My

Life
As a
C.A.
Student
- Deepak Jaisinghani
 My Life As a C.A. Student

Phase- 1 : Before C.A.

I never wanted to be a Chartered Accountant. Never!

As a teenager, I knew had a penchant for studies. A particular predilection for

books was deeply rooted in my heart. Though I have never secured a First rank
in any standard in school (at most I was able to grab the second spot) I knew I
was above average students. In fact I was quite sure I will get past my boards
with fair distinction. And that I did. But Chartered Accountancy? Blimey!

What I wanted to become; infact I still do, is a writer. I spent mychildhood

reading comics of ‘AatankhartaNaagraj’ and ‘Super Commando Dhruv’. With
passage of time, I shifted to English novels and my love for books grew million-
fold. The likes of Young Adult Dystopians of Suzanne Collins, Love stories of
Nicholas Sparks, Races-against-time of Dan Brown, Crime bestsellers of David
Baldacci and Non-fictions of Dale Carnegie gave water to the seed originally
sown by my childhood superheroes.

“Come here beta, we want to talk about something with you” are themost
horrific words a parent could ever say to their child! I mean, you literally start to
count your sins in your head! My dad confronted me on the last day of
12thstandard board exams, asking what I wanted to do with my life. Writing was
my instantinnocent answer, which was equi-instantly disregarded by my father.
He gave me 2 options – either to join family business or to get any otherjob, but
writing. I mulled over this fact and finally settled for C.A. I am not saying I am
in this profession by compulsion. All I am saying is, I am certainly not in this
mess by my choice.

-*-*-

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 My Life As a C.A. Student

Phase-2 : C.P.T.

After 4 days of board exams, my father got me registered with ICAI without
waiting for results. Within a weekend’s time, he got me enrolled in Arihant
Private Coaching Institute for Chartered Accountancy Students. I had not yet
relished even a miniature of my eagerly awaited vacation, when he was all over
me holding big fat uninviting books and ready to plummet me in some vast and
unyielding darkness unbeknownst to me.

-*-*-

The very first day of my journey was something I would remember till my last
breath. My lecture was to commence at 11.00 a.m. and I left my house at 11.15!
When I reached the place, I was informed that the particular lecture had been
shifted to another premise, which meant additional 30 minutes of driving! It was
already 11.45 and I raced my vehicle at its top. In my ensuing hurry, I bumped
straight into an incoming motorbike and ended up with a gamut of injuries! But
that accident wasn’t why the memory got imprinted in my senses. The haunting
part was yet to come.

Before I proceed any further, let me make a confession – I HATE Maths. I

can’t comprehend how some random pathetic Thetas and Betas are gonna help
me in practical world out there! Anyway, so when I entered the class at 12.30, I
got an elongated earful from the Math Professor. The class was overflowing so
they had to arrange an extra chair for me, behind the last bench. Prof started to
scribble something extra-terrestrial to me and as usual, I found myself in a
temporary state of Dyslexia. After an hour or so, he left for a break leaving us
with a range of ciphers to decode.

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 My Life As a C.A. Student

I glanced around the room to check out the hotties and there really wasn’t a
single one. But what I did find was that all the students; exception being me;
were so engrossed in their notes like Goddess Saraswati Herself had
materialized out of their notes! At first I let myself enjoy the sight of mass
public inanity, but gradually the depression sank in. Here I was! The topper,
who hadn’t failed even once in his whole goddamn life, was not able to solve a
single bloody problem! A solitary tear found its way outta my eyes and slowly
the silent stream trickled down. I got up, left the classroom, went straight home,
locked myself up and I cried coyly.

I deliberated my apprehensions with my father that day. If the journey has

started with the deadly combo of physical pain and mental ruckus, I couldn’t
have fathomed what the destination had in store for me. My father’s words
soothed me down, “Look son, thousands of books reach a publication house
everyday from which the best one is published. Thousands of books get
published everyday from which the finest find its way to the bestseller chart. I
am not discouraging you from becoming a writer; I just want your book to be
the best. Secondly, there is no age for writing. You can write and publish even
after 50 years, but you can’t study after 50 years. Now is the time to study.
Work hard and make me proud!” That was the moment when for the first time I
realized that joining C.A. wasn’t that much of a patheticidea .

-*-*-

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 My Life As a C.A. Student

Phase 3 : IPCC

Though Math was a bit unruly for me, the remaining three were my tenacious
strengths and I cleared my C.P.T. in the first attempt with flying colours. My
parents were proud that their son had finally shaken off the writing mania. But
they were oblivious to the fact that I haven’t stopped writing during C.P.T. and
certainly hoped to continue it in I.P.C.C.

2 months in Intermediate and I knew I couldn’t prevail in both the boats at the
same time. I had to sacrifice one. I locked both of my unfinished manuscripts
‘The Color of Blood’ and ‘The Suave and The Svelte’ in the cupboard, with a
heavy heart and swore never to open them until I cleared my C.A. That’s the
most painful moment of my journey.

One good thing, the locking up of the books did, was that it motivated me
even more to pass the hurdles. And of course, the interminable support from
Navkar ensured that I cleared both my groups in first attempt.

-*-*-

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 My Life As a C.A. Student

Phase 4 : Final

Final! The word itself puts chills down my spine! The scenario in Final rotates
by 360̊ as compared to Intermediate. 3 years of dreary Articleshipand
unrelenting oceans of syllabus to cram! Who says the God can’t fail? Let Him
try C.A!

Not only the scenario, but my attitude towards studies has also changed. If I
have to crown myself with a title, it would be ‘The Chief Procrastinator’. There
are mounds and heaps of notes lying secluded and screaming for my attention
while I am like ‘OMG! I have got so much to study. Which movie should I
watch first?’

Jests aside, there have been times when I suffer from momentary bouts of
downheartedness. But whenever the gloominess sets in, whenever I feel like
quitting, I just remember why I started. Inspired from ‘BhaagMilkhaBhaag’, I
have even attached a note on my wall so that the first thing I see every morning
is ‘I would become a Chartered one day’ and I start my day with renewed
vigour and energy.

-*-*-

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 My Life As a C.A. Student

“Describe yourself in 2 words”, instructed the GMCS professor.

“Ardent reader”, I spoke on my turn.

She did a double take. “Do you even know the meaning of ‘reader’? A reader
is a person who can openly claim to live his life in an enclosed chamber with
nothing to accompany but books and yet come out with a contented face.”

It was her turn to get shocked when I said, “Well, where’s the stamp?!”

We ended up discussing our favourite picks at the end of session!

-*-*-

Another such moment when my affection towards writing supplemented even

more was, when my senior article taunted me,“I think you are afraid of failing
in your potential writing career. That’s why you are doing C.A. so that you can
turn to something else in case it doesn’t work”. She has never doubted me again
from that day onwards when I replied, “I may or may not become a successful
C.A. in my life but if there’s one thing I’m sure of, even more than my name, its
writing. Even God can’t stop me from becoming an author”.

-*-*-

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My Life As a C.A. Student

I would
like to
share a
picture
which I
once
updated
on
Faceboo
k and
Hitesh
Sir
himself
had
commen
ted on it.
Thanks
a lot Sir
for
believin
g in me.

-*-*-

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 My Life As a C.A. Student

As I have said earlier, joining C.A. was not such a bad idea. With time I have
come to know that apart from academic books, there isn’t even a single book
published in India about Chartered Accountancy. Though we have ex-CAG
Mr.VinodRai’s “Not Just an Accountant”, it details the nationwide scams such
as The Satyam issue and Commonwealth Games. I wish to write a book about
an everyday Chartered Accountant incorporating some of the real-life case
studies and sharing my future fellow Chartered Accountants’ bittersweet
experiences.

My goal in life is to introduce the ‘Bitrology’ in the world of literature.

Bitrology, a word I have created myself, is a set of 3 books in which every book
is divided into 2 parts, i.e. 6 books in all.

Lastly, I am grateful to Navkar for presenting me with such a wonderful

opportunity to express myself..

- Deepak Jaisinghani

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