On 17 July 2008, the youngest son of the Kotwals of Bhadarwah, Jammu, Major Shatrujeet Kotwal, died in a road accident in Pune. Major Kotwal, lovingly called Jeetu by his family, was a month and a half shy of his thirty-first birthday. Looking for Jeetu tells his story. It is a book about grief, written by a sister lamenting the loss of a beloved brother and how his untimely demise affected not only his immediate family, including his wife and posthumously born son, but also his friends and colleagues in the Army.

This memoir is also a tribute to a young man with a deep commitment to life and adventure. In his short lifetime, he endeared himself to many—in his family, among his friends, and among his fellow soldiers in the Indian Army. In the Army, he was a part of the 3 Jat regiment and the 34 Rashtriya Rifles, and was stationed at high-intensity regions near the Line of Control. Those were disturbed times, post the Kargil War, and operating in a counterterrorism environment along the LoC was extremely difficult. But for Jeetu it was also a challenge, and when they received the news that a band of terrorists were operating in the area, he heroically led his team in pursuit of them, finally killing two. For this act of bravery, he was awarded the Kirti Chakra, the country’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award, in January 2008. Barely five months later, when he was working as an instructor at the National Defence Academy, the world had lost him.

Drawing from old letters, childhood memories, and conversations with friends, colleagues and family members, Vinod Kotwal paints a deeply human and inspiring portrait of her brother—the schoolboy, the son and sibling, the husband, the braveheart soldier. A decade and a half in the making, Looking for Jeetu is a poignant book about memory, loss and healing—and, ultimately, a celebration of a live well lived.