Meet Vikram Verma, author of four books, lyricist, composer, painter, and chartered accountant. Under his pen name, Vikram, he is well-known for his quotes from his novels and self-help books. He too has a story, a decade old, but a different one.
Here it goes:
I was a hardworking student who always finished first in class in high school and college.””Most parents would give me as an example to their children—Verma Ji da Munda to first ata hai, they were generally referring to me (laughs), and that was the reason I wasn’t liked by many kids,” says CA Vikram Verma from Delhi.
Moving ahead to my CA journey, I appeared for the CA Final Exams (the last level of the CA exam), and when the results were about to be announced, my parents were happy, and as always, they said they were giving me 100 bucks, which Tinku Halwai and I understood as always because they were sure of the results.
But that result was not ordinary; it had a twist to it. Verma Ji Da Munda fail ho gaya—said an auntie outside our gate as I sat in shock in front of my parents, who were holding Tinku Halwai sweets.
The reason for my surprise was that I had failed the CA Final Exams, and that too in my favourite IT subject, MICS (now replaced by ISCA).When 99.99% of CA students hated MICS, I was in that group. 01% who loved MICS. I was expecting 82 marks, and I got 28! I double-checked the results, rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn’t reading backwards, but alas.
Chalega to girega, girega to seekhega, koi nai—said my mother, consoling me, as it was one of my first and most significant failures.She was so sweet, not due to Tinku Halwai Sweets; moms are moms. Dad, an ex-Army guy, was silent, didn’t understand how to react, and couldn’t even scold me, saying, “Look at Sharma Ji da Munda,” as that chap appeared for the third time for graduation through correspondence.
But I was still in the doldrums, as my friends and students, whom I had taught the concepts of MICS (now ISCA), had scored between 50 and 70 marks.
I want my answer sheet. I yelled and found myself on the bed, sweating. It was 3 a.m.; the ghost in me was awake and wanted to know WHY I had failed.
The next day, I wrote an email to the CA Institute (ICAI) to know the reason for my failure. At the same time, I also applied for re-totaling, as the rechecking concept was not there. A month later I got a reply from them: “28.”
I asked them to send me a copy of my answer sheet, but they had no such rule back then. I thought to file an RTI, but my peers suggested not to waste time and study harder for the next attempt.
People told me to be positive, but I always generate negative energy and channel it positively.
I typed all my MICS notes on a computer, making a 300-page document. Then I dialed up the most famous publisher of CA scanners and told him my story, asking if they’d publish my book as “MICS Unleashed.”
The publisher first laughed, but then got confident in my confidence and asked to send the first three chapters by email.
October 16, 2007I got a call at 7 a.m. from a friend: “Your photo and story are on the first page of Chandigarh, India News line.” I drooled while talking to him, disconnected, and slept again, thinking it was a dream. Then another friend called up and said the same thing about another newspaper.
Mom entered my room holding a newspaper, whose title read, “This CA student has a book for his comrades.” The story was covered by five major newspapers.
Mom said she’d give me a few dollars that day, “Tinku Halwai,” and on the way back, I heard some uncles yelling, “Verma Ji ke Ladke ko dekho.”
I cleared CA Final in my second attempt with 61/100 in MICS, 66/100 in direct tax, and 75/100 in indirect tax.
I had converted the biggest failure of my life into the biggest success—only by channeling the negative energy into positive means.
Today, 1 self-help book, 2 novels, 10 poems, 21 songs, 161 world-famous quotes, and my name are recorded in the Limca Book of Records. All good things push me to do more, and songwriting is my next move, along with my fifth book, which is again a novel.
20K strong Facebook fan page Author CA Vikram Verma, 9k Instagram and 4.5k Twitter followers, daily re-posting of my quotes by people around the world, or, say, friends I have not yet met, and my counting is on.
My advice to others is: “Own your way, your own way.” “You are a failure not when you are defeated but when you give up fighting,” he concluded.
