He never really liked calling himself an encounter specialist. He was not trigger happy and would say that there is no achievement in taking someone's life, says Divya Salaskar
For Divya Salaskar, the 30-year-old daughter of late Vijay Salaskar who was among the several officers martyred while fighting terrorists on 26/11, it was the night she had planned to go for a drive with her father.
"Since he liked having egg and I couldn't stand its smell, I was in my room. An hour later when I did not hear from him, I came out and foud out that he had left long back because there was firing," she recalls.
When the family learnt of his death on the TV, the void was as gaping as it was sudden. "Since he was always running to spots, we were prepared to visit a hospital but not this," she told DNA.
"A daughter always falls back on her father the most. He was my best friend. Whenever I miss him now, I YouTube his videos. I see him walking and talking that way. It is painful but you see him breathing and living."
Divya, who completed her Masters and now runs her own HR and training consultancy, regrets that her father couldn't be around for her convocation. "He was very keen that I have a Masters, he probably thought I could help him," she says, dismissing descriptions of her father as an 'encounter specialist'.
"He never really liked calling himself an encounter specialist. He was not trigger happy and would say that there is no achievement in taking someone's life," she said.
That her father was respected within the force is evident by the fact all of his team members still visit the family. "They also drop by on his birthday, and lend their support incase there is any work to be done," Salaskar says.
When asked if the force is better equipped to avert an attack in the future, Salaskar said, "They may not be able to avert it but there will be better damage control."
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 "Divya Salaskar")
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