About ME
Namaste, Hello, and welcome to my digital home.
My name is Mandar Salunkhe, I work in an IT company (one for the kitchen), and every minute that I get to myself, I spend it being a motivational speaker, reader, writer, blogger, and disability inclusion advocate(one for the heart).
Disability? Well, Let me explain. If you meet me in the real world, you will notice that I am a handsome man with a neatly shaved jaw, strong shoulders, and a smart mustache under the nose. One more thing you might notice about me is my wheelchair. Yeah. I should have started with that. So I am a locomotive-disabled individual. Is that too technical?? Okay. Hmm, let it put it simply. Basically, my legs are as useful to me as an umbrella in a hailstorm. Hence the wheelchair (mostly) but when I am feeling adventurous, I leave my home using crutches (and don’t manage to go too far!!).
a few facts about myself:
- I am staying in Pune. I completed my education ( phew, that was tough) in Pune. I am an Instrumentation Engineer and I hold an MBA in IT from Symbiosis Institute, Pune.
- I work at an Indian multinational IT company in a cloud and infrastructure verticle as a quality process specialist. My main responsibility is to implement the organization’s processes in each project and audit them at a defined frequency. More on my career visit here
- My family is my strength and the pillar of our family is my mother. I have a wife who is loving-caring, supportive, and a terrific human being. I have a son, who is… just a baby. I have an ever-dependable elder brother. My sister-in-law never made me feel that I don’t have a sister. I have two nephews and they are the coolest little dude you could find on this face of earth. I am blessed with lots of friends who are always there, just a call away.
- My father was the most sincerest, hardworking, self-made man I have ever seen. His untimely demise was a great loss to me. There was so much to learn from him.
- Writing. I love writing. My love for writing comes from my love for reading. I always loved to read mystery novels and my favorite authors are Author Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, John Grism, Dan brown, etc. However, my focus recently shifted towards productivity and self-improvement books such as Get Things Done, Atomic Habits, Show Your Work, Think like a Monk, etc.
MY WORK ON DISABILITY INCLUSION:
I give talks on disability inclusion in the IT sector. I want to ensure that IT companies give equal opportunities to all deserving individuals without discrimination against their disability. I work with an institute for disability rehabilitation. I am actively pushing my organization to hire individuals with disabilities in various capacities, from security to housekeeping, from Canteen management to back office. I was lucky enough to have gotten a chance to share my story of personal struggle and triumph over a TEDx talk. If you wish, you can have a look at it here.
MY JOURNEY AS A WRITER:
As a child, I would entertain my friends by telling stories. My tales would be inspired by readings. I read a lot as a child and then I will bring a few kids together to summarize the book’s story. Later on, I understood, hey, my audience hasn’t read that book so I can improvise the story. There I started forming my own stories.
This helped me connect with other kids as a person. Now they didn’t see me as a disabled kid but saw me as a boy, just as they were. This in turn made them help me, not out of pity but out of kindness… Some picked me on their shoulders to my class, some took me on long rides to show the city and even to movies, etc. I made genuine connections with people. My bonds of friendship stayed strong with the test of time. So telling stories and writing a story was always part of who I am. THIS, I got to experience this due to the boon of disability.
The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come. — Steve Jobs
As I grew up, I wrote my stories not only on my social media platforms but also on other platforms such as Medium. One of my articles was wholeheartedly praised by Lipika Sahu (The most famous author on Medium). And I thought I needed to take my writing a little more seriously. Hence I created this digital hub to house all my stuff together for my readers.
So the point is, I am here for readers. And I would love a chance to enthrall you all 🙂
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course. However depending on the extent of the disability, they might need a bit of support from time to time.
I for one, have modified car with all controls in my hand. I can travel independently however not all of us prefer to drive. Some folks prefer to hail a cab. Usually, western countries also have an assistant who helps board the disabled individual on to public transport. In India, this revolution has just begun.
No. I live independently and I also know a lot disabled folks living a perfectly normal life. However, there are a few who would need attention of carer based on the extent of the disability.
