Dr. Atul R Thakare

  EV is the future, people say. So last December, I got the EV, an electric bike (to be specific) for the generation WHY in my hands. After driving a 1.5 L petrol engine car for regular commute there were few solid reasons for this experimentation: the rising price of petrol, heavy traffic in Pune and contribution towards a clean environment. Still, when you are used to the swift and comfortable drive in your car, it’s difficult to adjust to something that’s not even been tried by anyone in the city for the daily commute. I was one of the first ten customers to own the e-bike in Pune and after a year, I would like to share my first-hand experience with the EV enthusiasts through this article. Driving a four-wheeler in a congested city for a daily commute has got its own disadvantages. If you have the windows of your car open at a traffic signal, the carbon emissions from the nearby vehicles would definitely choke up your lungs for a while. And this was the trigger for me to book an

‘Education never goes waste’ was what my mother told me when I was studying in Engineering College. She was the first graduate from her village, back in the seventies, whereas my father was the first post-graduate in his village then. And I got the tag of the first-generation engineer in my family. I realized what my mother said after a few years when a company withheld a job offer for the want of my MBA degree certificate. Actually, I started doing MBA just to add value to my profile because in those days, pursuing MBA after Engineering was ‘the in thing’. Of course, finishing the MBA course was not a cakewalk. There were hiccups, as I met with an accident that made me bedridden for almost three months. I missed the project submission deadline due to which the course completion was extended by another six months. However, the obstacles made me more determined to complete the course and after recovering from the critical leg injury, I finished my project submission and subsequently g

  The crime rate of UP is lesser than that of Bihar and MP..! This statement is a dialogue by the CM-to-become MadhuriDevi in the second season of Mirzapur, the most popular web series. An otherwise unknown town in UP is in the limelight due to this current gory drama. Just like Hathras, the small village in UP came in national news due to the gory incident where a 19-year-old girl was allegedly raped by four dominant caste men. The rape victim succumbed to injuries in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital and it sparked protests and anguish across the country. All four accused she named were arrested by the Police after the incident. However, her dead body was cremated near her home in Hathras in the dead of the night with her family alleging they were forced by local police to conduct the last rites. Although the incident is now forgotten by the mainstream media and the Web-series watching public that would have heard the name of Hathras for the first time. For the binge-watching viewers,

  The recent hashtags trending on Twitter or the shouting anchors on TV shows that the prime problem of the whole country might be the mystery of Sushant Singh Rajput and his manager, Disha Salien’s death. Government may not have the exact data about unemployment or migrants’ deaths during the lockdown, but it’s perfectly fine because now Indians are busy discussing the Mumbai Indians team at IPL than Kangana Ranaut’s tweets. However, a celebrity who has replied Kangana’s outrageous tweets without stooping to her level and given a voice to the migrants’ issue is undoubted, Sonu Sood. And I felt it right to write about Sonu Sood at this point because positive actions need to be proliferated more than the negative words , particularly in today’s era of social media. Also, Sonu and I studied in the same engineering college in Nagpur. Of course, he was senior to me, but both of us still like the taste of the chana-poha prepared at Shankar Nagar square, Nagpur. Cut to the year 2002... ‘

  “Hello Ajay,” It was Veeru over the phone. “Hello Veeru, how are you buddy?” “I am fine Ajay. Sorry, I missed your call. Actually, we were celebrating Divya’s birthday in office…” Veeru took a pause. “Hope you are free now,” Ajay tried to divert the topic from Divya, his ex-girlfriend. “Yeah, I am free now.” “Just wanted to know if you would be interested in coming to Hyderabad this weekend?” “No yaar. This Sunday, we have a symposium and you know how irritating it is to organize these symposiums,” Veeru expressed. “Yeah, I know. It was just that I am planning a short trip to Hyderabad for visiting a client, in case you are interested, we can catch up with Tarun.” “Even I am also interested in meeting Tarun, but I can’t move out of office yaar. You know the situation here, after all you were also a part of this office sometime back.” Veeru advised. “No worries. By the way, how are things at your end?” “Things are fine here. What do you want to know in particular?

Social Distancing (or physical distancing) is the new (buzz)word during these testing times. The COVID 19 pandemic caused by Coronavirus has no cure till date and so prevention is the best cure. And after spending a couple of months in lockdown, beating drums and lighting lamps, experts are saying that we might have to learn living with Corona Virus, till the vaccine is invented. But the gloomy situation of nationwide lockdown is making most of the high flyers who (sometimes even unnecessarily) used to be on flight mode anxious. They are now either on WFH (Work from Home) mode or on WhatsApp mode forwarding the latest updates on the Lockdown versions and Corona Virus. Presently, when most of the universities in the world and India is closed due to COVID 19, WhatsApp University, the largest virtual university of our country is running so far ahead of the competition that it does not even need to advertise. It neither requires glossy colourful brochures nor happy students of all shades.

बऱ्याच वर्षांपूर्वी माझ्या एका सहकार्याने माझ्या फ़ेसबुक एकाउंट कड़े बघून प्रश्न विचारला होता, 'तुम्ही सर्व सेटिंग्स मराठी का ठेवले आहेत? त्रास नाही होत काय सर्फिंग करताना??' 'होतो ना, त्रास तर होतोच जेव्हा आपण आपल्या कम्फर्ट झोन च्या बाहेर काहीही करतो', मी उत्तरलो, 'पण एकदा सवय झाली की मग नाही होत तेवढा त्रास. आणि त्यानिमित्ताने नव्या टेक्नोलॉजीला आपल्या मातृभाषेत क़ाय म्हणतात हे तरी कळेल आपल्याला.' 'तू ना पक्का ठाकरे आहेस' माझे उत्तर ऐकून तो सहकारी म्हणाला. आज हा किस्सा आठवण्याचे कारण म्हणजे आज जागतिक मराठी भाषा दिन आहे. पण मराठीची दीन स्थिति बघता जगात किती ठिकाणी हा दिन साजरा होत असावा अशी शंका येते. तंत्रज्ञान आपल्या बोटावर येऊन ठेपलेले असताना 'जमाने के साथ' चालावेच लागणार आणि त्यासाठी जमाने की भाषा म्हणजे इंग्रजी ची साथ आवश्यक आहे. मात्र इंग्रजी आली पाहिजे म्हणून आपली मातृभाषा असलेल्या मराठी भाषेला तिलांजली देण्याची काहीही गरज नाही, असे माझे मत आहे. आपल्याला सहज साध्य असणाऱ्या लहान सहान गोष्टी जरी आपण आपल्या मातृभाषेसाठी करू शकलो

#hybridcars, #electriccar, #electricvehicle, #ebike The first day of this new year marks the completion of one month of driving an electric vehicle in order to contribute my part towards green mobility. After a long waiting period, the electric bike was delivered last month and I was one of the first customers of the e-bike in Pune. The feeling of owning the first e-bike of India with a green number plate is unparalleled. The electric bike is developed by Revolt Intellicorp which is a start-up by Micromax Co-founder Rahul Sharma. It was around six months back, when an entrepreneur who enquired about the EV scenario told me that he has booked the e-bike for 1000 bucks and the mode is MRP (Monthly Rental Plan). ARAI had already certified the bike for the range of 156 km per full charge. And it is the first e-bike to be offered in India, as all others are e-scooters/moped. I still remember the Pulsar Ad’s Tagline- Definitely MALE , which was very fascinating then. So I immediately