The teacher who joined the Navy at 41 to preserve husband's legacy

Iron lady: Sandhya Wadhwa receiving the Nau Sena Medal for her husband, Kuntal Wadhwa.

From a war widow to a proud member of the Indian military’s first-ever all-women marching contingent for the Republic Day parade, Lieutenant Commander Sandhya Wadhwa has come a long way. A schoolteacher and a mother of two, Sandhya was 41 when she joined the Navy to carry forward her husband’s legacy. The decision was not an easy one, but her grit and determination, and the support of the family, made it possible.

Sandhya was born into a Navy family. Her father was a commodore and her childhood was like that of any other military kid, growing up in places where her father was posted. Sandhya was born in Kochi, and did most of her schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kochi Naval Base. She graduated from Gargi College, when her father was posted in Delhi.

In 2001, Sandhya married Lieutenant Commander Kuntal Wadhwa, in a match arranged by the two families. Sandhya was 27 and was teaching at the Navy School in Delhi. After marriage, the couple moved to Mumbai, where Kuntal was assigned to the guided-missile destroyer INS Mumbai. He later had postings in Pune and Visakhapatnam before moving back to Mumbai as an engineering officer on INS Kolkata, the lead ship of the Kolkata-class stealth guided-missile destroyers. Sandhya found a job as a teacher in a local school.

Things were going well for the couple and their two children, Nalin and Jiya. On March 7, 2014, Sandhya left for her job as usual, after dropping the kids at school. Soon, she received a call from her husband’s shipmate about an accident on the INS Kolkata. That day, Kuntal was leading a CO2 Gas Discharge Test, conducted only on the lead ship of the class to test the efficiency of the firefighting system for machinery compartments. Considering the potential hazards of the operation, Kuntal had meticulously planned the entire procedure.

Unfortunately, as soon as the test commenced, the CO2 system malfunctioned and resulted in heavy leakage of carbon dioxide. Kuntal ordered his team to evacuate immediately, while he stayed back to rectify the defect and arrest the leakage. He sustained a head injury, and also inhaled a fatal quantity of carbon dioxide. For his courage, leadership and supreme sacrifice, Kuntal was awarded the Nau Sena Medal.

For Sandhya, it was not easy to face the reality. But she stood strong and carried forward her husband’s legacy. Just three days after she lost her husband, she told the commanding officer of INS Kolkata that she wanted to wear the uniform. After getting an age waiver from the ministry of defence as a “special case” (the age limit for the Short Service Commission is 25), she was permitted to apply to the Services Selection Board (SSB).

Within a month of the application, she received a call from SSB, Bengaluru. After clearing SSB, Sandhya joined the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, where she competed with cadets almost half her age. Her parents volunteered to take care of Nalin and Jiya. She was allowed to speak to them just once a week over the phone.

Sandhya with Wadhwa and children.

Just like she braved the mental pain after her husband’s death, she survived the physical pain of the training days. Her fellow cadets never looked at her with sympathy, but they were always empathetic and encouraging. Sandhya wants all children to undergo military training at least once in their life, which she thinks will bring them closer to nature and also teach them valuable life lessons. Her friends and family claim that it was the training that helped her overcome the agony. Things happened so fast, giving her hardly any time to grieve.

After completing her training, Sandhya was commissioned into the logistics branch and went for initial training at INS Hamla in Mumbai. She got an opportunity to join the military’s maiden all-women contingent at the Republic Day Parade in 2015. She marched along with 144 other women officers in front of US president Barack Obama, who was the chief guest for the 66th Republic Day celebrations. Later that year, she received her late husband’s gallantry medal at a ceremony held aboard INS Viraat.

Sandhya is now remarried and is posted in Visakhapatnam. Nalin, who is doing his BTech from IIT Delhi, said his mother was an iron lady. “We could see her crying [after my father’s death]. But she recovered quickly,” he said. “The only reason she joined the Navy was to give us a better life. At that age, it was a big sacrifice. I am proud of my mother.” Nalin has a job offer from Microsoft, but he also has plans to join the military. The lieutenant commander, meanwhile, hopes to see her son in uniform.

The article is based on conversation with the officer's family and friends.