.

The 8th Battalion, Madras Regiment officer from Vadagaun, Karnataka, where every other family has a jawan in the army, was supporting his family comprising his parents, two brothers and a sister. Two acres of land was meagre holding for a large family to eke a living from. Dhondiba's helping hand enabled them to acquire more land, a colour TV, helped them hope for a college education for his matriculate brother Prabhakar. "What'll we do now?" wails his mother Anandibai.