Dr. Atul R Thakare

​ ' Mohabbat barsa dena tu saawan aaya hai.. ' This song kept on playing in loop on my car stereo till we three reached 'Meet-The Food joint' to celebrate the commencement of Saawan or Shraavan , as it is fondly known in Maharashtra. Rahul had got the Black Label (Music CDs) with him which he asked the owner of the joint to get served like the way we are used to. Suhas took the couch and asked the waiter to play some seasonal songs. ' Saawan me lag gayi aag ' shouted Mika Singh from the 240W Woofer of the Soundbox and Rahul jumped.. ' Jabra ' He said and high-fived Suhas. 'This song reminds me the days of the Music channel 'Music Asia' which used to play this song of Mika repeatedly', I said. 'How can someone like Mika become famous by singing such a song, I used to think then,' Opined Suhas.  'But see now Mika is the king of hit songs', Rahul said, 'And there was a time when al...

Meet Mr. X - A hardworking guy working with a multinational company on his merit. Also meet, Mr. Y - Another well-groomed talented guy working at a start-up company. Both X and Y know each other since last 10 years.  The similarity between X and Y is that both of them believes that India should progress and the upcoming years for them should be better than the previous ones. But the only difference of opinion in X and Y is that X believes that leader M has the capabilities to change the fate of this country. So he follows leader M and his political ideology likes his posts on social media and forwards them in his circle. Y believes that leader M is not fit for a country like India. He believes in the ideology of leader N. So he follows leader N, likes his posts on social media and forward them in his circle. Of late, X gets into an argument with Y on social media over who's better among M and N...The argument gets heated and in rage X blocks Y. ...

A four-letter word LIFE is what every creature in this world has. And they say life is not easy as it is full of ups and downs. The year 2017 was full of such surprises for me. ' Expect the unexpected'  was the tagline, one can say... Actually, certainty or routine seems boring, but too much of uncertainty can be really challenging. So, in order to beat the uncertainty or hardships, when you plan a vacation as an adventure (again an uncertainty) and something unexpected happens, then you have to say, Jindagi definitely Imtehaan leti hai... Imagine, you land in a foreign country with picturesque location to rejuvenate yourself from the stress. But a few hours later, you find yourself without that important baggage having all the important documents and gadgets that you boast off. You are bound to feel dejected and depressed, whereas the world thinks that you are having the best time of your life abroad. As it's you who have told them that you are going on a holiday...

A decade back, a cartoonist turned politician claimed that the infrastructure of Maharashtra state and particularly Mumbai is being burdened by the outsiders from UP and Bihar. This claim created a rift between the son of soils and outsiders as Marathis Vs Non-Marathis . It also didn’t go well with the classes who were kind of settled in Mumbai and the masses who came in the business capital of India in search of bread and butter (or name and fame). This time again, the politician has raised the same claim although skilfully, when 23 innocent people got killed in a stampede at Elphinstone Road Foot Over Bridge. The political parties in opposition have raised the issue of infrastructure in Mumbai after this mishap and the recent flooding situation in Mumbai on August 29. Both the incidents underline one common thing and that is Mumbai's infrastructure is overloaded and on the verge of exploding. One thing I always wonder in Mumbai, wherefrom so many people come to (all th...

It was 6 pm to reach the airport Terminal 2 and I was already late to catch the 6.40 pm Air India flight from Mumbai to Nagpur. It was literally a marathon to reach the Gate No.43, when I heard the  air hostess  calling my name with the last and final boarding call announcement. “Seat no.6 F, I am sorry,” I said and took the window seat after troubling my co-passenger.” “It’s okay”.....said the bald old man with French beard. While settling down, the newspaper in my hand just slipped from my hand. And the old man in his early sixties picked it up. “ MIHAN rates hiked to offset 170 cr. loss on discount to Patanjali ” He read the headlines of the news-article about MIHAN and hung his head in frustration, “Government is increasing the land rates in MIHAN, but are there any takers?” He asked the other co-passenger. “Certainly not... otherwise MIHAN would have been full with companies, but the fact is that, it’s a long awaited dream.” The other male co-passenger...

‘India is no more an ideal place for business’ expressed Mr. Narayana Murthy, Executive Chairman, Infosys Limited recently in an interview to a leading business daily. Mr Narayana Murthy enjoys a very special place in the hearts of Indians, especially the youth as his company has proved that wealth can be created by middle-class Indians legally without compromising with ethics. I had personally interacted with Mr Narayana Murthy last month, when he was here at Nagpur for the groundbreaking ceremony of Infosys which is going to be set up in a massive campus of 142 acres at MIHAN, Nagpur. And I have admired his simplicity and transparency of conducting business.  We all know that Infosys started in 1981 by seven engineers including Mr Narayana Murthy with an initial investment of just US$250. From the beginning, the company was founded on the principle of building and implementing great ideas that drive progress for clients and enhance lives through enterprise sol...

C-DAC’s Advanced Computing Training School ( ACTS ) has always been the first choice of IT companies when it comes to recruiting Project ready manpower. This time also all the top b lue-chip organizations marked their presence with increased pay packets at C-DAC’s Common Campus Placement Programme (CCPP) . The CCPP organized by C-DAC saw a 30% hike in the salary packages of many companies this time, as compared to last batch. Hewlett Packard which offered Rs. 4 lakh/annum to the students of last batch is offering Rs.5 lakh/annum to this batch, whereas Rockwell Collins have also increased their salary package from Rs. 3.5 lakh/annum to Rs. 4.7 lakh/annum for this batch. Cavium Networks offered Rs. 6 lakh/annum which was the highest salary for this batch. The CCPP for August 2010 batch started in the second week of February 2011 at Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. More than 700 students across the domains have been placed in various blue-chip companies till date. All top IT co...