Degeneration Of Sports Clubs – Dogs & Indians Not Allowed!

I have been frequenting multiple Pune sports clubs over the past two decades. So I have kind of been a witness to how sports establishments seem to have moved from being open, sports centers to elitist recreation clubs. It seems like it will only be a matter of time before a “Dogs & Indians Not Allowed*” kind of board gets put up at these clubs. Through this blog, I hope to highlight what I think has gone wrong and some possible solutions.

This blog is primarily based on Deccan Gymkhana and PYC Gymkhana in Pune, as those are the clubs where I have spent most time over the past 20 years. However I believe most of the points below would apply to many such clubs across India. Read more

Pune Loksabha Candidates Comparison – Elections 2014

Pune is fortunate to have been offered decent candidates by most parties. However there are significant differences in their profiles. While several candidates have criminal cases against them, it needs to be noted that the cases against the major candidates are related to political protests and defying police orders in the process.

Below is my quick assessment of the major candidates. It is ofcourse based on my perception. I do not claim to be unbiased or objective. Do add comments with any additional inputs / info.

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Water Cuts TimeTable & Water Crisis Predictions 201’x’

By studying data over several years, Oak Labs has come out with the following predictions & timetable for Pune Water Cuts (Crisis). This timetable has been drawn up in 2012 but will apply just as well till the year 2019.

Predictions from 2020 onwards were found to be unsuitable for publication, fearing widespread unrest and law & order issues.

You can change the names & tweak the dates for these predictions to apply to any other city in India.

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Letter To MEA Following My Ordeal For Passport Reissue At The Pune Passport Office

With reference to contact information at http://meaindia.nic.in, have sent the email below to ascpv.twitter AT gmail.com. CCed to jsxp AT mea.gov.in , usxps AT mea.gov.in . Link for information sent via twitter to @ForeignSecNRao  , @VPrakashMea , @IndianDiplomacy @ASCPV.

I will update the article / the comments section if & when I get a reply from the ministry.

*Update 10th June : ASCPV has forwarded to Pune RPO & jsxp.mea has forwarded to M.Pardeshi. No comment or regret as yet.
*Update 22nd June: – No response from MEA as yet. Have sent a reminder tweet. Will send a reminder mail next week.
*Update 29th June: No reply yet. Sent a followup email to the concerned officials.
*Update 30Dec12: A blog about the new Pune Passport office.

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Vasant Vyakhyanmala (Spring Lecture Series) 2011 – Will The Youth Bite?

The Vasant Vyakhyanmala (Spring Lecture Series) 2011 kicked off yesterday with an inaugural address by economist & Padma Vibhushan Dr. Vijay Kelkar. Dr. Kelkar spoke about “Rising India: The growth Dynamics” . I first heard & blogged about Vasant Vyakhyanmala in 2010, however the event as such is a remarkable 137 year old one. It was founded by Justice Ranade in 1875 and is being regularly held since! Read more

Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti – 20 Yr Convention

For the past 6 months or so, I have been associated with Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ANS), an organization that aims to promote rational thought in society and works for the elimination of superstitions, blind faith & customs. Many social movements tend to peak in about 3 years since inception and then tend to die out in another 3-5 years. However the ANS has been at work for a remarkable 20+ years. Read more

Protest Pune Corporation Leasing Out Public Properties for 99 years

If you wish to oppose Pune Corporation leasing out public properties for 99 years, you can use the format below & mail your protest to to stelang@punecorporation.org. Sorry to be posting this rather late. The last date for submitting your protest is 5pm today (3rd Dec). But it should take you just 10 seconds to mail. Copy draft below, edit as you find appropriate & fire your mail to PMC. Once all our public lands are leased out for 99 years, there’s no going back!

For more info on the issue just do a google search or I had tweeted at length about this from a recent Sajag Nagrik Manch meet at http://twitter.com/harshadoak Read more

Lavasa City – Scam Or Development?

I attended an event titled the “Lavasa Mahaghotala Sabha” or the “Lavasa Scam Meet” on 27 Nov 2010. This event was meant to launch a widespread protest against the Lavasa project. The speakers at the meet were prominent social activists Medha Patkar, Anna Hazare & many others linked to the protest. I have live tweeted at length at http://twitter.com/harshadoak (tweets reproduced at end of article) about who said what at the meet. Thought it would make more sense to go beyond the tweets & blog my take on Lavasa.  Read more

Vasant Vyakhanmala (Spring-time Lecture Series), Pune, India – Since 1875!!!

Vasant Vyakhanmala (Spring time Lecture series) is a most remarkable undertaking. It’s an annual event that was first held in 1875 in Pune by social reformer Justice Ranade and is being held every year since. Many of India’s top leaders & visionaries have spoken at the event and I am told that it was especially popular in the pre-independence era, with 1000s attending the lectures. Read more

Notes & Speeches From Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (Anti Superstition) Founder Dr Dabholkar’s Book Release

Yesterday I attended the book release of ‘Timiratuni Tejakadey’ by Dr Narendra Dabholkar, founder of Anti Superstition movement in Maharashtra, Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti. My notes & recordings from the event. I appreciate that the tweets / notes are currently in fairly raw form, hope to edit into more readable paras when I have some more time on hand. Do check out the recordings of the speeches by Narendra Dabholkar & Mohan Agashe. Read more

Internet For Business Development, Internet Entrepreneurship & IT Security & Compliance Courses – By IndicThreads Education

From the IndicThreads Education Press Release. You are welcome to link – share >>

IndicThreads, a technology media pioneer, creators of the IndicThreads.com software developer portal & the IndicThreads Technology Conferences, announces the  launch of  ‘IndicThreads Education‘ a novel initiative in business & technology education. The courses are path-breaking in their content  & way ahead of their time as compared to curriculum of traditional education courses in India.

IndicThreads Education kicks off with three courses, all of which are a first for education in India – 1) Internet For Business & Development 2) Internet Entrepreneurship 3) Information Technology Security & Compliance

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Internet For Business Development

My presentation on ‘Internet For Business Development’ at Barcamp Pune, Nov 2009. The learning was part of my preparations while designing the Internet For Business Development & Internet Entrepreneurship course for IndicThreads Education.The session gives an overview of how the Internet has changed business and business development activities forever & how today’s entrepreneurs & business development professionals need to harness the power of technology and the Internet to deliver better sales, stronger brands & a larger customer base for the enterprise.

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Maharashtra State Assembly Elections – Pune Shivajinagar Seat Contestants

No Indian has anywhere near as much scope to change the destiny of other Indians as an elected representative in government. So like it or hate it, we have to take our netas and elections seriously. The assembly elections (Vidhan Sabha) for the state of Maharashtra in India are upon us and 13th Oct 09 is voting day. My vote lies in the Shivajinagar constituency in Pune. So here’s my analysis of the top 3 contenders for the ShivajiNagar seat in Pune city. I do not think I have any deep rooted party loyalties and my choice of party in past elections has varied based on the quality of the candidate. I am attempting to provide my analysis of the candidates & not their parties. Also I do not claim to be unbiased, so please apply your judgement. Read more

Pune Election Results – Final Vote Count

The final vote count for the Pune Loksabha election is now available. Sitting MP, Suresh Kalmadi of the Congress has managed to retain the Pune seat by a margin of about 25000 votes.

  1. Kalmadi Suresh (Winner)     INC     279897 votes
  2. Anil Shirole     BJP     254150 votes
  3. Shirole Ranjeet Shrikant     MNS     75885 votes
  4. D S K Alias D.s.kulkarni     BSP     62963 votes
  5. Arun Bhatia     PG     30329 votes Read more

Pune Election Result – Congress Kalmadi Leads

2:46 pm Update – Kalmadi leds over Shirole by 24158

2:15 pm Update – Kalmadi leds over Shirole by 21525

1:29 pm Update – Suresh Kalmadi from the Indian National Congress leads by 19410 from BJP’s Anil Shirole as on 1.29 pm on 16th May 09.  Counting is still in progress. Read more

Election Results – Pune Loksabha Elections 2009

Update: 2012 Pune Corporation Elections Results

The election results for the India General Elections 2009 will be announced on the 16th of May. Pune city voted long back, on the 23rd of April 09. So it’s going to be  a long wait before we know if the candidate we voted for will actually make it to the LokSabha, the House Of the People and the lower house of the Parliament Of India. Read more

Finalizing My Vote For India Loksabha Election 2009

Doing some final checks before I finalize the candidate I would be voting for in tomorrows election. Just visited the websites of all the top candidates to check if they have something new to say. Nothing new there. A couple of sites seem to have actually gone down. Next looking at http://myneta.info/pune for a quick and easy to read synopsis of the affidavits filed by the Pune Loksabha candidates. The details of 3 candidates including BJP’s Anil Shirole are missing from the sheet. Read more

Pune Loksabha Elections – Top 6 Candidates Overview

Below are my short takeaways about who I think are the top 6 candidates. There are 10s of candidates contesting for the Pune seat, so there could be other worthy candidates, unfortunately I haven’t heard of them. Read more

Wealth & Assets Of Candidates In India General Elections 2009

Below are the affidavits of the candidates contesting for the Pune Loksabha Seat in India’s General Elections 2009. Click on the names to open the scanned PDF documents. You can check the details of the wealth, holdings, assets of the candidates and their criminal record, if any. Use these links to have a look at candidate affidavits across – Pune, Maharashtra and  India . Read more

Pune Election Candidate, D S Kulkarni (DSK) explains BSP ‘social engineering’

D S KulkarniI would soon be carrying a proper interview with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate for Pune Loksabha elections, Shri. D S Kulkarni (DSK). However while the DSK office processes the full interview, they were kind enough to put me on the phone with Shri. Kulkarni. Below is my record of our brief interaction. Will have the full interview up soon. Read more