A Real Story On Love At First Sight While Studying To Become a Chartered Accountant

One of my friends called me a week before my 12th grade results and asked what my future career plans were. I told him to finish his B. Com. and then take care of the shop. He suggested a few management and mass media courses. However, they were not appealing to me as they were expensive.

Then, after a week, he said that he had found a course that was high value but had very little investment, and that’s how CA happened to me.

My CA Experience’s Difficulties

The CPT and IPCC Journey: We both enrolled in the CPT (1st level CA). Days passed, and we both passed CPT with distinction. Since it was my first distinction in my life, I thought luck was with me. November 2009 was my IPCC (2nd level CA) attempt. I cleared my IPCC in the first attempt! I did study with all of my heart.

Articleship Journey: Then I started with my articles. The first year, I hardly got any exposure as my seniors used to handle everything. I used to wonder if I would ever get a chance to learn, but I kept my patience and waited for an opportunity. When the seniors left at the end of their terms, I had a TON of work and met my boss’s expectations!

Articles was a lot of pressure. I did not join any coaching class as I knew I would not be able to attend it. However, five months before my CA final exam, I asked a lot of institutions if they could give me admission, but I was too late. I got worried, but finally found one coaching centre that agreed to help me prepare for my attempt.

Love at First Sight & CA Final: The day I registered for finals, I got my study modules from the ICAI. When I saw the modules, I was shocked because they were such huge books. Somehow, I carried those heavy modules home. On reaching home, I noticed a girl at my neighbor’s place. Whatever on earth you may call it, the moment I saw her, I fell in love with her! LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT is a myth for many people, but it happened to me!!!

That very moment, I forgot about my CA Final attempt. I got to know her name that day but did not get a chance to speak to her. But Facebook came to my rescue! I sent her a friend request, which she accepted after a week. The day she accepted, we chatted for 4 hours at a stretch.

Slowly, the chatting began via text messages as well. However, a few days later, I got this sudden realisation that I have my CA final exams coming up in about 5 months or so. I was worried about what I should do—focus on my newfound love or my exams. Somehow, I decided to focus on both. I decided to appear only for CA Final Group 2.

Through all this, the relationship between me and that girl was going strong. During my study period, my grandparents had come from their native place for my grandfather’s cancer treatment. We had a lot of relatives come to see him.

Now my study schedule has gone haywire. Thus, I changed my routine and studied all night long for roughly 7 hours. So now, during the day, I would chat with my future GF, attend to my grandfather, and study at night, giving 100%.

In all this, I was only a week away from the exam.

On the morning of my paper, my grandpa got a paralytic attack. I was already stressed out from my CA exams, and my grandfather’s serious illness added to my worries .He eventually passed away that same week. In the midst of all these obstacles and problems, I appeared for my exams.

I had NO HOPE of passing because my papers were so bad. However, as destiny would have it, I managed to clear CA Final Group 2. It was a real miracle.

Now I considered myself a half-CA and asked the love of my life if she would be my girlfriend, and she said a straight no. I took that positively and again said to myself, “Okay, ask her again.” Later on, I asked more than 100 times, and she rejected me every single time! But I did not lose hope. It’s funny, but it’s true!

From Braving Failures to Finally Qualifying as a CA

I only needed to pass CA Final Group 1 to become a CA. For this exam, I had only 15 days of study leave. Also, things got a little messy between that girl and me. I wasted a lot of time in the process and did not focus on my studies, thus failing miserably.

I was so disappointed in myself. It was emotionally draining. I informed that girl about my results. To be honest, that failure gained me sympathy from her, and what was supposed to end between us started all over again. I started my preparation again, and my relationship with that girl started to get amazing. I was determined to pass my exams this time. I wanted to become a CA so I could propose to her again. LOL

This time I took a month’s leave and prepared well. Again, I studied all night long and spent the whole day speaking to my future GF. After giving my first paper, I was sure that I would fail this attempt as well. My hope of clearing CA and proposing to that girl was getting blurred.

I wanted to just quit and not appear for the remaining papers. But I told myself, “Let me appear for that girl and see what she thinks.” She’ll think this guy isn’t brave enough to quit. So just to keep up with my good image, I decided to appear.

Within a week of the exam, we had a fight, and we decided not to speak. I promised her that I would call her only after I was clear. Now I had to stick to my decision, so we did not speak for a month. Also, I knew my exams were horrible and that clearing them was impossible.

On the day of my result, I did not even check my results. My friend called me and told me, “I passed.” My mother and sisters were so happy. I called her the next day to tell her I had passed my exams and was now a CA She sounded super happy.

Again, I proposed to her (yes, I asked her again, LOL), and again she said NO, and I accepted her rejection one more time. This time, we stayed friends.

A few weeks later, I got a call from Aditya Birla and a few other companies. I had decided to give it a skip, as I was like, “These are such big companies, and I am from a very small background. I surely won’t be selected.” However, I pushed myself and went. I’m glad I did; I got selected. That taught me a big lesson: everything is possible. We are not small; our thinking makes us so.

Key Lessons from My CA Journey

My journey was a fun one. The only problem was that I had financial issues because I had lost my dad a long time ago and had to make many sacrifices. I was never demanding in life and accepted things positively.

Whenever I wanted anything, I achieved it with my own capabilities. This childhood approach made me a very cool and calm person, which I realised only during my CA journey.

It is said that while studying CA, you are not supposed to enjoy life or fall in love, but I fell in love during the journey, got rejected several times, faced so much family drama, saw the demise of my grandpa, and lost all hope.

The only thing I could say is that heartbreak could be miserable. Anyone going through this should: take complete responsibility, wake up, shake up, move on, and learn to let go.