Fadnavis always knew what, when and how to say and not say things

NAGPUR: The image of a schoolboy, a bit on the healthier side, silent and shy, pulling up his pants in an idiosyncratic way, looking down once before he spoke to his teacher is not hard to imagine. But it might be a bit difficult to see the image of a chief minister in that boy.
But Devendra Fadnavis, the shy but intelligent schoolboy, and as his teachers and friends say, a grounded and polite child, proved to be an exception to the proverbial ‘last benchers’, and is today poised to become the chief minister of Maharashtra.
Never a boy for any mischief, Fadnavis is remembered by friends and teachers from school as a humble boy, who even then showed his inclination to be with the masses in small everyday acts. “Though shy he always got on well with everybody easily and was very friendly,” said Ajay Marar, Fadnavis’s classmate in Saraswati Vidyalaya.
Vimala Jagadeesan, Fadnavis’s biology teacher, remembers him as a student who was then in the making process of what he is today. “He was always a ‘we’ person. Being tall, he used to sit on the last bench. He himself never did any mischief, but if due to anything done by his peers he was also given punishment, he never complained and stuck by them,” she said adding, “He always knew what, when and how to say things, and also what not to say.”
Funnily, the man who is now set to lead the state was never a class monitor in high school. “He was a good boy who moved with all and was very generous and respectful,” recollects his class teacher Savitri Subramanian. Fadnavis still keeps in touch with his teachers and sends ‘Happy Teacher’s Day’ messages too.
Entering politics at quite a young age didn’t seem to change Fadnavis as a person. “Even if one of us calls him, or when we met at the reunion of our batch, he was always Devendra our friend and not a politician,” says Vinit Sondhi, his batch mate.
Even the priest at the Shani temple near Loha Pul has similar views about Fadnavis. “When he comes here, he just comes as a devotee. I have never see him show any airs about his position and when people approach him for any help, he does his best,” said Chandresh Sharma, a priest at the temple.
Indeed, his devotion to Shani is well known and common knowledge within his friend circle. “He loved visiting Shani Shingnapur. He would come in the night and pick us up, saying we will be back in an hour and take us there,” said Amol Kale, an old friend.
Fadnavis also enjoyed eating a lot, in fact, Kale says that the common thing which sparked their friendship was their size. “Both of us were a bit healthy,” he recounted and added, “On our many train journeys, he had made a rule – we would not let any food vendor go dejected from our seat and bought each and every food item that came our way.”
Being a busy politician seems not to have affected his friendships much. “He is always available,” said an old colony friend Sohan Yadav. Now, he meets them in the night after his work is finished. “Being a politician has put some restrictions, hence that is the only option. But he takes effort and is honest and works with passion. Inside and out, he is the same man,” said Shailesh Joglekar, an old friend.