- Hi! I am Sanjay Mukhopadhyay, a chartered accountant based in Kolkata, India.
- I work as a manager of finance at Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd., a 154-year-old iconic PSU under the Ministry of Oil, Petroleum, and Natural Gas, Government of India.
- Yes, this sounds like any other chartered accountant, right? However, I am differently-abled!
- At age 18, due to the adulteration of cooking oil, I lost the sensation in my lower body and could no longer walk. The doctor told me I’d be a “vegetable for the rest of my life,” but that didn’t stop me.
- Here is my story of the power of indomitable courage… when the light of hope and ambition is bigger than the darkness of despair!
Growing up ambitious but having my dreams crushed
“Never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more.” (Swami Vivekananda)
I was born in the 1970s in Kolkata, India, into an ordinary middle-class family with no financial strength!
My father, the eldest of five siblings, was asked to go out of the rented old family home and settle down elsewhere so that his younger brothers could marry.
Since he could not afford a posh neighborhood… We lived in a low-income, middle-class neighborhood of Kolkata that was primarily populated by “factory workers and truck drivers.”
A fabrication factory was right next to us, making shuddering and deafening noises all day, but life was full of high spirits and towering ambition!
I was a very good student at school, always within the first ten students in my class!
I excelled at extracurricular talents and activities as well; I could sing well, draw and paint, act in school plays, write poetry and recite, and was an excellent medium-pace bowler in cricket.
Life was going great, and my goals were set: clear the IIT JEE Engineer entrance exams and continue my passion to play cricket at the national level.
However, all my dreams came crashing down when, one fine morning, I woke up to discover that I was losing sensation in my limbs. I was all of 18 years old.
Later, we got to know that thousands of others in the locality were complaining of the same strange numbness in the limbs without any sensation.
After much interrogation, it was concluded that this was caused by the criminal activity of a local grocery shop that had “contaminated edible oil with low-level poison!”
The doctors had no idea how to treat patients like us who could not walk or move their limbs.
What Next? Some died, others broke down in despair, and still others were simply ignored, with no voice and little or no social support.
Not giving up, dealing with disability, and pursuing CA
“Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.”
After this incident, my education stopped, as I was completely bedridden, and overnight I was declared a patient with “impaired peripheral nervous system.”
To say the least, I was devastated.
And to add to my misery, one of the most popular neurologists declared to my parents that “I would remain a vegetable all my life, on the bed.”
You know the best part: I chose not to believe him. I still remember, in that very moment, that I scoffed and whispered to my heart that “I would be back on my legs.”
Swami Vivekananda was my spiritual guide and teacher.
And that’s what I did!
I practiced my fight against disability with indomitable courage, waking up at 3 a.m. every day to practice standing and sitting. Yes, I started rehabilitation all on my own—no physiotherapy, nothing!
Many of my neighbors would laugh at my peculiar gait. I would cry, but that did not deter me.
Given my physical challenge, it was obvious that pursuing a career that required a lot of physical movement had to be ruled out… so studying to be an “engineer” was out, as was playing cricket!
What Next?
Instead of wallowing in sorrow at not being able to study to be an engineer with my disability, I changed my stream.
I regularized my education and joined a commerce college with the intention to pursue chartered accounting!
Why CA? I understood that CA is one of the qualifications where one can have restricted movements and yet be honored for his work and be remunerated well.
Also, becoming a chartered accountant meant that I could “find a white collar job” in reputed organizations.
Amidst the unsure results of the CA stream and the low pass-outs, given my frail health and disability, my family was not really confident; however, my undeterred penchant to achieve the certification convinced them.
And here started my CA journey.
The road to becoming a CA was not so smooth.
The journey to becoming a CA is never easy for anyone, but given my situation, it was super tough!
I was unable to walk without any support, so going to any client’s place during my articles was an immense problem. We could not buy a wheelchair as we could not afford it!
My mother would carry me to the client’s office, and my father would get me back after his office hours. It was tiring for me and, of course, my parents!
My clothes used to get wet with the amount of sweat churned out by my weak muscles, yet with undaunted strength of mind, I decided to do my articles honestly!
After the long stretch of 12 to 14 hours per day spent on my articles, I used to come home and sleep like a log. It was quite natural that my studies got affected and I could not clear my CA exams during my articleship period.
We lived in a very tiny house, making it even more difficult.
I kept attempting the CA exams and kept failing. Sometimes I used to fail by 1 mark or 3 marks.
In the meantime, my father was almost close to his retirement, and the company had been declared sick and could shut down anytime. I knew this was a warning bell and put forth my fullest effort, and I scraped through finally.
My physical challenge, my father’s financial difficulty, the indifference of society to the disabled, and my eagerness to disprove them did not let me give up!
I finally qualified as a chartered accountant… I sighed in relief at last!
Being empowered by the two letters “CA” before my name
Qualifying as a chartered accountant made me feel that “I was no more a disabled person,” even though I was walking with the help of an elbow crutch. The essence of this qualification is one that cannot be ignored!
I regained my self-esteem after seeing all of my friends who were far away and well established in life.
There were people who were awed by the fact that “a person like me” could become a chartered accountant!
The sheer weight of the two letters that embraced my name elated my identity wherever I went.
It was a new identity that overcame all the weaknesses that I had and gave me the self-belief and capacity to take on challenges.
The social quality of a CA is still unchallenged. It is no less attractive financially, though one has to remain patient.
The best part is that I started earning my livelihood and also started supporting my family after my father retired.
In short, becoming a chartered accountant transformed my life, to say the least!
A few words to conclude…
Today, life is great. I have a great job and a supportive wife and mother. I have come a long way from those days of despair.
Life is a journey full of experiences, and no experience is insignificant. We sometimes underestimate people on the basis of their apparent weaknesses, when we forget that the strongest person can be the weakest in reality!
How did I achieve all this? PERSISTENCE + INTENTION Never underestimate the power of “desire.”
My desire to live a better life and rise above helped me achieve success.
I’d like to make an effort to enlist the help of CA professionals in assisting young aspirants who are physically or financially challenged but talented in their own right.
So let us stand together and try to empower those we can.
