The Person

Deepak Shikarpur was born on 30 January 1965 in Pune, Maharashtra. He is married to Gauri (nee Sonia) who is a commerce graduate and Post Graduate in Law. She is a classical music teacher. Deepak & Gauri's son Vedvrat is now employed as Technical writer in a communications firm.

Education

In his school days, he was promoted from 3rd to 5th standard and hence completed school education ahead of time. After getting very good scores in Higher, he chose engineering as his career. He completed engineering from Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli in 1985 and stood 6th rank in his graduating class. He obtained Post Graduation in Management from IMDR . He has received Ph.D from Bharati Vidyapeeth in March 2010 Topic of his thesis was on “Study of Opportunities for Engineering Process Outsourcing For SME Enterprises in and around Pune

An Avid Traveler

He has visited 40  countries in the last 20 years for professional and personal reasons. He loves to travel. He has seen most of India, Mahabaleshwar, Goa and Kerala being his favorite holiday destinations in India. He hates to drive and is a good companion if you are willing to drive!

His all time favorite destinations abroad are Paris, Swiss Alpes, Scotland, France, Ohio (USA), Kenyan Safari in wild jungles of Africa, Singapore and the list is endless.

London is his favorite city and was fortunate to visit it many times. He was fortunate to witness the all time best world cup semi final tied match Australia Vs South Africa at the Lords in 1999.

Hobbies

When he is in town, he loves trekking the Vetal Tekdi, Parvati hills and National Defense Academy hills.

He enjoys Badminton and Table Tennis, takes to water like a fish and even enjoys Bridge as nourishment to analytical and logical mind!

Walking is his passion too and many times you will find him walking the streets of Pune.

And guess what, our multi-faceted personality loves Bollywood movies too and sometimes even attends premiers of new releases!

He has won many Table Tennis tournaments during his school / college years. He was selected to represent Shivaji University for the same in the year 1983. Also won many trophies in Table Tennis / Bridge at the Rotary Sports Hungama.

He has modeled for Wonder Group/VLCC  and has acted in Marathi movie Rajkaran

The newspaper columnist and The Tutor

Through his writings about IT, he has enthused people from all walks of life, of all ages to acquaint themselves with computers and technology. He has been writing on technology for almost a decade - has written hundreds of articles in newspapers and periodicals, written several books and research papers, some of which were presented at various seminars and conferences in India as well as abroad.

Deepak has been authoring various articles for newspapers and IT magazines. His contention is that more and more people should become aware about information technology.

He has promoted Pune on a range of platforms and focuses on helping people understand technology and benefiting from it. On an average he delivers 3 public lectures per month on enlightening people about IT.

He has written 19 books on IT and won many awards for his literary work.

A Voracious Reader

He is a voracious reader. Humor, suspense and philosophy are his favorite. He has always been a fan of Late Shri. P. L. Deshpande. His favourite authors are late Sir Arthur Connon Doyle, Late Earl Stanley Gardner, Bill Gates, Sir Jeffry Archer etc.

Awards And Felicitations

• Silicon Valley IT Icon award 2012
• Late G R Paranjape award by Marathi SahityaParishad for best literature in 2011
• Lokmat P V Gadgil memorial award for 2011
• Lions International Vocational Excellence Award 2000
• Cosmos award in May 2001
• ParvatiPunyasbhushan 2012
• Sangli Gaurav award 2011
• Veer Savarkar Award for Literature in 2005
• Rotary District 3130 Best president award, 2006
• Wrangler Paranjape award for Best literature , 2007
• Late ShantanuraoKirloskar Achievement Award 2010

Achievements

• Fellow Member of Institution of Engineers
• Fellow and Past Chairman Computer Society of India
• Fellow of Maharashtra Academy of Sciences
• Popular orator in Mass lectures . Spoke thrice in Vasant Vyakhyanmala and once in MaathiSahityaSammelan.
• Awarded for Literature for mass promotion by Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited
• Authored 19 books on IT in Marathi
• Member of governing Board of Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education
• Member of BharatiyaVidya Bhavan, Pune center
• Member of special IT/eGovernance Task force of the state formed by Hon Chief Minister of Maharashtra
• Member Selection Committee Maharashtra State IT awards

Rotary Career

Dr. Deepak Shikarpur is an active member of Rotary Club of Shivajinagar from 1991. His Classification is IT promotion. He was the club President in 2005-06 and has bagged the Best President Award. He has served Rotary District 3130 and 3131 on many assignments with responsibilities such as Chairman Corporate promotion (Rotary Foundation), Assistant Governor , GSE Team leader (visiting District 6600 Ohio), Director (Youth and Family of Rotary), Director (Rotary Foundation Promotion) and District Secretary (Events and Meets). Deepak is a Second Level Major Donor of Rotary Foundation.

He was elected unopposed as the sixth District Governor for Rotary District 3131 for the year 2013-14. District 3131 comprises of around 90 rotary clubs in western maharshtra.

Rotary International President (2011-12) Kalyan Banerjee had appointed him on an International Assignment as a member of Social Networking committee of Rotary International for the year 2011-12. He was the only member serving in the committee from South Asia.

His wife Rtn Gauri (Sonia) is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and active member of R C Pune Shivajinagar. She has served the club in various capacities such as director (PR), bulletin committee chairman , nominated as director (membership) for the year 2011-12 and hon secretary for the year 2012-13. She was co-director for women in rotary avenue for district 3131 in the year 2010-11. They are blessed with a son Vedvrat who is also a Paul Harris Fellow