MODI JI JAISE MOTICHOOR KE LADDOO

Kishor Chandak

Hello. My name is Kishor Chandak. I am a Promoter and a Builder from 1976 at Solapur, Maharastra. I am 67 years old and I have been into autograph collection on and off from 1962, but I have been consistent with it from 2015 after my dear friend Santosh Lahoti insisted. Today I have more than 8000 autographs including Bharatratnas, Royals of the British Kingdom, sportspersons, artists, actors, political leaders and many more. I am also a numismatist with more than 1lakh coins and a philatelist with more than 1 lakh stamps. I have also collected the soil of more than 300 nations and have 66 paintings. I have won several prestigious awards for my various collections. I am also actively working on 45 social organizations and have donated blood 154 times.

My family is well known in Solapur from generations. Just to give you an insight, in 1947 when the national flag was hoisted at midnight, it was done by my grandfather Late Lonkaranji Chandak.

Many people, renowned in their own fields used to visit my grandfather when they visited Solapur. Once the CM of Maharshtra, Shri Y B Chavan came over.

 

“Why don’t you take his autograph?” said my grandfather.

 

This is how my journey in philography began.

Along with taking the autographs of the eminent personalities, I also do something that no other philographist does. I take the autographs of my family members, right from my grandfather to the new borns. I take the imprint of the left hand thumb of a new born. I feel if I am collecting the autographs of celebrities, then why not my own family? They are so very special for me.

All philographists collect autographs on photos and postcards. I try to add a little touch of my own.

For example, not many know that Hitler was a great painter, so I thought of collecting his painting along with his autograph. It wasn’t easy, but I glad I got it.

I get very nostalgic when I look back at my journey of autograph collection. Let me share an incident with you, this is about a man you and I hear about every single day of our lives.

It was in 2009. The then CM of Gujarat Narendra Modi came to Solapur for his election campaign. Yes, you got it right, I am going to share with you my interaction with the Narendra Modi ji!

Those days, I was the only one in Solapur to have the car – Honda Accord. This car is comfortable and spacious.

One of my friends was a politician that time. Whenever there were leaders like Modi ji, Uddhav Thakre ji, Pramod Mahajan ji and more travelling to Solapur, my friend used to borrow my car. 

When Modi ji came here and finished his campaigning, by the time he was supposed to fly back, there was a storm and his flight got procrastinated.

Modi ji wanted to make the best of his extended stay.

 

“Suno, main aaj raat ke bhojan pe un khaas 20 logo se milna chaahta hoon jinke baare mein humne baat ki thi, aur haan, Chandak ko mat bhoolna”  (I want to dine with those special 20 people we spoke about, and yes, do not forget Chandak)

 

Whenever he came to Solapur, he asked my friend whose car it was that he travelled in and my friend used to take my name.  

As a habit, I reached about half an hour before time. Modi ji was already seated in front of the dining table. He was alone.

 

 “Aaiye Chandak ji, aaiye” (please come Mr Chandak)

 

As I entered the hall, he saw me and greeted me from the table itself.

How on earth did he know who I was?

 

“Sir ji thank you very much, aapne naam se pukaara, lekin aap bataiye aapne pehchaana kaise?” (thank you for addressing me with my name, but how did you recognize me)

“kya baat karte ho Chandak ji, jo aadmi tilak lagaata hai wo Chandak hi ho sakta hai!” (what are you saying Chandak ji, the man who has tilak on his forehead can be only Chandak)

 

Modi ji had already asked my driver, what I look like.

He asked me to sit next to him. I sat on his right and then very lovingly he put both his hands on my left hand. He then started enquiring about Solapur and my life over there.

 I was lucky that no one entered the hall for next 35 minutes and we could connect heart to heart. Then entered the first guest.

 

“Sir ji main saamne baith jaata hoon” (I will take that seat in front)

“Kyun, Chandak ji mere saath baithne mein koi aapatti?” (Do you have a problem in sitting with me)

“Aapatti kaisi Modi ji, aapke saath baithna toh mera saubhagya hai! Abhi aapke paksh ke log aayenge, main toh kisi paksh ka hoon nahin. Isliye mujhe lagta hai mujhe saamne baithna chaahiye.” (I would be honoured to sit by your side, but I feel that now the people of your party would be coming  and I do not belong to any party, so I should take that other seat)

“Maine aaj aapko bulaaya hai, kisi paksh ke vyakti ko nahin. Maine khud chun kar kuchh khaas logo ko bulaaya hai. Agar aapko nahin baithna mere saath toh aap uth sakte hain…” (I have specially called for you today, no party personnel has been invited. If you don’t wish to sit with me, you are free to sit elsewhere)

“Sir aise kaise ho sakta hai…” (how is that possible)

 

I continued sitting there, and dined with Modi ji.

After the dinner , he patted my back and said,

 

“Thank you, aapki car se mujhe bahut fayda hua” (your car was very useful for me)

 So this was my Tete-a-Tete with Narendra Modi ji, who was not only the CM of Gujarat, but also a lovely soul filled with love and affection.

This article has been written by Pooja Gupta.

She is a freelance writer, anchor and a former Radio Jockey. She travels all across India to host shows and writes everything from ads, promos, articles, short films, screenplays, dialogues, feature films and even web series. For work, she can be contacted on pooja.gupta2178@yahoo.com.