His promise to speak to his mother after completing the day's rescue mission turned out to be his last call to her as IAF pilot Praveen was among the 20 killed in the helicopter crash in Uttarakhand.
27-year old Praveen, who hailed from this temple town, spoke to his mother Manjula over phone in the morning yesterday.
The IAF pilot had told his mother that he would talk to her after the day's mission to rescue people stranded in flood ravaged Uttarakhand.
"He was my only son. He used to be always active. Becoming a pilot was his ambition and after a brief stint in software firm TCS he joined IAF," Manjula said in choked voice.
"He spoke to me at 9.45 AM yesterday and told me he will be calling me again in the evening. But we only received the call conveying the shocking news about the crash of the helicopter at Gaurikand and death of Praveen and others," she said.
The family was looking for a bride but Fate decided otherwise. The MI-17 V5 chopper was on a rescue mission from Gauchar to Guptkashi and Kedarnath when it crashed yesterday north of Gaurikund.
Gloom descended on Praveen's house at TVS Nagar here as relatives and friends poured in to share the grief of the family.
Praveen did his BE (Mechatronics) from the Thiagraja College of Engineering here and joined the IAF as a Pilot at Bangalore before being shifted to the north.
