Date of Birth
30 July 1985
Balidan Diwas
11 January 2019
Place of Supreme Sacrifice
Naushera Sector, Rajouri, Jammu & Kashmir
State of Origin
Ernakulam, Kerala
Unit / Regiment
2/1 Gorkha Rifles
Biography
Major Shashidharan Vijay Nair was born on 30 July 1985 at Nedumbassery in Ernakulam, Kerala. After completing a Bachelor's degree in Science from Fergusson College, Pune, in 2006, he pursued his lifelong ambition of serving in the armed forces. Having excelled in the National Cadet Corps during his college years — earning recognition as the best cadet of his batch and known affectionately as "Shashi" — he cleared the Combined Defence Services examination and was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 10 December 2007 through OTA Chennai. He was assigned to the 2/1 Gorkha Rifles, learning field craft and even the Gurkhali language. By 2019 he had served across various operational areas, including high-altitude terrain and the Line of Control, and had also been an instructor at the College of Military Engineering, Pune. In January 2019 his unit was deployed in the Naushera Sector of Rajouri district, monitoring forward posts near the LoC. On 11 January 2019, following an IED blast that killed a rifleman and wounded others, Major Nair led his Quick Reaction Team to the site and personally directed the area-clearance operation. Sensing danger about 20 metres from the blast site, he ordered his men to halt and advanced alone. A large IED detonated, gravely wounding him, and he succumbed to his injuries — laying down his life leading from the front.