Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar (25 RR) : श्रधांजलि to the brave शौर्य चक्र Soldier.

Shaurya Chakra, Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar - श्रधांजलि to the martyrdom of the brave Soldier.

AJIT BHANDARKAR’s Wife and two Sons (both in defence services) during their visit to the Sainik School Bijapur for the opening of the Ajit Dwar.

This day last year - 30th October, 2019, was the twentieth year of the martyrdom of our dear friend Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, who made the supreme sacrifice in service of his motherland on this very date in 1999. Colonel Anirudh Gudi, another classmate of ours (1970-77), from the batch of Ajit Bhandarkar, at the Sainik School Bijapur, posted his tribute to our dear friend Ajit in our Ajeet 77 group with some very nostalgic and memorable photographs of our dear friend Ajit and his family. I have therefore updated the tribute which I had posted last year in my blog. Here it is for all my dear friends who have been gracious to follow my blog.

Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar (25 RR) : श्रधांजलि to the brave शौर्य चक्र Soldier

(My Blog post posted on 30th October 2019)

It was on this fateful day – Saturday the 30th October, 1999 - two decades ago, that our classmate, an illustrious alumnus of the Sainik School Bijapur (SSBJ 1970 - 1977 batch) and one of those India’s brave heart soldiers, Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, of the 25 Rashtriya Rifles (25RR), on deputation from his Madras Regiment and posted in Jammu and Kashmir, was killed in action while combating and trying to neutralise a group of terrorists at Surankot near Poonch, Kashmir.

Today, being the twentieth anniversary of Lt Col Ajit’s supreme sacrifice in service of the nation, Col. Pradeep Bhat, the crème de la crème of the SSBJ 1977 batch, started off our morning musings and interaction, on the What’s App group, with a sombre note by reminding the batch of the supreme sacrifice of our beloved chaddi dost, Lt Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, in whose memory the entire batch had  come together to construct a memorial - the Ajit द्वार - at one of the entry gates to our school, a year earlier.

The whole of the day, every single one of us - Ajit’s batch mates - kept pouring their hearts out remembering our beloved Ajit. The remembrance stretched back to the early seventies and to the days when Ajit joined the Sainik School Bijapur, with all of us, at an impressionable age of just about 9 years. The day - though started with a tragic note- was one of the most nostalgic of all times with everyone in the batch going back in time to sketch a memorable canvas of the immemorial deeds of our beloved Ajit, stretching right up to the period of his last days. While the nation will eternally remember the valour of Shaurya Chakra, Lt Col. Ajit and his other brethren’s - who have made supreme sacrifice in service of the nation - we, the classmates, the fellow Ajeets from the 70-77 batch of Sainik School Bijapur,  join millions of our countrymen in paying our श्रद्धांजलि to Lt Col. Ajit. All of us had got together to conceive to develop a Ajit Dwar, at the Sainik Sxhool Bijapur in memory of our dear Ajit Bhandarkar and the lead for this work was taken by two of our classmates Arjun Misale and our PWD Engineer classmate, Guru S Patil, who really worked hard to complete this beautiful gate as a mark of our respect for our classmate Ajit. This gate at SSBJ, the Ajit द्वार, was very graciously opened at the hands of Mrs Shakuntala Ajit Bhandarkar, the exemplary widow of the military hero in the presence of their two sons, who are very proudly following the foot steps of their illustrious martyr father and are serving are in the military.

Ajit was born in Mumbai,  the city where I am currently posted, on 31st December 1960 and from our school days we were aware of his leadership qualities, and his born leader attributes, the example of which he exhibited in our Sainik School many times. Only the best of the best students manage to get into the coveted Sainik School and our batch had about 90 students and were divided among the 5 houses. Lt Col Ajit was in Hoysala House, which was our  neighbouring house, which also housed Vice Admiral, Srikant among others from our batch. Ajit was one of the most well behaved, idealistic and brilliant all rounder student, nicknamed ‘Manav’ by our batch, his classmate, in memory of the idealistic character role that Dharmendra had played in the famous Hindi Cinema ‘Dosti in 1974. The role that matinee idol Dharmendra played in Dosti was practised in reality by our dear Ajit and hence he earned the epithet of Manav for his idealism. He excelled in most activities of the school and rightfully was chosen to be the School Captain. Sainik School Captain is the most coveted position for the school with only one among the 500 plus students getting this rear honour. In the true spirit of our alma mater Ajit joined the NDA and then the IMA and was commissioned into the Madras Regiment of the Indian Army. Ajit joined 59th Course at National Defence Academy (NDA) Khadakwasla Pune in Dec 1977 and was commissioned into 18 MADRAS on 19 Dec 1981. On successful completion of Staff course at DSSC Wellington, Ajit served as a Brigade Major in Military Secretary Branch of Army HQ, which were clear indicators of a bright future in Army hierarchy. He was promoted to the post of Lt Col and posted as the Second in Command (2IC) of 25 RASTRIYA RIFLES (MADRAS), which was deployed in Jammu & Kashmir to fight the insurgency in Kashmir.

On the 30th of October, 1999, Lt Col Ajit’s unit (the 25RR) had received intelligence inputs about the presence of Kashmiri terrorists - who are disgracefully and most unfortunately referred to as militants - in Faizalabad village in Poonch district. The inputs were properly analysed and the situation was assessed and a decision taken to launch a operation. Our dear friend, Lt Col Ajit, was chosen to lead this operation. Ajit and his men launched a cordon and search operation with an objective of eliminating the five dreaded, hardcore terrorists who, like cowards, had taken refuge in the midst of the innocent civilians and were hiding in the village. Lt Col Ajit led his men from the front and managed to spot the terrorists who were trying to escape towards a नल्लाह. Ajit chased them, shooting down one terrorist. The second terrorist, who was hiding inside the nullaha  fired indiscriminately, and injured Lt Col Ajit grievously. Despite being injured, he moved ahead and lobbed a grenade on the terrorists. He then crawled forward and shot down another one. His daredevil action and that of his men resulted in the elimination of all the five hardcore terrorists. Most unfortunately, Lt Col Ajit later succumbed to his injuries and was martyred. Three other Jawans were also killed in the encounter along with him. For this act of exemplary courage and supreme sacrifice, Lt Col Ajit Bhandarkar was awarded the “Shaurya Chakra” posthumously.

I vividly remember that darkest day for the batch of 77 Sainik School Bijapur. I was then posted at Delhi and was working as the Curator at the National Science Centre and staying in Timarpur office campus area. The telecom revolution, led by the visionary Shyam Pitroda, had just about begun to yield its fruits, the genesis for which was sown by the CDoT company, which had tested the revolutionary RAX (acronym for the Rural Automatic Exchange) the forerunner for the telecom revolution in India at a place called Kittur in Karnataka. Thirteen of the officers and staff working at the National Science Centre were staying in the residential quarters in the campus and we had just one common phone, whose number I vividly remember even today (2523737), which was kept at the security and was used as an emergency means of communication for all the thirteen families. My door bell rang at around 2 AM on the night of 30th October, 1999, and the guard knocking on my door informed me of an emergency call from a friend. When I rushed into take the call the man on the other side was Col. Neeraj Roy, our class mate from Sainik School, who was posted in Delhi. He broke the tragic news of our martyred friend and asked me to join him and others to receive the mortal remains of our hero. I joined him and several others at the dead of the night and all through this period Neeraj with his army friends and colleagues successfully planned for taking the mortal remains of our beloved friend to his native place, Bangalore, which he succeeded. The plane carrying the mortal remains of our hero reached Bangalore on Sunday the 31st October, 1999 and thousands joined Mrs Bhandarkar, the exemplary role model widow of Ajit in paying their last respect to the great son of India.

Lt Col. Ajit, Bhandarkar is survived by his wife Shakuntala and two sons Nirbhay and Akshay. Shakunthala Bhandarkar, having gone through the personal experience of being a martyr’s wife, is passionate about helping other martyrs’ families and is engaged in conducting various programmes for the welfare of the families of martyrs. Like her illustrious husband, Shakuntala too has inherited the undying passion to serve the nation. She has bought up her two sons, who were just 7 and 5 when Ajit was martyred, in an ambience of service to the nation and as a result both her sons are now treading the path of their illustrious father and are serving in the army and navy. Whilst the elder son Capt Nirbhay Bhandarkar has joined his father’s unit in the army, after passing out from OTA Chennai, Sub Lt Akshay Bhandarkar has joined the Indian Navy after graduating as an Engineer. Mrs Shakuntala Bhandarkar is now working tirelessly to publish a memorial book on our dear friend Ajit, her beloved husband, with rich visual and archival images. I take this opportunity to wish her all the very best in this extraordinary endeavour and assure her of all our assistance. I also wish to thank Col Anirudh Gudi.

I am posting this श्रद्धांजलि on behalf of all of Ajit’s class mates, the SSBJ 77 batch and I am sure we will be joined by millions of our countrymen in saluting our beloved Lt. Col Ajit Bhandarkar and countless other brave soldiers, who have made the supreme sacrifice in service of our nation.

जय हिंद । जय जवान