Reportage: Archana Masih. Photograph: Seema Pant. Design: Dominic Xavier

In the corridor of the College of Basic Sciences, where Saurabh Kalia studied as an undergraduate hangs a picture of him.

Professor Navneet Kumar Gupta, who taught him zoology, remembers him as a quiet student who never bunked class.

He did not know that Saurabh would join the army one day and make him so proud. "Saurabh was the first," smiles the professor, "after him, 20 of our students joined the armed forces."

Saurabh Kalia himself did not know he would be an infantry officer. He wanted to be a doctor.

A bunch of friends in class had filled the Combined Defence Services form for a lark. They would have to go for the exam to hip-and-happening Chandigarh and have loads of fun.

A day before the exam, the boys boarded a bus to the city. But while the rest of his friends skipped the exam and went for a movie, Saurabh and another boy appeared for the test.

"He told his friends that he would have hell to pay at home if he didn't," laughs Vaibhav.

When the results came, both the friends had passed.