13 Beauties of 2013 - Happy New Year 2014 !!!

Who says '13' is an unlucky number ???

I certainly not when it caused below mentioned miracles in my life:

1) On 12th March-13, I started something which I never imagined I would ever do in my life even when it always tempted me :)

'http://saptasurtheenigma.blogspot.in'

Somewhere my writing was halted (by me/by external factors) and thus my blog opened a new avenue for me exploring a new technique of writing using pics from internet which would complement the article/matter.

2) Read 8 novels in the entire year. Eventhough I couldn't break the same record of 2011, all the books were worth reading and gave somthing new to my diminishing brain. 

Those who read a bit may like to know the list and so here it goes.

 a) दीपस्तंभ - प्रा. शिवाजीराव भोसले  
 b) The Intuitive Mind - Eugene Saddler-Smith
 c) Lajja - Taslima Nasrin
 d) I Too Had A Love Story - Ravinder Singh
 e) Can Love Happen Twice Ravinder Singh
 f) Love Stories That Touched My Heart - Authors - Various (Compiled by Ravinder Singh)
 g) Way To MTL-An Infamous Love Story - Pankaj Kumar
 h) नापास मुलांच्या गोष्टी : संकलन - अरुण शेवते 

3) Many Mr/Mrs Gayab friends from school or those who left the company few years back suddenly came into contact again  and not just in contact but we all enjoyed many memorable moments and now are in constant touch with each other.

4) Heard/Witnessed 'Good News (Pre and Post)' of many close ones.'Kids' were pouring this year :)

5) Encountered few strangers for a short time who left their mark in my life by their noble and matured behaviour.

6) Applied and got many important pending documents related to my 'Identity' !

7) Got an opportunity to learn a new game and also to play few old ones. Thus resulting in the arrival of my cool carrom board in our house.

8) Our society (people in my building) is finally blossoming now. The heart-throb 'Darshan' (Our watchman's child) always bring a smile on my face and I can surely bet that you won't have ever seen a cuter kid than this.

9)  Got leaves on proper time and fruitfully utilized them.
 This year's visit to our family goddess's (कुलदैवत) temple at Tuljapur was till date the one with least efforts and more peace. 

10) Visited few nearby places that always give peace and harmony to mind and  ofcourse some  food that's yummy for my tummy :D

11) Got a new addiction of watching short-films on You-tube. 
If someone really believes inme and what I say then please start watching them and then you would forget all respective 'XXXXWOODS'

12) Got promoted as a Team Leader just in the nick of time I must say.

'माता लक्ष्मी' was pretty much blessing me throughout this year :)

During the same time I got my coolest snap (as per me) which atleast tries to convery that I am a Team Lead ;) The same 'Smart Card Picture is not circulating everywhere...right from FB till Pan Card and Credit Card.


13) In an attempt to become a bit smart, I finally purchased 3rd mobile of my life which was 4 times costlier than my 1st mobile ;)  I hope my new Samsung Galaxy Core atleast now makes me a smart guy than earlier if at all I was !!!

Year 2013 and 13 best things it gave to me....thank you 2013. 

I hope 2014 also maintains the same momentum for all of us.

Happy New Year To All Of You !!!

"Happy Friendship Day To All My Viewers & Chewers and ofcourse my friends !!!"

Found an old poem of mine written for my friends on a F'ship Day in 2011......

August 7, 2011 at 3:29am

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खून के रिश्तोंसे हमारा भरोसा ऊठ  चुका था 
नाकारा, कामचोर, आलसी हर कोई हमें  चूका था 
अपनी परछाईसेभी शर्मिंदगी महसूस होती थी 
जिंदगी बस एक बेनूरसी अंधियारी गली हो गयी थी 

                                                               कहींसे अचानक उन्होंने हमें अपने दिलसे लगाया 
                                                               अपने भीतर छिपे  अच्छे और सच्चे इन्सानसे मिलवाया 
                                                               "I Am The Best" ये हमसे न चाहते हुए रोज कहलवाया 
                                                               बोरीयतभरी जिंदगी दूर करके पलमें अपना बनाया 

कोई उन्हें मसीहा कहेंगे और कोई उन्हें फरिश्ता 
पर सच कहूं तो खूनसे बढ़कर होता है ये रिश्ता 
हीरे-जवाहरात, पैसा भी इसके सामने है सस्ता 
' दोस्ती ' जतन करके रखो यारों, सबसे अनमोलसा है ये रिश्ता 

                                                     ~~~ Sur ~~~

" Meet The Freaks - 23rd Nov-2013 " !!!!

A small get2gedr with school friends and that too exactly outside our school....JES after 2.3 yrs....

Actually we can't classify it as 'Small' since it gives U immense happiness, satisfaction, appreciation and strength to face life +vely. Although not a well-planned meet, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. 

With little hopes that I would be able to meet my batch-mates from school having a reputation of '11th hour Kalti', I left home. However not one or two but 5 of our heroes turned out excluding one who couldn't turn up owing to his "Mandatory Pre-marriage Last 'Solo' Shopping". 

The best advantage of meeting outside the school is that once realizes that all the memories are still fresh but hidden somewhere inside us just oozing to come out only in front of those who were a part of those wonderful memories...and that's what happened outside JES today as always.And these funny memories are not partial based on our grades achieved during our academics. They stay equally in everybody's heart and come out with same passion and truthfulness and ofcourse childishness as that's when they were imbibed in each of us. Those few hours of togetherness don't have any barriers of caste, creed, status, IQ level and all such crap. Those are just pure moments which everyone of us are longing for in today's hectic and pacy life.

Anyways the starcast of today's show was as follows:

Mr.Rajdoot Abane (नेहमी सचीनचे गुण गाणे)
Mr.Nitin Bhise (सदैव जोरजोरात हसे)
Mr.Chandraneel aka Tushar Belwalkar (शनिवारी तरी बायकोला विसर)
Mr.Gaurav Aher (मित्रांना देऊ नयेत लग्नात वात्रट "आहेर" ;))
Mr.Omprakash Swami (ना तुम्ही बदललात ना आम्ही)

Few of us called via their respective 'Smartiz' to those who couldn't come today and made them speak with others who made it for today's visit. I guess exactly similar kind of get2gedr of our 'Female Fraternity' was also happening simultaneously at the house of one of our batchmate. Both Male and Female fraternities exchanged few info/smileys/claps (courtesy 'WhatsApp') and both of them instantly saw photos of get2gedr of each other.
( I feel 'WhatsApp' shud be banned for refreshing old wounds !!! :) Now that's the reason I am still not on WhatsApp !!!)

Post-school, everybody becomes busy as responsibilities increase, our aspirations widen, our mindsets may change and our priorities may also change...but still those who really know the magic of those few precious moments spent with your old friends will always turn up frm any corner of the World come what may without giving any excuse...if not, others will go to meet the missing alibi :)

So that's what me and Omprakash aka Ompi/Santu did today. Once we all dispersed from school, we decided to surprise another schoolmate by visiting him near his house and thus we went to meet Vikrant Durge. We however had to inform him earlier that we are coming (to check his exact location)...

How ecstatic he was seeing both of us....आणि अजून एक मस्त मैफल आम्हा तिघांची पुन्हा एकदा रंगली !!! 

We get to see very few down to earth people around us who appreciate all the good things in U and very rarely criticize U unless it is really needed.U get very rare people who are mirror image of urs in every sense and that's what I felt meeting Vikrant after 14 bloody long years. Eventhough he has lost his weight a bit, he still carries his infectious smile and is more enthusiastic than what I had known him during school days. Got to learn few new things from him.(साला हम दोनो एक ही कश्तीमे सवार है!!) 
(Gals, if u are really in search of a very decent, good-looking, addiction-less, humble and smart guy then he is the man for U!!)

It gives u a very satisfying feeling when U know that all ur friends about whom u might have worried about their future while passing out from school are all well-settled today...and not only that, what pleases u more is that nobody has changed even a bit and are equally mischievous as they were back in your schooldays. They 4get that they are somebody's chubby hubbys or daddys of cute angels and easily switch back to that notorious yet constructive era of your life that created and moulded the current You!! 

Our next meet might be in Lallu's marriage next weekend. If all goes well then we all (Sorry Gals, meant only for Guys) might go to Dapoli as per our plan next month for overnight stay and Njoy various areas of Konkan.(खानापूर कॅम्प की यादें दोबारा ताजा करनी है) 

Earlier to this meet, I had met few of them on 15th Aug-2011 and it had given me exactly the same good feeling of being loved by others and that remembrance feeling by all for me and for our school.

Thank U all for coming today to JES and being the same old friends cum freaks as we all used to be during our school days. Hoping to catch U all in more numbers in Lallya's marriage !!!

Love U All !!!

A Tribute to my mentor of English Literature - RIP Chatterjee Sir

There is a bad news for all the ex-students of Jawaharlal English School....

Our beloved English/History Teacher Mr.Robindranath Chatterjee expired on last Sunday (3rd Nov-13) ;( 

What an irony, the person who lit the light of English literature among the students, who initiated the sparks of love for subjects like History and Civics (Social Science) in his students was blown away on a Diwali Night :(

The best ever Teacher who taught History & English very passionately and actually had knowledge of both the subjects. But had to say that he was a victim of dirty politics of JES and never got the respect and place what he really deserved. 

I remember me and my ex-classmate had gone to his home and he said "Wait, don't tell me your names, let me guess....you are "Suraj Gaikwad" of 1999 batch" and also told the name of my ex-classmate. We also got a complement that ours was the last best batch which passed from JES. I have a habit of capturing such memorable moments in my camera as who knows whether we would get another chance of enjoying them...so fortunately enough, I had taken a photograph of him...to which he was shy and I convinced him that I won't put it up anywhere to which he agreed. I kept my words but now I can't resist putting it in this article for those who also really admired him and want to share a glimpse of him through his photo and it would also be a small tribute to him from my side....

Today whatever I write/speak a bit in English is the result of the passion and fire that was ignited by Chatterjee Sir in 9th and 10th Standard. We sometimes used to crack jokes behind his back but I personally always had a lot of respect for that man as he taught me directly or indirectly many things during the school days...

There are lot of memories attached to Chatterjee Sir. 

<> I remember he directed our play 'The Dear Departed' in 9th Standard. My 1st scary experience of acting in a play which had lengthy English dialogues at a tender age of 14. During the same period, I had scored 7 out of 10 in our English paper's grammar section. Usually I used to score 10/10 or 9/10 but this time my score dipped. Sir had commented in front of the class while announcing the scores that these days Mr.Suraj seems to be interested more in co-curricular activities. At first, I felt angry as why is he insulting me in this way but soon realized that I was also among the other English scholars in our class on whom his hopes were pinned. He made us love English literature than anybody else in school days via our favourite Bible of English Grammar "Wren & Martin" and its associated "Key" (both were red in colour if somebody has forgotten it!) 

<> Once an unofficial school outing was fixed by JES teachers for their family members to Mahabaleshwar. Me and few of my friends were asked if we too want to join it along with our parents which we heartily accepted. Sir had come along with his Wife and daughter. 1st time got a chance to see all the teachers along with their family members...their true colours which they showed in the bus which would never been known to me unless I was a part of that trip. Rashmi Miss and Munira Miss were pulling legs of Chatterjee Sir a lot throughout the journey by singing some funny song (non-filmy) which started like "Gaadime Chananana Chananana Hoye Re, Gaadime Baithe Do Bengali..." and then they would add some peculiarity of that couple in the next lines. Every teacher was a victim of this song :)
Whoever had brought some stuff to eat in the bus was passing it to all the teachers and their family members. That trip was like an extended family travelling together for the 1st time together.

<> Daily in the evening after the school was over, he along with his wife used to go for a walk in Maharshi Nagar area. I had accidently met him 2-3 times during those walks during my college days or even after that. We used to have a candid short talk which was equally pleasant for both the parties. The way students show respect for their teachers, their teachers also can convey respect and love for their favourite students is what I had learnt from those interactions. That same affection had taken me twice to meet him at his house.

JES had seen some ultimate teachers who were masters in their own subjects like Late. Dhonwad Miss (Marathi) who used to teach poems in very easy tunes which later I realized were tunes of famous marathi songs but it did help us in learning those meaningful poems easily. Love for poems started somewhere from Dhonwad Miss....which was shortly blossomed by Vaidehi Miss in her short stint in JES.

It had Kaveri Miss....another gem of Mathematics...especially teaching geometry was a child's play for her.

JES also had so many teachers whom all the students loved like Flori Miss, Diana Miss, Rashmi Miss (there were 2 with the same name and both were good), Annie Miss, Bharti Miss, Madhu Miss, Munira Miss and the list will continue.....

However it had very less number of Male teachers.....who really belonged to this field and shaped many lives in real sense of those who believed in him and his abilities.

RIP Mr.Robindranath Chatterjee...a real Maestro of English Literature and History..........JES and all the students whom you taught will certainly miss you Sir !!!

'Father Teresa' does it again for India !!!

Ishant Sharma....mere झिपरे....टोंगळे....'लख्ते-जिगर'... I ♥U...

You always make me and all Indians very proud !!!

While I was posting this status, Ishant just called me to tell that his bowling coach ' Mr. Ashish Nehra' congratulated him for his consistent 'Death-over Bowling' and told him that he is exactly sticking to all the basics taught by him. Certainly a Proud Coach !!!

When James Faulkner was taken for 21 runs in the last over by Dhoni, he was not worried as he knew that our 'Father Teresa' would reciprocate by feeding him more runs than what he gave. Only Ishant can have that calibre on whom opponents can also depend !!!

Few may vent their anger by saying that his ever growing hairs may be affecting his vision due to which 'Yorker' term is out of question for him and so does the word 'Stump'. For them I must ask that if Dhoni had long hairs for a substantial period of time then why not Ishant can keep them which is a good-luck charm for his consistent bowling form????

So now please stop criticizing our Bowler of the millenium.....
If your Dhoni can hit 4-5 sixers in an inning then my super-talented Ishant can concede them in a single over too...no big deal for him. 

You need to have more courage to do so....it shows his brave heart and generous nature towards his opponents....a real philanthropic man I must say....

Just pray that Umesh Yadav won't be fit to replace Ishant else you will miss an opportunity of witnessing a 'Live Social Service Act' as there is no other replacement for our Bowling Maestro - Ishant Sharma !!!

Happy Birthday Bappi Da - 18th Oct - 2013

Thank U all for wishing me on my B'day....

Especially those who spend few bucks on calls to wish me...
(Mehengai ka zamana hai bhai...isliye uun 3 lucky winners/callers ka special mention hona chaahiye....)

Thank U Onkar Alurkar, Kaushik Sharma and Mohsin Havaldar for not making my mobile feel lonely today and avoiding me feel ashamed of having a mobile especially today :)
(I hope 'Inflation' will not affect @least U in future and u continue to call me wherever I am to wish me on my B'day :P)

Special thanks to Surya Sunkara, Varad Dixit and Jagruti for making me feel that I am STILL worth a person who has touched ur life in some way or the other....
Your today's B'day wishes in ur own style which had ur personal touch really made my day....and mind U....U all 3 pleasantly surprised me.....

This is a usual trend every year...Unexpected Ppl surprise me every year by wishing me in a very nice way and those expected 1s either opt for easy way out of either msging/posting on FB or pinging me when m online or the best part....they totally 4get that I exist ;) However if I miss wishing them on their B'days, they do crib to me.....pretty strange???Believe It...'Ripley's Believe It Or Not' :D

Anyways, I also loved the way few of U still called me 'Bappi Da' while wishing me on FB :) It felt like u Ppl are still around me and we all are still enjoying that 'Golden Era of OBR'..

Many learnings from the day:

1) Not to remain awake just to wish people @ 12.00 on their B'days even when u need to wake up early in the morning for ur office.

2) Do not call and waste money when U notice on FB that ur friend's B'day is there when one can simply type a line on his wall ...which he/she may/may not check on the same day but u have diligently performed ur duty.

3) One can also try another easier option of text msg...especially if sm msg pack is activated.

4) Do not look at ur mobile @ 12.00 hoping @list sm1 will call U as for the rest 364 days U still have to be nice with ur mobile even if it betrayed U on ur B'day.

5) The best lesson learnt: You start believing that you have given a lot to the people around U and they will always remember that and acknowledge U by @list wishing U on ur B'day.....all crap.....once out of limelight, you are simply a Mr.Nobody !!!

6) Need to learn to stop keeping contact with those whom I call every year once to wish on their B'days but who are never in touch with me even on my B'day.

7) Also need to learn to stop re-dialling if a B'day Boy/Gal didn't pick ur call twice or thrice or did not even bother to give a call-back or msg U.

Gosh, birthdays can be a nightmare if U start the day with too much expectations...
So let it unfold the way it is scripted so that the surprises will make U more happy than the sadness which comes from the huge disappointments!!!

This is one damn day which shows U your real value in other people's life !!!

So again thankU to all those who made me smile today...touched my heart by their small gestures/acts....especially the 'Sole Gifter' for taking so much efforts just to give me that beautiful gift....a gift on MY B'day.... ha ha ha.....a big joke which repeated after 5 damn yrs...
(Saala ab tak main sochta tha ke 'Paagalpan' ka theka sirf maine leke rakha hai par aaj meri wo galatfehmi bhi duur ho gayi) !!!

"Lifetime Achievement Award Day" !!!

सभी पुराने एवं नए मित्रोंको यह बताते हुए मुझे बड़ा आनंद प्राप्त हो रहा है के मेरी 'शनि दशा (साडे-साती)' समाप्त हो चूकी है! 

इसी कारणवश हमारे जीवनमे पुनः पदोन्नती का योग आया है एवं हम 'Team Leader' नियुक्त किये गए है!

Moral Of The Story: I have been handed over my 'Lifetime Achievement Award' ... 

अभी भी नही समझे??? अमा कमाल करते हो आप भी पांडेजी।।।

हम आपसे अवार्ड की बात कर रहे है और आप है के हमारी उमर का हिसाब लगा रहे है!!  

हमारे कहने का मतलब ये है के ......चलो थोडी अंग्रेजी ट्राय करते है....

I mean to say ke I have been promoted as a 'Team Leader' :) 

I would like to thank all those who taught me something or the other in my entire tenure in the current organization. A special thanks to those who thought I would never make it up to this level. 

There were lot of working hands shaping me throughout this period whom I have already thanked. Yet this is again a small appreciation from my side to all those whom I may have missed in my mail or who have left the organization...but ofcourse after teaching me something great stuff !!

The most pleasant part of the day was that many people were more happy than me for my promotion as if they were more eagerly waiting for my promotion thinking that I really deserved it. 

Their faith in me and my abilities and qualities which I can harness into my next job level was shown to me from time to time which kept me going on the 'slow track pitch which had uneven bounce' !!! 

I would always cherish this truthful affection shown towards me when I needed it the most.

I pray to god that kindly keep me rooted to the ground and don't alter me much unless it is really required for my new role and please let me be an 'Aam Aadmi' among the elite league :) 

Also don't make my creativity fade away due to the burden of new responsibilities and new challenges which I would have to face. Instead, show me ways to use my creativity for the betterment of my new role.

Thanks again to all the mentors from the bottom of my heart for making me achieve this success.

P.S. Kindly do not ask the current CTC as it won't be disclosed @ any cost !!! ;)

Yours,

Suraj Gaikwad