The ''golf widows'' of Delhi

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) After tales of cricket andfootball ''widows'', the capital city popular as the haven ofgolf in India, is now teeming with ''golf widows,'' who havelost their husbands to the pleasures of chipping and putting.

With its 22 golf courses and gamut of championships,Delhi has turned into a a golfer''s paradise, however the sportremains a pursuit which keeps the Dad away from home onweekends for many exasperated wife and children.

At the recent BBC World News annual ''Spirit of Golf''tournament, the enthusiasts were in full swing includingcricketers Murli Karthik and Gagan Koda and there was plentyof sympathy around for the ''golf widows''.

"It''s true that there are more golf widows than golffamilies though some wives have taken up the game just for thesake of spending time with their spouses. But the game isstill a boy''s thing," says Taranjeet Singh, Head, AdvertisingSales, BBC News who is a keen golfer and married to the gamefor the past decade.

Not only do the clubs steal all chances of a weekendgetaway and many a romantic picnics, die-hard fans are alsoseen to develop withdrawal symptoms if kept away from theirgreens.

"Throughout January and February, my husband is aemotional wreck. He is interested in nothing but counting downdays to the day when the golf season begins here in Delhi,"says Tina Sharma, whose husband is a self-confessed golffanatic.

And there is always the idiot box to take theenthusiast away to the transatlantic greens.

"I''m glued to the TV set once the PGA Tour seasonbegins anew in January and I tend to daydream about being outthere myself," says Mike Jiggens who also blogs about hisfavourite pursuit.

Come golf season, which begins in April, the hapless''widows'' cheer for their absentee husbands from the stands inthe courses and some even sacrifice their own weekends, justto see their man hit balls for untold hours.

"I bring my sun chair, a book and laptop along withsunscreen to the driving range and set up camp. That seems tobe the only way out to see him in the day on a weekend," saysKirti Majumdar, who discovered a month into her marriage thather husband is a golf enthusiast.