Rajesh Orang had secured his army enlistment in 2016 and his personal feat was the tribal family’s escape from poverty. But his sudden death — the Birbhum youth was martyred in the Ladakh clash — seems to have robbed the family of its passport to a better life.

“He was the sole member of our family with a steady income. Moreover, my father, who has always earned intermittently as a sharecropper, has grown weak after undergoing a tumour surgery in 2016… We don’t know what will happen to us,” said Rajesh’s younger sister Shakuntala, a second-year undergraduate student at Raniswar College in Jharkhand.

“He cracked the exam (to join the army) in 2016 after several attempts and a lot of things changed for us since then. Rajesh was the one who arranged for my father’s surgery after securing a job for himself. He had been our pillar ever since,” she added.

Family members recalled how Rajesh was a diligent son who never forgot to remit money for food or medicines .

“We had grown up in poverty. Rajesh was showing us a way out of that life, but now what?” asked a distraught Shakuntala, adding that her family did not possess land and she had enrolled herself in college on Rajesh’s advice.

The timing of the martyrdom, the girl said, couldn’t be worse, coming in the midst of three months of lockdown.

“We have heard that the government will ensure a job for us for our survival. Hope we get the support of the government,” Shakuntala said.

Family members said Rajesh had set his sights on the army job because he had known a job in the army could take the family out of penury. “He was fit. Still, he used to get up early and run several kilometers so that he could pass the physical efficiency test,” said Abhijit Orang, his cousin.

The soldier had also started constructing a concrete building with his own hands over the past two years to enlarge living quarters for his family members who had spent their entire lives under a thatched roof.

Rajesh was set to marry Chandana Sardar, 18, in July.

“He told me about his struggle to get a job in the army and assured me that we would live together in Suri. He always dreamt of making his parents and sisters happy,” said Chandana, a resident of Purandarpur village in Suri.

Rajesh’s friends said he became inspired to join the army after finding out that a few of his seniors in school had cracked the exam at an early age. “After classes, he used to go to the school ground for his practices,” said Suman Das, a classmate of Rajesh. Suman is a bread seller in Mohammedbazar’s Seherakuri.

“He had taken up the challenge that he would crack the job in the army. So, he used to rush anywhere and everywhere that selection camps for army staff would be advertised.”

The friends said Rajesh had gone to Suri to queue up at a selection rally for the army in 2013 when he was only in Class XII. Later, he went to several places, including Siliguri, for selection rallies.

“I gave up the effort after I was disqualified two times. But Rajesh had never quit and finally got the job in 2016,” Suman said.

Rajesh had studied till Class VIII at the Bergram High School near Bolpur while he was living at his maternal uncle’s home in Parui’s Radhakrishnapur village.

“Rajesh was very fond of football and used to exercise regularly at school. He would say he wanted to join the army,” said Malay Mondal, headmaster of the Bergram High School.