Dr. Atul R Thakare

'Hello, This is Major Arjun from Indian Army. I have seen your ad for a flat on rent. Is the flat still available?' Asked the person from another end of the call. 'Yes, the flat is available.' I affirmed. 'I am transferred to Pune and will be joining duty in the next 10 days. I am looking for a flat for rent for my family,' Major Arjun explained. 'Ok. How many members are there in your family?' 'Four, including myself.' 'No problem. When can you come to see the flat?' I asked. 'Actually, I am in Hyderabad right now. If you can send me the video of the flat, I can show it to my wife and finalize.' 'Fine. I will send the video. The photographs are already on the property portal.' I replied. 'Yes, I have seen the photos and I have liked those. But as I cannot personally visit the property, I asked for the video.' 'No issues, I am sending the video, right away.' 'Ok. I will call you once you send me the vid...

  ‘The trip was so hectic!’ screamed my wife after a 750 km long trip from Nagpur. ‘But you were just sitting in the car comfortably. It was me who was driving,’ I said. ‘What do you mean? Even sitting in a moving vehicle for 16 hours causes fatigue. Haven’t you heard of jetlag?’ My wife quipped and I was speechless like a project manager who gets a sermon from the executive sponsor over a slight delay in the schedule of the project delivered within the budget and scope. The journey from Nagpur to Pune should ideally take 14 hours with a constant speed of 60 km/hr and a break of an hour for breakfast and lunch. But it had taken 2 hours extra due to a patch of bad road and traffic at Aurangabad and Ahmednagar. In reality, termed as living order in project management, such delay in schedule, overshooting of budget and scope evolution or scope creep has to be envisaged. So, for me, the long road trip from Nagpur to Pune was no less than a project that defies the Geometric order...

Last month, I had to visit the Post office in Nagpur to withdraw my money. Actually, the deposit had matured some days back, but since I was not in the city, I couldn’t withdraw the money. Although I have worked in the government office and am still employed in the public sector, like any other common man, I also get nervous about the thought of visiting any government office. I knew that the post office is a pure government office and it may take longer than a day to get the work done. So, I had kept a spare day for the work, but in the end, murphy’s law acted on me. On the first day which was a Saturday, the Post office got closed by 12.30 PM, so what at the most I could do was to get a form. Monday, I submitted the form to get an answer that there were some more documents needed. Finally, Tuesday (when I was supposed to return to Pune) the executive at the office gave me another form since the savings account was dormant and asked me to come the next day. This callous attitude made ...

Don’t be a minimum guy - is the favourite elevator pitch of every Manager in this ‘New World’. And if you are THE FAMILY MAN, you can very well listen to your boss who claims, ‘I aim for perfection and settle for excellence!’ The character from my upcoming book is also facing the syndrome of being a minimum guy in his new role… Meet Sanjay alias Sanju…   ‘I feel that my role is reduced to a minimum guy in this corporate job,’ Sanjay admitted with grief. “That’s why we are asking you to join us, Sanju sir,” Ronjoy pleaded. “Yes, you will get a role of your choice in our start-up, Sanju Bhai,” Irfan’s words had the honesty. “But somehow, I feel it’s a big risk, Irfan,” Sanjay showed hesitancy. “I guess it was a bigger risk leaving government job to settle for this corporate role.” Ronjoy opined. “You are right, Ronjoy. It was a bigger risk to leave a job for which 50% of people of this country aspire. But I chose family over career then.” “But joining us will no...

  In the first film of Rajkumar Hirani, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. that released in 2003, Munnabhai raises dissent to ask the dean of the college, Dr Asthana. The question, “ Woh bahar casualty mein koi marne ki halat mein raha to usko form bharna zaruri hai kya? ” (If someone’s out there dying in the casualty ward, does he have to fill a form first?), asked by Munnabhai MBBS then was applauded by the youngsters. During those days, Munnabhai used to seem cool raising questions on the establishment. Even in 2011 and 2012, supporting movements or protests (aandolans?) against the corruption or asking questions against fuel price hike was considered as being responsible citizen. However, after 2014, things started changing drastically with the rise of Social Media and controlled mainstream media. Before 2014, we could debate on governance issues or raise dissent about the functioning of the government. However, any form of dissent or effort to defy the status quo today can result...

  It’s been over twelve days, my mother passed away. It was a shock for me and the whole family, as a day before she was hale and hearty and we had spoken to her over a video call, the previous day. My heart is still in denial mode and I find it impossible to believe that she is no more. I am still figuring out how to cope up with the loss of my beloved family member as a family is a constant support system of your life. Just remembering that day, brings back a lot of emotions. It was something I cannot describe in words. When I heard the news, I had a complete shutdown as I was away from her. And when I saw her dead body, I couldn’t control my tears. I sat there devastated and felt like having your happiness and support destroyed within a moment. It did get tough though when I had to console my siblings and hold my tears back. All I could think about the arrangements that had to be made for all last rites. There were people who looked at me with pity eyes and messaged me to say ...