CHANGE OF GUARD AT THE COCKEREL GOLF COURSE
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Ranchi : The winds of change blew across the greens and fairways of the Cockerel Golf Course in the afternoon of Sunday, 26 March 2006, when the Patron of the Course, Maj Gen Dalip Bhardwaj VSM, was golfed out. Simultaneously, Maj Gen Shankar Ranjan Ghosh, SM was golfed in as the new Patron.
General Bhardwaj’s golfing-out is in keeping with an old tradition in the Services wherein any golfer who is posted out, or when he proceeds on retirement from a station where he has been an active golfer, is sent off on his way after a farewell round of golf. Similarly, a golfer, on arrival at a station where there is active golf, is also ‘golfed in’ in the same tradition. The only difference is that whereas the golfer being ‘golfed out’ is given a memento as a reminder of his association with the course, the player ‘golfed in’ is presented with the course’s golf cap.
Maj Gen Bhardwaj, the outgoing General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 23 Infantry Division, has had the rare distinction of being the Patron of the course for 21 months. His tenure saw many new innovations at the course. He was responsible for the design and layout of the mini golf course and the mini driving range. He was instrumental in ridding the fairways of the white ants (termites). This was done in consultation with the Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi. Last, but not the least, he was instrumental in getting our civilian golfers once again back on the course. He has laid the genesis of the underground sprinkler system with an enormous amount of assistance from the Tata Steel’s MD, Mr. Muthuraman.
General Bhardwaj has had an outstanding career. He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadagvasala (Pune) and the winner of the Sword of Honour in his course at the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun. The General officer has sailed through all the courses he attended with distinction. He has held many important command and staff appointments at various levels, including that of the Brigadier General Staff of a corps in a sensitive sector before taking over the reins of 23 Infantry Division. General Bhardwaj now takes over as the Commander of the Senior Command Wing at the Army War College at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. All the golfers and their families wish General Bhardwaj every success in his new appointment, and in his career.
General Ghosh is General Bhardwaj’s course-mate at the NDA. General Ghosh commanded the 3rd Battalion, The Brigade of The Guards. He has been a career soldier throughout. Later he was given the command of an infantry brigade along the Line of Control in J & K, which he commanded with rare élan. It was during this command that he was decorated with the Sena Medal. Soon after this, he was posted as our country’s Defence and Military Attaché in Washington DC, in the United States – a post which he held for three years. Thereafter, he came to Ranchi on promotion as the new GOC of 23 Infantry Division, and the Patron of Cockerel Golf Course.
A self-confessed 36-handicapper, General Ghosh has promised to keep up and improve upon the good work that his predecessor has started. General Ghosh had to suspend playing the game because of the Kargil Operations; however, he expects to resume the game at the earliest.
General Bhardwaj, in his farewell speech, had said that his dream was to see 18 greens and 18 fairways on the course and which could be played without having to take recourse to winter rules or ‘preferred lies’. The new Patron has promised that this dream will be fulfilled in as short a time as possible.
Here’s wishing the Patron God speed and best wishes in his new ventures.
(In Picture : Gen Ghosh is wearing the light-coloured cap, and Gen Bhardwaj is in the Hitachi cap.) - Lt Col GS Prasad (Retd)
