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It’s said that life is integrated but observer is analytic. Therefore, although we will take analytic journey through the multi-dimensional achievements of Dr. Vijay D. Gokhale, his impact on the organization as a technical director and as a person, is more than just the sum of parts. By formal education, he is a doctor of human body and has BAMS (आयुर्वेद) degree. In depth study of this very complex system, at the start of his career, later on became a rich source of analogies while mastering other fields which gave rise to his core “Knowledge is Interrelated” philosophy. The impact of this principle is so deep that it runs like an invisible thread not only through his life but also through the work culture of the organizations he is affiliated with.

During the medical college period [1986-1991], to fight his internal demons of somewhat suppressed personality, which were the result of the environment he grew in, he entered the world of drama. It is here that the artist in him blossomed and his latent creative urges found an expression. He succeeded here as a director, winning the accolades of the classes and the masses alike.

Science education, coupled with his expanded vistas of personality, he once challenged the rationale and workings of astrology which happened to be his father’s field of expertise. His father dealt with this scepticism in a very pragmatic manner and did not force his belief on the son, which was a norm at that time. Instead his father invited him to study the field for himself and then asked to come to a conclusion. This resulted not only in Dr. Vijay D. Gokhale, mastering the field of astrology but also resulted in him acquiring a habit of doing everything first hand before coming to a conclusion. Formally, he earned three educational degrees in Jyotish viz. “Jyotish Visharad” (ज्योतिष विशारद), “Jyotish Shastri”(ज्योतिष शास्त्री) and “Krushnamurti Visharad” (कृष्णमूर्ती विशारद). Thereby, he learned to do astronomical calculations (pertaining to planetary motion), involving complex mathematics, all by himself, instead of looking into the ready-made charts (पंचांग). Little did he know then, that his expertise in medical sciences, astronomical calculations, his blind love for drama, and habit of doing everything first hand was all going to come together, to make him one of the most outstanding computer programmers. But then again, one can connect the dots only looking backwards.

After finishing the education, he started taking private tuition for medical students, first of their kind in Pune. The decision to start teaching was not a conscious one but was rather shaped by the circumstances. But unknowingly he already had acquired two essential ingredients of a good teacher viz. ability to interrelate the things and bringing art into the science. Later on, he made a conscious use of these two qualities and took the art of teaching to a new level. He taught anatomy, physiology, pathology, medicine and surgery for over 15 years and pharmacology for two years [1991-2006].

At the same time, to pursue his love for drama, he started the theatrical drama academy called “Pratibimb”. He ran it from 1991 to 1996. Although it excelled in theater it could not sustain economically and soon Dr. Vijay D. Gokhale found himself under heavy debt. To compensate for the losses, he finally decided that he would use his skills with astronomical calculations to prepare natal charts, to earn side income, keeping teaching as the main profession. [1996]

It was later suggested to him that computational part in the preparation of natal charts could be delegated to a computer and it would make things efficient by the orders of the magnitude. He then bought a new computer impulsively, not to mention adding to his debt, only to learn later that he had to buy software to make use of it for the intended purpose. The software was costing almost as much as the computer did. Here the habit of doing everything first hands helped him. He decided to write software for “Jyotish” himself! His decision was nothing short of audacious considering the fact that he did not even know then how to operate a computer properly. Perhaps, sometimes ignorance is really bliss! Disregarding the complexity of a task at hand, he kept his head down, focused on one thing at a time, showed extreme engineering approach and single-handedly wrote the “Jyotish” Software worth 150 thousand lines of C code, in Win 32 SDK.