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

On the afternoon of April 30, 1999, Saurabh called home to wish Vaibhav on his 20th birthday.

He would never call again.

'Mama, don't worry if you don't hear from me because I may have to go ahead (to the frontier). I'll call when I get back,' he said.

His last letter home was dated May 10. It arrived on May 24. Dr Kalia walked into the kitchen and told his wife that he had some good news.

She looked up from the vegetables cooking on the stove and said with a smile, 'What good news can it be? My Saurabh's letter must have arrived.'

As they read the letter together, their son was already in captivity and being tortured.

Another young officer Lt Amit Bharadwaj, who led a team looking for Saurabh's patrol party, had also been killed in enemy fire. Amit's body fell off a ridge and was recovered 57 days later.

Today, a photograph of Lt Bharadwaj is kept in the one-room museum dedicated to Saurabh in the Kalia home.