Mandar Apte

UI/UX Designer from Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Category: Mumbai

Mumbai (also known as Bombay, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra.

  • A Modern Hindu Brahman Scholler in America & His Salary in USD Affecting His Religious Beliefs

    A Way of American Life: My First Experience of Indian Citizen Going Abroad

    Almost 22 years ago I was a student at the Sir J. J. School of Applied Art. I was learning BFA Applied Art (Advertising & Marketing)

    On the same campus, there was the Sir J. J. School of Art & Sir J. J. School of Architecture.

    One story that I experienced and was inspired by was about one Sir J. J. School of Art final-year graduate student who got hired by Disney Animation Studios in America. We all Applied Art students went to meet him shake his hand and saw his sketchbook. We were amazed by his achievements as Disney just doesn’t take Indian Art Students out of graduation as their employment standards and quality of work that they require are high. Disney normally takes Animator with 20 Years of hardcore Animation Industry Experience. But one day out of the blue same J. J. student returned from America after 6 Months as he was depressed saying no Disney Studio colleague said hi to him or waved in gesture in recognition of his existence in the company. It was the year 2001 at that time there was no iPhone, WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram to talk with his parents and siblings. So he was lonely at the tender age of 22 years. This is the psyche of a young man who went to America for a better quality of life than to be in India forever.

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  • Males and Females in Human Resource (HR) Recruitment in the Era of Feminism / Illusion of Patriarchy or Illusion of Brahmanical Patriarchy in Brahman Hatread Society

    With the invention of Feminism. The female audience was introduced to the term called Patriarchy and, for Hindu haters Brahmanical Patriarchy. Feminism tells young female audiences to blame Male dominant society for their natural human body periods of pain. They somehow ask why boys should not suffer the same and why just girls or women.

    Even with the disclosure of Twitter Files by Elon Musk. Vijaya Gadde from Twitter also got sued in court for her bias Twitter’s social media administration or moderation. (Vijaya Gadde is an American attorney who served as general counsel and the head of legal, policy, and trust at Twitter. – Wikipedia) I remember her saying, “Smash Brahmanical Patriarchy”, out of nowhere. Why are American companies’ social media heads blaming or shaming Brahmins from India / Bharat / Hindusthan for no harm they did?

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  • क्लेशकारक अनुभव गांधिवधानंतरचा | Life of Chitpavan Kokanastha Brahmins After Killing of Mahatma Gandhi By Subhash Apte

    Complete Monologue by Subhash Apte in Marathi:

    १९४८ साली गांधींचा वध झाला तेंव्हा मी आठ वर्षांचा होतो. दुसऱ्या दिवशी मी सकाळी उठलो तर सगळे वरचे लोक ओरडत होते. पेपर मध्ये आले आहे महात्मा गांधींचा खून झाला आणि मारेकरी पळून गेले अशी बातमी पेपर मध्ये आली होती आणि त्यात एक उल्लेख होता की मारेकऱ्यामध्ये गोडसे व आपटे आहेत. मी काही पेपर वाचला नव्हता परंतु वरती पटेल म्हणून राहत होते त्यांचा मुलगा होता त्याचे नाव आठवत नाही मी बाहेर आल्यावर ते म्हणाले, “गांधीजींचा मारेकरी आला, गांधीजींचा मारेकरी आला”. मी म्हणालो, “काय केले रे मी बाबा तुझे?”. अरे तुम्हारे चाचाने मारा है उसको! गांधी को मारा! पण मला काहीच कळले नाही. मी परत घरात आलो आणि वडिलांना विचारलं हे कसे का मला चिडवताहेत? ते म्हणाले, तू बाहेर कोणाशीही काही बोलू नकोस. पण तो बाहेरून मोठ्याने बोलत होता, “वह मारनेवाला चालमे रहाताहै आपटे!” पण आम्ही कोणीच त्याला प्रतिसाद दिला नाही. दुर्लक्ष केलं. थोड्या वेळाने तो शांत झाला. त्याने बोलायचे बंद केले. नंतर माझ्या वडिलांनी पेपर वाचला आणि सांगितले, “गांधीजींचा खून झाला आहे. आपटे आणि गोडसे यांनी खून केला आहे. आपलं आडनाव साधर्म्य आहे त्यामुळे आपल्याला ते लोक म्हणत आहेत. तू कोणाकडे लक्ष देऊ नको”. असा सर्वाना सांगितलं. त्या दिवशी आम्ही कोणी शाळेत गेलो नाही. आम्ही आपला घरातच होतो.

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  • In-depth Review of Matrimony Website by Anuroop Wiwaha (anuroopwiwaha.com)

    I have used the Anuroop Wiwaha Matrimony Website for the last four to five years. In addition, I have extensively used their mobile Apple iPhone app and website for my bride search. As a result, I discovered a few points that Anuroop Wiwaha Portal / Company improved upon to help the community get the right matrimony match for their search.

    Observations:

    Few Points that they can improve on.

    Mobile App & Website Portal:

    1. At every event, they talk about having 20,000 Profiles / Accounts of the bride and groom registered on their portal. An average Anuroop Wiwaha account cost is INR 5,000/-.
    2. The user (Bride or Groom) can’t register with a free account as they don’t support free accounts. The user must pay an account fee upfront before registering to the portal. So it gives assurance that the user is at least serious about their search, and even the user has to submit identity proof within seven days of registration. So in a way, it eliminates the possibility of fake accounts or fraud.
    3. Even with this money of 20,000 Accounts * 5,000 Fee, the Bride or Groom Search is cumbersome and hectic. The mobile app is not full fledge as compared to a web portal. They use non-native software technologies for the Apple iPhone app, which takes minutes or sometimes fails to load content and data.
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  • Uber Cabs Invoice Outstanding Payment Alert, A Technical Glitch or Accounting Error

    I just travelled from Mumbai to Thane using Uber cabs. They rounded my bill before tax by 46 Paise. My trip was a cash trip.

    My final cost of the trip after taxes applied was 160.05 INR.

    But when I completed my trip I got notification from the Uber app that I have not paid 5 paise out of 160.05 INR using cash.

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  • The year 1948, Gandhi’s assassination and its consequence on the Marathi Brahmin family household. A personal experience essay by Prabhakar Apte, Pune.

    Complete Monologue by Prabhakar Apte in Marathi:

    The Limb is one village situated on the bank of the Krishna river. Historically one Barve family, who belonged to the in-law family of first Peshva Balaji Vishvanath. Barve family migrated from Konkan to Limb and built the first ghat on the Krishna river. Thereafter Lakshman Ballal Apte, who was a Sardar of Madhvrao Peshve. He built a very Hugh Lakshmi Narayan mandir on the bank of the Krishna river, and built a big house and also a ghat on the Krishna river. The big house and temple complex was covered by a rampart and four buruj structures on four corners. The third generation of Lakshman Ballal was of four brothers and there was one adopted ranch of Visaji Lakshman, his branch continued to stay in Limb, but our cousin branch represented by Shankar Narahar Apte use to conduct Sangh shakha in limb and he was a close friend of Barve family. The descendant of the Barve family one Narhar Dattatray Barve also continued to stay in Limb. On 30th January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, who happened to be a Marathi Brahmin. However Limb village had 100 Brahmin families, and they were happily living peacefully. Narhar Dattatray was a small boy and while playing near a ‘Pimpal Paar’ he overheard that a message has come from Kolhapur that Brahmins houses should be burnt as revenge for Gandhi’s murder. He reported it to his mother who had arranged a get together of women folk for Haldi Kunku. She did not believe in the report of her child because the Limb atmosphere was calm, but within one hour the houses of Limb Brahmins were set on fire and Brahmins had to take shelter within Satara etc. This is the sad story of Limb where our forefather came and settled 250 years back. Now the debris of Apte houses is near Lakshmi Narayan Temple. In gram panchayat record it is noted as Apte Gadhi and the big house of Shankar Narhar Apte was burnt after Gandhi murder in the year 1948. One archaeologist Anita Agashe excavated the debris of the potter’s settlement.

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  • प्राध्यापक प्रभाकर आपटे ह्यांनी त्यांच्या लेखणीतून मांडलेले त्यांच्या लहानपणीचे गांधी हत्ये नंतरचे वास्तव

    Complete Monologue by Prabhakar Apte in Marathi:

    आमचे मूळ गाव लिंब सातारा जिल्हा तेच गाव गजानन मिलचे मालक वेलणकर यांचे. त्यांनी लिंब वर एक पुस्तक लिहिले आहे. त्यांच्या पुस्तकात १०० वर्षापूर्वीचे लिंब हे भरभराटीचे असावे असे दिसते. १९४८ साली ज्या दिवशी लिंब मध्ये जाळपोळ झाली त्या दिवशी आमच्या लक्ष्मी नारायण मंदिरात पूजा करणारे नरहर दत्तात्रय बर्वे हे लहान होते आणि त्यांच्या घरात हळदीकुंकू असल्याने ५० -६० ब्राह्मणां च्या सुवासिनी आलेल्या होत्या, त्यावेळी त्यांचा मुलगा फिरत फिरत पारावर गेला त्यावेळी गावातील काही ब्राह्मण द्वेषी मंडळी जमली होती आणि कोल्हापुराहून आपल्याला सांगावा आला आहे की ब्राह्मणांचि घरे पेटवायची ते ऐकून तो मुलगा धावत आला व त्याने आईला ती बातमी सांगितली. पण त्या बायकांनी तुला काय कळते म्हणून दुर्लक्ष केले आणि तासाभरात बर्व्यांसह १०० ब्राह्मणाची घरे जळून खाक झाली त्यात सरदार आपट्यां चा प्रचंड मोठा वाडा पण जळाला त्यावेळी बर्वे व अभ्यंकर अशी दोन कुटुंबे सोडून बाकी सर्व सातारला पळून गेले. बर्वे यांच्या वाड्याशेजारी विष्णूचे देऊळ आहे ते सुरक्षित राहिल्याने त्याच्या भिंतीला पत्रे लावून बर्व्यांनी आडोसा केला तो अजून तसाच आहे. आपट्यांच्या विष्णू मंदिराला सांगली जिह्यातील सागाव येथे जमीन आहे. तिथे कुलकर्ण्यांचा वाडा आहे, ते कुलकर्णी संघाची शाखा चालवत म्हणून गुंडांनी त्यांचा पाठलाग केला आणि फरशी कुऱ्हाडीने त्यांच्यावर प्राणघातक वार केले. ते जेंव्हा जमिनीवर कोसळले तेंव्हा हा खरच मेला आहे का याची खात्री करण्यासाठी त्यांनी त्यांचा उजवा अंगठा तोडला तरी त्यांनी हूं की चूं केले नाही त्यानंतर ते कसेतरी चालत चालत कोल्हापूरला पोहचले. त्यानंतर एकदा साताऱ्यात संघाची बैठक जिल्हा कार्यवाह अण्णा भोई हे 63 साली घेत होते त्यावेळी संघाच्या स्वयं सेवकांनी त्याग केला पाहिजे असे ते म्हणाले त्यावेळी त्या कुलकर्णींनी तुटका अंगठा दाखवून आणखी काय त्याग करायचा असा प्रश्न विचारला त्यावेळी सर्वजण स्थब्ध झाले. पुढच्याच वर्षी कऱ्हाड जवळील कोले या गावी शाखा चालविणाऱ्या अण्णा भोईंचा संघ कार्यकर्ते म्हणून निर्घृण खून झाला.

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  • Why typing Devanagari Alphabets (Marathi, Sanskrit, Hindi) on a personal computer is so difficult? And why typing Devanagari in Latin is so easy and preferred by many?

    Introduction & Background

    I have been planning to write this blog post for many years. I have been facing this issue since I had my first Microsoft Windows Operating System-based computer in 2002. After that, it was partially solved on a Mac in 2008. I faced the issue of Marathi on the web when I had my website mandarapte.com in 2010 and then my community Marathi website chitpavankatta.com in 2012.

    The idea of writing this blog post or writing documentation about why we face the problem of typing Marathi / Sanskrit / Hindi with Devanagari Script on a computer got more critical when some category of journalists or people who started false propaganda to tell the Marathi population at large that Devanagari Script for the Marathi language is no more relevant anymore instead we should abandon Devanagari Script Alphabets and start using Latin Script to write the Marathi Language. These people gave an example of the young generation who are writing, chatting, or texting on their mobile phones using Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. They use Latin script to write Marathi rather than Devanagari script.

    At that time, I attended a few lectures on Devanagari Calligraphy and Typography, where I met an important person like Mr Mukund Gokhale from Pune, who had done extensive work in building Marathi Typewriter with his two or three seniors in his field. He also worked with famous calligraphers and typographers to bring Devanagari onto the computer, i.e. designing popular Devanagari fonts for Computers. At that time, I was working at IITB as a web designer. After that, I met Mukund Gokhale at his Pune home to discuss why Marathi Typing is so tricky and why it is targeted by anti-nationals with no linguistic background to speak about abandoning the Devanagari script. We discussed it at length. He even showed me software he developed with his developer tech support to design Marathi-based digital artworks and designs. It was his initiative to create an alternative solution to Adobe Photoshop / Illustrator that doesn’t support Devanagari Script in 2014/17. And now it’s the year 2021. Because of these long conversations on the phone or when we met each other personally, I even developed the Devanagari Learning app for iPhone, iPad and Mac.

    When this propaganda started by abusing the Marathi language and falsely showcasing its irrelevance in today’s world, I talked with popular Hindu Orators who were tirelessly working to stop it. People like me were middlemen between famous Hindu orators and calligrapher/typographer Mukund Gokhale to share knowledge and know-how and connect the dots.

    So, I am going to write here my observations that I learned while talking with Mukund Gokhale. Some observations are in my capacity as I am myself a designer and developer who wants to talk and design/develop in Marathi.

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  • In-depth Review of Matrimony Website by Suyog Ranade Vivaha, aka Shree Suyog Vivaha Mandal

    Background:

    I have written a complete, in-depth review and analysis of the Suyog Ranade Vivaha or Shree Suyog Vivaha Mandal Matrimony website that I used for 6 to 7 months, mainly on WhatsApp groups, because of bad user experience on website format. I reported the following issues to them, but they were not ready or in the right frame of mind to accept it.

    So, I just unregistered myself from their portal and exited their WhatsApp groups.

    Following are the points that I noticed about their matrimony service:

    Point 01:
    No or Failed Business Model. The matrimony section mainly runs on WhatsApp Groups of 250 people. The group is unmanaged sometimes; people post their profiles multiple times. Some people even post political or comic forwards. Because all members are in an open WhatsApp group, there is no contact number security or number privacy. Sometimes, admins or business owners post repeated WhatsApp Messages asking every user to register and pay a fee to use WhatsApp groups or websites. Admins even warn users they will remove everyone who never pays the matrimony section fee, which showcases the main point that there is no thought behind Successful Business Model or Revenue Generation.

    Point 02:
    No Privacy or Security: Because of the open group with visibility of contact numbers to everyone, users are prone to scammers and fake profiles or spam calls

    Point 03:
    Suyog Ranade Vivaha lost complete user profile data and even registered account data three times while upgrading their website and transferring the website to their new domain. They had to ask every user individually to reregister for their website repeatedly—a failed system.

    Point 04:
    Website owners had to change their Web Domain as a similar web domain was used by its competitor with a slight name difference. This shows no thought about branding or company structure. Because of this exact domain by competitors, Suyog Ranade Vivavha’s Matrimony users were registering wrongly on competitors’ websites, thinking competitors that they were the original company. This shows a loss of identity and company branding, and a loss of revenue.

    Point 05:
    As you can see in the screenshots, the website structure is broken and faulty, with buggy coding and development.

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  • Art & Design Competition in Maharashtra, India – ‘State Art’, Maharashtra State Art Competition by Directorate of Art Maharashtra State

    This competition is famous for the name State Art.

    Competition Information & Admission Forms are issued in the First Week of November Every Year & Submission of Admission Forms & Artwork for State Art are collected & submitted in the next Month i.e Every 3rd or 4th Week of December.

    Results are declared in January’s first or second week or so, and the Exhibition is scheduled for seven days, i.e., a Full Week in February or March.

    Submission Requirements & Rules

    1. You, i.e. Participant, must be in Residence of the State of Maharashtra for the last 10 years or so.
    2. A Domicile Certificate signed by the concerned authority as proof of residence in Maharashtra for the last 10 years has to be submitted with the form.
    3. Well Framed artwork should be submitted with submission as an entry
    4. Image (JPEG or JPG Files) files of respective submissions have to be submitted on CD (Compact Disk) with form
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