माझी आजी! माझी ताई!

24 December 1990. आज तिला जाऊन ३० वर्ष झालीत(1 April 1911-24 December 1990). Mrs. Gokhale ह्याच नावाने ती educational field मध्ये ओळखली जायची. आमच्या साठी मात्र ‘ताई’.

आजी असुनसुद्धा ती आम्हा नातवंडांची ताई होती.

आधीची दुर्गा ढवळे आणि लग्नानंतर सुशीला गोखले. दोन्ही नावं तितकीच सार्थ ! प्रचंड दरारा, करारी, पण तितकीच प्रेमळ.

ज्या काळात मुली शाळेतसु्द्घा जात नसतं तेव्हा ही Pune Fergusson ची graduate आणि नंतर डबल-ग्रॅज्युएट. दरवर्षी शाळेत, कॅालेजमध्ये पहिली येणारी दुर्गा BA Honoursला दुसरी आली. शहीद भगतसिंगच्या फाशीमुळे प्रचंड चिडलेली आमची ताई परिक्षेत ब्रिटिश राजवटीविरुद्ध ताशेरे ओढून आली. ब्रिटिश प्रोफेसर्स तिला पहिला नंबर देऊ शकले नाही पण त्यांना तिची हिंमत पण हिराऊन घेतां आली नाही. तिच्यातली दु्र्गा शेवटपर्यंत कायम राहिली ती अशीच! सावरकर आणि टिळक तिचे दैवत.

बालविवाह ही प्रथा असताना ताई मात्र शिकत होती. वयाच्या 26 व्या वर्षी तिचे लग्न आमच्या नानांशी (Anant Ramachandra Gokhale) झाले आणि ती कायमची सेवासदनमयी झाली. एका छोट्या खोलीत सुरु झालेला नागपूर सेवासदनचा कायापालट एका व्यासपीठात रुपांतरीत करण्यात नानांइतकंच ताईचे पण कर्तुत्व अस्मानी होतं! नानांच्या पाठीशी खंबीरपणाने उभी राहीलेली सुशिला.

बालविधवांसाठी शाळा आणि होस्टेल, गरीब मुलींना शिक्षणाबरोबर रोजगार, Montessori Training College ची स्थापना,इतकं सहजतेने करु शकणारी म्हणजे फक्त ताई. वंदनीय Principal Mrs. Gokhale.

संस्क्रीत पंडीत, English म्हणजे हातचा मळ, हिंदुधर्माविषयी प्रचंड आस्था आणि ज्ञानं पण प्रथेप्रमाणे १.५ दिवसाच्या गणपतीमुळे शाळेकडे दुर्लक्ष होते म्हणून घरी १० दिवसांचा गणपती, इतका सहज आणि सोपा निर्णय😊 आजही आमच्या घरी गणपती १० दिवस असतात.

वयाच्या 80 व्या वर्षीसुद्धा उत्साह आणि कणखरपणा कायम. मला आठवतयं, माझा मोठा भाऊ डॅा. उदयची surgery झाल्यावर, डॅाक्टर्सना नववार नेसलेली माझी आजी दिसली आणि म्हातारी समज़ुन ते तिला आधार द्यायला गेले.शांतपणे हीने  डॅाक्टरना सांगितले , “Dont try to confuse or pacify me, Tell me the diagnosis. I am more interested to know what you guys are doing about that”. डॅाक्टरने दंडवतचं घातलं 🙇‍♂️ 

मी स्कुटर शिकल्यावर double seat बसणारी ताई, ‘सिलसिला’ चित्रपट ३ वेळा बघणारी ताई,Science,Maths, Sanskrit, English, History, Geography चे आमचे doubts सोडवणारी आमची ताई किंवा ‘पुलाव स्पेशल’ ताई.

काळ पुढे जातो, आपण आपल्या आयुष्यात गुरफटून जातो,जुनी पीढी नसल्याची सवय करुन घेतो पण त्यांची उणीव मात्र आपल्याला कायम भासत राहते.

ताई जाऊन ३० वर्षे झाली पण आजही तिची आठवण येतांना मन उचंबळुन येतं. असती तर हवीच होती वा अजुनही हवी आहे पण नसली तरी तिचे आशिर्वाद आमच्या पाठीशी कायम आहेत आणि आजही चुकलो तर धाक आणि प्रेम तितकंच आहे याची खात्री आहे.

We miss you Tai .. keep blessing us 🙇‍♂️ 

- Gokhales

RIP Maradona !

When football meant Mohan Bagan versus East Bengal and visibility of the game restricted to Doordarshan, if youngsters were playing football and keeping awake for FIFA World Cup(across India), then the enigma who made it possible was none other than one and only Diego Maradona.

As they say, short personalities make a towering impact and whatever they

touch turn into gold even if it was hand goal by Maradona.

The ‘Hand of God’ in 1986, (Maradona) took Argentina to victory against England in quarter finals and rest is history. The champion craftsman took his country to coveted championship and our generation got an answer to undisputed ‘Pele’.

Yes, the world of football now formally argues  who’s the best ever, Pele or Maradona? And the answer still remains under the wraps.

The man with golden foot, golden hand and golden heart, faltered immediately after retirement. The fat became obese, hero to fallen one and the king on the ground found peace in drugs and finally ended up in rehabilitation in Cuba.

The king returned but with diminished personna of himself. Out of sight is always, out of mind, but not Maradona! This time though, he has gone forever.

The world will miss Maradona and for many amongst us, he still remains the greatest forever.

RIP Maradona.

Image courtesy: CBS Sports

TGIF..

As I open my eyes, calendar says Monday 

I just blink, the calendar points Friday !!

Monday and Friday never meet each other

But weekend in between bonds them forever !!

Monday I am lazy , Friday I am crazy 

The work in between makes me edgy !!

Monday I love, for the challenges it pose

Friday ends with the high, the way I rose !!

Weekend is the one, we exploit the most

If it wasn’t there, weekdays would drag !!

Thank God It’s Friday 

There won’t be any other better day !!

Have a great weekend guys  🥳 🎉 

-Jayawant

आज नाही तर उद्या कोरोनावर मात आहे..

टपरीवरचा चहा नाही

अचानक दिसलेला वडा-पाव नाही..

सलोनचा हेड-मसाज नाही

दाढीनंतरचा स्प्रिंकलर नाही..

बारमधे मित्र नाही

शाॅपिंग माॅलचा टाईमपास नाही..

होम डिलीव्हरी म्हणजे रेस्टाॅरंट नाही

नेटफ्लिक्स म्हणजे थिएटर नाही..

ऑफिसची धमाल नाही

सुटी घेतल्याची मजा नाही..

दिल्लीतले पिताश्री, मुंबईतल्या मातोश्री 

एकाची धडपड, दुसरीकडे पडझड बघवत नाही..

टिव्हीवर बातमी नाही

कंगना की कोरोना समजत नाही..

कोरोनाचं काही खर नाही

तो तुमचा आमचा कुणाचा नाही..

विश्वासावर जग आहे

सामान्य माणूस सजग आहे

सायंटिस्ट्सची साथ आहे

आज नाही तर उद्या कोरोनावर मात आहे..

-जयवंत

A perfect partner:Chetan Chauhan

One always needs a partner whose eye contact,body language and sheer presence makes you assured about yourself.

If one needs to make it big in life, you should have a partner who is always there for you in thick and thin situations. 

That’s exactly what Chetan Chauhan was to Indian Cricket and Sunil Gavaskar.

With Gavaskar, Chauhan redefined the definition of opening partnership and went on to become one of most trusted lieutenants of Indian Cricket.

For Chauhan, Gavaskar was his leader, partner and by all means a mentor for whom he almost infamously left the cricket ground in Melbourne when to later’s amusement, he was given out by the umpire against Deniss Lillee.

If Gavaskar retired as India’s leading test scorer with 34 centuries, Chauhan got into oblivion without scoring a single century. That probably remains his most highlighted achievement of his career. However it speaks volumes for his consistency,commitment and contribution towards the game.

But there was so much more about Chauhan than Gavaskar. He was a typical khadoos opening batsman, putting a heavy price on his wicket and not to get bogged down against top class bowlers. Wish only those eluding centuries came his way too 😔 

Chauhan went to become an able admistrator, an honest lawmaker and still had a long political career in front of him when COVID caught him off the guard only to succumb to his trademark of not converting a good start into long innings.

Chetan Chauhan ! You will always be remembered as early pioneers of Indian Cricket who made the world take a note of India’s supremacy and will be regarded as one of the best opening batsmen, the country was ever blessed with.

RIP Chetan Chauhan 🙇‍♀️ 

Images Courtsey: Dainik Bhaskar

 

Take a bow 🙇‍♀️ Legend MSD

A stalwart bids adieu and one wonders whether we treat this as one of the saddest days of Indian Cricket or congratulate media for finally achieving its goal by consistently taking up a cause for MSD farewell.

Gavaskar had once famously said,

“Retire, and let people ask WHY? Rather than getting asked WHEN?”

Media seems to pick up this cause of ‘WHEN’ as soon as they see someone falter even once and are happy to take expert role to write a cricket obituary.

As MSD retires from International Cricket, luckily for the fans, the world has a window in form of IPL and hopefully we see him around for few more years to come.

As a typical fan of the BIG 5, MS was always an outsider for many amongst the cricket followers and one wondered whether the long haired raw teenager had the potential to carry heavyweights under his leadership and boy ! 

He brought the glory home for the first time in 2007 World Cup 20-20 and then made it a habit to take the podium position whether it was IPL, Champions Trophy or that coveted 2011 World Cup which made India erupt in loud cheers and tears for the Master Blaster Sachin.

The time flies, a career that started as a rusty teenager is about to end as a legend. We might have seen one of the best ever keepers and skippers of India bidding adieu to the game we loved and he lived.

Each legend gives us something to learn but Dhoni gave us patience, cool head, difficult mind to read and most importantly an ideal leadership one should idolise and aspire for.

Thanks Dhoni for giving us those wonderful years and bringing those amazing moments for all the cricket fans, the world over.

Take a bow 🙇‍♀️ ‘The Real Keeper of Indian Cricket’ 🙇‍♂️ 

Image Courtesy: Economic Times

Disclaimer: The article is personal tribute to a glorious cricketer and does not intend to comment about the ups and downs of the Indian Cricket.

Scindia and Pilot, two sides of same coin

Slowly but steadily, the clock is ticking.

What Madhavrao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot wanted to do two decades back before unfortunately fading away from limelight amid untimely accidental deaths, their sons tried to replicate the model in their hope to come out as winners in Congress as organisation’s stalwarts or in their own states as Chief Ministers.

The calculations though mathematically sound, failed to find ears from Congress high command and two young sulking leaders were born.

With one already exited and other(or probably many more) on the way out, the road to bring back RaGa at the top is clear but the question remains how bumpy it’s going to be when it comes to people and their right to choose the next Prime Minister in future elections.

The Congress has a long legacy to cut the wings of its own leaders. In the past we have seen many of its stalwarts confined to state politics or systematically wiped out from their political careers.

However, the most important factor here one tends to forget is the centralised power then and now. Doing such act was easy as the leadership revolved around Mrs. Gandhi or RaGa’s father Rajiv. The opposition had an excellent but not so ruthless leader in Vajpayee.

Last 2 decades has seen legacy of state centric families which have their own cultures and high command who won’t let a piece go away anything in politics without getting its own pound of flesh. The BJP has become a full fledged political party and is no longer afraid to play the games of trade and the Congress is entangled in dynasty and poor organisational management.

With MP gone and Rajasthan on the verge, it is high time the dynasty politics review its future strategy. Maharashtra could be the next in the line with sulking karyakartas waiting for their next political jump.

The country needs a strong opposition for its secured existence but if they are indulged in family first, party next and country last as part of its political ideology, the road for redemption seems tough for the Congress, multiparty governments and vulnerable fence sitters are bound to have their last laugh to plum roles and careers.

Image Courtesy: Loksatta

Disclaimer: The blog is primarily an expression of thoughts of current political situation across states and does not justify or argue for the political behaviour of the parties or its leaders.