40 Years of Employment -- Gratitude Series Part 2

 

 

Post joining my articleship, the next 12-14 months passed quite fast. I continued to relish my day job and the evening college. Weekdays were action packed - Office from 10 AM to 5 PM and College from 5:30 till 8:30 PM .Saturday had only office (what a relief it was get home early rather than 10 PM daily) and Sunday was about all play and no work. I used to be an active cricketer and so there would a match for sure.

As time passed like this so joyfully, it was time to face the intermediate exams of the Chartered Accountancy Course in Nov 1985 and that meant curtailment of all sorts.

Once again, my Principal Mr. B Gopalakrishan granted me two months leave to prepare. However, I had to go to  college every day during the study leave.

There were three of us who prepared for this exam, gratitude to K C Narasiman (Natchu) who took on the role of guiding us through the journey. Preparation was intense. My schedule was just crazy - get up at 4 AM , follow the time table  cover all subjects through the day and then had to leave for College by 4 PM ish - Study routine would be easily 12- 14 hours. All forms of entertainment were cut off. No Cricket, No Television, No  Music  ( Remember the two in ones and Three in one Music systems ? )I used to  do the 4 AM get up and study even before the study holidays

The three of us used to meet at 10 AM daily in Natchu’s home  for a connect and the connect would invariably end in more anxiety. One of the three would talk about a chapter or a subject that the other two would not have gone through and swear that there will a question from that Chapter for sure in the exam. The other two will run back to their homes to check out what that question and what that chapter was all about . But we did not do any group studies! There were no coaching classes that we attended. We just relied on material from the CA Institute and Suggested answers from the previous exams to understand how we could answer a question. It was all self-learning.

We just lost total contact with the rest of the world. There was great support from family (Parents and sister ), no work allotted and getting all supplies (food etc) on time and whenever needed ., They just allowed me to have total focus on the exam.

The day of the exam when we left our homes to the venue of the exam, the whole journey looked like we were visiting Chennai for the first time. Everything looked new.

I am not sure how the exam days went but we did write the exams and heaved a big sigh of relief. Results would come in Jan and so there was lot of time . 

I was very confident of Clearing and so did  everyone around me ! And that made me very nervous. The results did come in Jan of 1986 and all three of us cleared the intermediate exams and as they say, We were truly on to our Journey to become Chartered Accountants.

 

Gratitude to Natchu for his guidance through this journey. Natchu is the Guru for us. Very focussed , calm , very tutorful with tons of patience.  

Narasiman resides in Canada with his family and we stay in good touch . It is difficult to get such friends who care a lot and how they put your welfare ahead. There is another story of how Natchu and his younger brother helped me to get to a Final Interview for my first job…

Comments

Anonymous said…
Nachu was the connect between us in 1986-87
12:44 AM
Hema said…
Thanks for sharing it, Sri. Eagerly waiting for the next part.
5:10 AM
Anonymous said…
From K C Narasiman ( Natchu ): Cheeka , well written . I could really feel the journey. I did not do anything much to help. We all just hung in together with no expectations from friendship. That was key to our everlasting bond
Cheeka was the most hardworking and focussed guy i have ever met, All his success is attributable to the above two traits.
6:24 AM
Sri said…
Thanks Partha S -- Yes he was the connector for both of us
6:24 AM
Venkat Subramanian said…
Thank you Sri for sharing. I also had a privilege of meeting Natchu and having breakfast in Saravana Bhavan, Toronto. (if I am not wrong, we are talking about same Natchu :))
8:13 PM
Padmashree said…
Very beautiful read on friends and how some people shape our lives Sri. I am thankful to God for having you as one such mentor in my life:)
10:05 PM
Sri said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
7:02 AM
Sri said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
7:02 AM
Sri said…
Yes Same person Venkat
7:03 AM
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