With twins, Chandimandir teacher overcomes tragedy to don olive green

The cynosure during the passing out parade at the Officers Training Academy (OTA), Chennai, on Saturday were two four-year-old identically dressed twins, whose mother had just been commissioned as a Lieutenant.

After having lost her husband, Captain Jagtar in 2020, Usha Rani, a teacher from Chandimandir, overcame the tragedy and resolved to move forward in life, marching to become an officer in the Army.

After her husband’s death, Usha Rani completed her BEd and joined Army Public School, Chandimandir, and alongside started to prepare for the Service Selection Board (SSB) interview. Though it was tough with two small kids, it did not deter her.

She got recommended to join the Army from the 18 SSB at Prayagraj, the same board from where her husband had also cleared his interview. She joined the OTA on September 29 last year. It was the same date when she had got married.

After the passing out parade, she told the mediapersons in Chennai that she was determined never to give up and wanted to give her children the same quality of life that she and her husband had planned for them.

Commissioned into the Army Ordnance Corps, she said she was feeling proud to don the olive green and hoped that this would motivate other ‘veer naris’ that nothing was impossible in life.

One day, she added, her children too would be proud of her decision to follow in her husband’s footsteps. During the tough phase, she had enormous support from her family, relatives as well as her husband’s coursemates.