An Account Of My CA Journey So Far . . .

Woohoo! I cleared my CA-IPCC both groups. It's all due to the prayers of my near and dear ones that helped me achieve this success. There are many people who believed in my success more than me. I'm really happy. But this success in momentary as the big chunk i.e. Finals is yet to be commenced and won. Here, I want to share some memories/incidents which I came across during my journey of IPCC. Those who are interested may read-on.

I remember I had gone to Khatu Shyam Ji, Rajasthan after I cleared my CPT in January 2010. And due to the mistake in reading the time of my fro flight, I was late to reach the Jaipur Airport. It was the day of 25th Jan and due to heavy security-check prior to 26th Jan we were further running short of time. And when we reached the terminals, we saw our flight took-off. We missed it! We could have stayed at some hotel in Jaipur for that night and could have returned to Mumbai by train the next day. But I had my classes scheduled for 26th Jan and for that my dad managed the tickets of next immediate flight and finally we came back, wasting Rs.10000/-. His saying was that I shouldn't miss a single lecture which I had commited to NK sir and which was the only condition on which I was allowed admission as I was famous as Mr. Always Absent !!

Well we came back. I started going to class regularly after that. I thoroughly enjoyed my lectures. I had my Orientation Programme in May and then my ITT in June. It was fun doing that. I remember the day of 27th march. It was my 18th birthday and nobody got to wish me as I had kept my cell on switch off mode since the 26th Jan as NK sir asked us to do. I deactivated my FB and Orkut Profiles. I kept myself isolated from this world. Even on my b'day nobody wished me even in class as it was a totally new group for me and nobody knew it was my b'day. That day classes was scheduled from 12pm to 7pm. Still it was fun.

Then came 23rd June. The day we shifted off to our new residence in Khadakpada. As compared to C-block, Khadakpada was 3 more kms away from my classes and the condition of public-transport too is very pathetic over here. And getting adamant, I asked my dad to get me a bike anyhow. He was neck deep in loan which he had taken to purchase the new house. Every month he used to pay Rs. 13000/- as EMI. But still somehow he managed the funds and thus I got my new Pulsar on 5th of August, 2010. By this time, I was back to using cell and I re-activated my FB profile. Till 15th August I visited my classes diligently as I used to since 26th Jan but then the 'Keedas' in me started to raise their head. I used to leave my house in the name of going to classes but I used to go and have a ride till Thane i.e. I started to bunk the lectures at classes. This was where I lost the touch with my studies and my downfall started. In other words, till now I was in sync with my studies and from here on things started to pile-on [as Sachin sir says]. I missed one whole month of lectures in which the major part of Group-2 was taught. Also, I didn't studied at home rather wasted my lot of time on Facebook and Twitter chatting and doing whole lot of nothing but non-sense. Really, KC taught me to use internet with an objective that I'll use it for some creative/learning purpose but I got addicted to silly social-networking.

Came the November 2010. My first attempt of IPCC. I decided to give just Group-1. Before the start of exams I declared at home that please don't expect anything from me this time around. And gave the papers because I had filled the examination form worth Rs. 1000/-.I used to go to the examination with heavy-foots and used to leave in some 1hour time. After the exams I got back to FB once again instead of preparing Group-2. But during this time, one genuinely good thing happened. I buried all my hatchets with my dear friends Jeetu, Ankush and Kunal.

Came the 5th of Feb 2011. The result day. I was not expecting anything. I got to know that results are post-poned till 8th Feb. ""Okie Dokie. "BIG DEAL!" as Harish sir says. 5th ko aaye ya 8th ko, saanu ki fark painda hai. Assi te fir bhi fail hi honne hain !!"" was my thought. Finally came 8th Feb. The results opened. I got a result which said I was fail. Fine. But the thing that etched me the most was that I got 59 marks in Accounting, just one short of claiming exemption! That was the most amazing as well dis-heartening thingie. Amazing for the fact that, as per common outlook towards the Accountancy paper of Nov 2010, it was said to be a tough one and I had attempted mere 70 marks but still I managed to get 59 !! Whoa! And dis-heartening for I would have claimed exemption if not for that one mark. But then, such is life dearies. I got 39 in Taxation which I feared the most. I told one thing to myself that ,' Boss bina padhe ye haal hai toh padh ke exam doon toh Institute faad ke niklunga!'. Also, the line from 3Idiots fitted perfect for me. Dost fail ho toh dukh hota hai, par jab aap fail ho jao par aapka dost pass ho jaaye toh aur bhi dukh hota hai ~ !!.

I de-activated my FB Profile after that. I decided that I'll go through the entire syllabus. I started doing that too. I studied sincerely for something two weeks. But then came the wedding of a cousin and I got involved in that. Again missed the track of my IPCC studies. Then came SY second semester exams. Again got busy with that. Then, a cousin came to stay at our place. Again, the same story. By the time she left, it was early April. And again the disappointment and frustration of my plans not falling in place started to rise. And once again I thought of 'iss baar nahin agli baar pakka IPCC pass ho ke dikhaaunga'.

Came 3rd May 2011 [If I'm not wrong here]. I started giving my second attempt of IPCC papers. I used to go to the centre with Kunal and while going there, at Shivaji Road both of us used to read- Lonavala 30kms. And looking at that, I always used to tell him that, 'Bhai pass toh hone wale nahin hain, chal aaj ka paper dene ki jagah Lonavala ghoom ke aate hain!'. [Kunal, you remember this?].

Somehow the exams of group-1 went over. Came Group-2. I never studied Advanced Accounting, Auditing and ITSM in my class [I have already mentioned above that I started to bunk the lectures at Enkays after 15th Aug when the G-2 syllabus was at it's peak]. I studied all the 3 subject just for one night and wrote the papers just because I had paid Rs. 1600/- this time around.

Cut to present day i.e. 8th August 2011. This time around I didn't prayed hard to Him. I just said, 'Arziyaan saari main chehre par likh ke laaya hoon, tum se kya maangoon tum khud hi samajh lo'. Today the result of examination conducted in May 2011 was to be declared at 2pm. I was sure that this time too I'm going to flunk. I came home from college around 11pm. Got a bit freshened-up. I started to wipe-off the dust from my IPCC books as I knew I had to start studying them after 2pm. Suddenly at 12.37 pm Ashish called me up from client's place saying 'Chal Be Party De'. I was dumb-stuck. I've his number saved in my cell but dumb-head as he called up from client's place. I asked him who is speaking. He said it's me Ashish over here this side. I said 'Bol Bhai'. He said,.'Bhomiya bhai party do aap dono group clear ho gaye.' To this my reply was, 'Saale mazaak mat kar phone mein ghus ke maarunga, result toh do baje hai'. He said,' Party de, result aa gaya hai tu dono group clear hai, Kunal bhi dono group clear hai, Pravin [gandhi] bhi clear hai par Sarthak dono mein lattak gaya'. I said,' Bhai mazaak mat kar, main check karke dekhta hoon, agar pass hua toh tu jidhar bole udhar party'.

And with shaky hands I started my Lappy. I was so thrilled that I was finding it damn difficult to enter my password to turn on the Lappy. Somehow managed it. Connected my internet connection. Typed www.caresults,nic.in and entered 116530. And the lines of CA Anthem appeared to be made for me exclusively, 'Roll No. dala aur submit kiya, yaaron main pass ho gaya'.For 10 minutes or so, I couldn't believe that it was my result. Pinched myself and I was jolted back to reality. I cried in joy. Hugged my mom. Thanked the Almighty. Called up everyone and informed them about the result. Took their blessings and congratulation greetings over phone. Went to meet NK sir, Harish sir and Hariharan sir at classes. It was the best moment for me.

So this was my journey till here. Tomorrow will be quite a 'normal' day like any other [as Harish sir said]. Success is so momentary, isn't it?. I'll go back to college and sit and attend the lectures. May be, get a couple of more greetings from few more friends. Will decide about the firm which I get into for Articleship. Will keep you informed about all these things in the up-coming posts. Already this post has became so long.

P.S. Though I'm dancing in joy right now and I thouroughly cherish my CA journey so far, but somewhere down the line I've lost a friend whom I don't want to name on a social platform. Wish you were here with me to celebrate my success. Wish you would come back sometime, someday. You were my strength thoroughout my struggle to make it here. Lots of love to you. And to all the friends who failed, don't lose hope is the moral of the story. CA is not any hunky-dory kinda stuff. It'll test you every now and then. If an idiot like me can, anybody can. Never Quit. If the paper was tough, moderation will be easy and vice-versa. This is the principle of ICAI.And while summing up this post, I'm unwinding to Arziyan from Delhi-6. Prasoon Joshi, Kailash Kher and A.R. Rehman deserves kudos for this one.