Source indiatimes.com

Swati Mahadik, wife of late Col Santosh Mahadik who had been martyred in Jammu & Kashmir in 2015, graduates from Chennai's Officers Training Academy to join as an officer in the Army Ordnance Corps

Her husband, Colonel Santosh Mahadik, had been martyred in November 2015, fighting terrorists in the Manigah forest of Kupwara district, Jammu and Kashmir. Two months on, wife Swati had vowed to follow in her husband's footsteps by sending in an application to join the short service commission of the armed forces. And, almost two years after her husband's death, the 38-year-old is now ready to be called Lieutenant Swati Mahadik.

Months of rigorous training and determination helped her achieve this dream. Swati graduated from the Officers Training Academy in Chennai on Saturday and would be joining the Indian Army as an officer in the Army Ordnance Corps. Mirror caught up with her after her passing out parade. "I am satisfied that I managed to complete what I had set out to do, and that I was able to honour a promise that I had made to my husband. My family is also satisfied with the way things have worked out," shared Swati.

An inspiration to her 12-year-old daughter Kartikee, seven-year-old son Swaraj and women the world over, Swati recollected her training days, saying, "Diving into the swimming pool was the most difficult task to undertake for me. Initially, I simply refused to do it. Had it not been for the support of my batch mates, I don't think I would have got through the training. It has been an emotional and physically draining few months for me, but joining the forces and being with my husband in spirit makes it all worth it."

The death of her husband had pretty much shook Swati and her entire family. Back then, she had taken the decision to join the army because she felt it would take her closer to her husband. The armed forces was his first love and she felt joining the army would make him extremely proud of her. Col Mahadik had been a Commanding Officer of the 41Rashtriya Rifles and had been posthumously awarded a Shaurya Chakra for his gallantry.

As for Swati, she is a is a graduate from the Savitribai Phule Pune University and has been specially trained to teach children with learning disabilities and autism. Swati and the rest of the Mahadik family were barely consolable when Col Mahadik lost his life in November. It has taken her months to gather herself together. "The feeling of independence does not come easy; I never thought I would feel like that again. Graduating as an officer has given me back that feeling. I feel as independent as I did before anything ever happened," she stressed. After her training in Chennai, she will be joining her duty in Pune.