Hi All,
Im sending a spate of articles as I have less time to do so, this week.This would be the last article for this week.I would be busy for the next 10 days.I might not be able to look into my PMs, but I would do so next time I log-in.So before I wrap up for today wanted to give one final article on an incomplete article.Also, BEST OF LUCK! FOR THIS WEEKS EXAMS! IM SURE YOU ALL ARE GONNA WIN!
"Onething I find in our CA profession is the lack of concern for student's woes, apathy towards their situation and hardwork and anti-pathy by the ICAI..."
This is how I cribbed last posting.But it is not on a negative line that I told, It was merely to showcase reality.And your comments have brought forth the inner turmoil you guys have faced.Guys and Gals take it from me:It was the same 10 years ago and 20 years ago or even when my Grandpa did his CA in 1940s!
Why does it happen? Because people's natures never change much.Bad,ugly people exist and it seems like Good people suffer.Actually dumbos suffering(and dumbos can be good people, without question).
People have few powerful emotions which run their lives and one among them is jealousy.
Jealousy is an emotion which no one can see on the exterior unless one has read books on bodylanguage and stuff like me or if one has immense commonsense(which anyways is uncommon these days!) or if one is a trained psychologist.
Anger you see in the eyes,Lust you see in the eyes,Hatred you see in the eyes but Jealousy is onething you cannot gauge easily.
You have to use your intuition too to analyze why someone said something like that and many a time it is one's near and dear who are more jealous than anyone else(say a close friend) because they know all about you and all about themselves when compared to you.
Teachers,Seniors,Collegues(the worst culprits),Closefriends(second best culprits)suffer from this disease.
You have to stay away from them or rot in their hell of jealousy.
What is the cure for jealousy:?
NONE!
Maybe Love and all things mushy,Maybe Yogic powers,etc but then on a practical level, it is better to avoid them completely or crush them completely so that they dont come in front of you again.
These are the only 2 options available.
AVOID
or
CRUSH them completely.
Now, by crush I dont mean attack them physically.That would be a dumb thing to do obviously and most cases never warrant such things.
Crush them mentally--Whether you employ Chanukya's principles or Micheavelli's is upto you.
You have to save your skin.
If they keep harping on the difficulty of clearing the exam.---Dont retort back like a brave idiot"NO I CAN GET A RANK I WILL PROVE YOU WRONG"etc.These are silly and meant for kiddos not for grown up adults.It is onething to type or read such things but entirely different in the real world scenario.Just say to them thus, "Yes, what you say is correct but lets not discuss about this.I have a doubt in this subject help me"--99/100 cases the person will excuse himself or herself.Then make ways to avoid such people.Dont care what they talk behind you.After your success you go places.--so why care about these pussilanimous pinpricks?
Let them rot in their self-created hell of jealousy and pervertedness.Dont play part to it.
Ok, now to the title of the post: How do you get help from them?
Ok, say you are lucky to have good seniors or a Boss, how then do you get help you? Follow these rules.
1. Never appear perfect before them.Always show where you lack and that you need help from them.Howsoever non-jealous person might appear, one must never risk kindling the inherent jealousy in them.
2. Appeal to their self-interest or bravery/chivalry never to their mercy.Dont beg and ask--"Please help meIm in dire straits...."Maybe this might work if it is a beautiful girl and every man worth his salt will jump to save a damsel in distress but in 99/100 cases, no one cares what you are going through.Everyone have their own troubles.
3. Thank them profusely before everyone sometimes if need be and dont feel embarassed about the whole thing.The more you thank a person, the more he or she will be willing to help you in future.Else they will think "Oh he/she is one kid of vermin..he got all help from me and he dint even say a word of thanks and he/she goes his/her way after clearing the attempt"These are curses.I believe in life one must have blessings more than curses.
4. Find a way to repay the help given back somehow.Though this sound smanipulative.It may be a great way to bond a relationship forever-In give and Take.No relationship is a 1 way street.
5. Do not fear your seniors or experienced people.They are not Gods.Infact, no one is GOD.The god lies inside you and Him/Her equally.So go ahead and ask, you will be surprised by the positivity.
6. Dont have 'too much emotions'.You must be prepared to accept rejection like a salesman.
7.Be persistent in asking. Let me tell you a Salesman rule of thumb:
If you make 6 times a call consistently or approach anyone 6 times to sell something, 7th time there would be a response.This has been verified scietifically.Apply this to your life as well.Be persistent and persuasive in life to win it all.(If someone wants to woo a girl/boy, they go behind her like anything, why not for your Career, Dude/Dudette?)
8. Appear professional to receive help easily.I see many students wearing hawai chappals and dirty clothes to office.What respect will they command in the minds of people who see them?--Zero.(maybe thats why TNManoharan made a rule regarding dress code for CAs).You need not be John Abraham or Aishwarya Rai in appearance to get help, you need to have good decorum and live upto it.
9. Dont take vengeance on people who dont help you.Surprise them by being liberal yourself,next time they need help(without fawning at their feet) and they would feel guilty inside and rot with that feeling for hurting a "Buddha" like you(Hehe!--aint that good?)
10. Keep your mouth shut.--Now, the more you wag your toungue the more you get into trouble, especially in India wherein there is politics evenwith a vegetable vendor, you gotta learn to keep your mouth shut and do your work in the office and study in the tuition centre and your roommates and come out unscathed.Else, politics n jealousy will ruin you along with people's bad vibes.
11. Learn to highlight your Boss as the greatest person on earth subtly.I know this sounds cunning, but then thats how you get small favours like getting additonal leave,free time and other valuable sops.If the boss is a loser or a suspicious guy, then there is no point in implementing this strategy.
12. Do your office work properly.Dont be a "Kaam-chor" as the Northies call.Learn work, do the work given diligently without cribbing.Its all a learning experience and will give you discipline.
13. In Tuition centres make maximum use of the professor.You are paying lots of bucks of your/your parents hard earned money on that.Time your tuitions properly.I dont like the crash course idea.I dont understand how it can help students.Maybe if you are lucky you might get help but then I dont believe in luck It is pluck which is needed not luck.You need to talk daily after the tuition is over(not during the class much to the irritation of other students) some doubts.Someprofessors might not like it.But HEY! its your fees he is eating and he has to answeryour doubts, unless you are being too pesky(then he has his rights !)
14. Ask for additional resources from your professor.Who knows themmoreyou develop a rapport, the more he might open up and one day maybe even tell, "hey I contrbuted this question to the question bank this time, it has a great possibility to come!" Infact it happened in my case for Costing...I had done the question 10 times and in the exam while all were struggling to even finish reading the question, I solved it in first ten minutes flat.I even knew the numbers.But dont bank on such lucks.It happens rarely and also question bank means lots of profs from India-wie submit and anyone question might be selected.Also, it was a while ago, I dont know what the system is now.
15. Sit in the first two rows as far as possible of the tuition and do all the homeworks and assignments he/she gives.Dont think thus:"Hey this is not school and Im an adult.I dont need to do any homework.Thats for kids"
Well, I thought CA was a school.I did the homework.I never considered myself "more adult" than my teacher in the matters of CA studies and consequently I got marks in all my CA exams like how they get in School!--80s and even a 90!(See the beauty, it is all in what you think and how you perceive things)
WHy am I asking you to do homeworks because when you do it, you get to know more on how to solve certain questions, what are the catches involved and also please the mentor to reveal some extra things when you go to himher showing your work.The more you tlak about subject, the more the professor would be ready to help you, because it means you are taking his/her class seriously and that you really like him/her(now thats a psychological trick working in your favour).
16. When aproaching seniors who have cleared.DONT COME with dumbo questions like--"Can you help me succeed in CA final/ PCC?" or "How do I study for direct taxes?"
This is plain stupid way to approach them.They might be hardpressed for time and they are not your parents(unless your parent is some recently passed CA!) to sit down and help you.Dont ask such general and broad questions and put the guy or gal in embarrassment.It is as good as asking a doctor who comes to attend a party, "Doctor, please check my pulse and tell me whether my health is ok?"Doctors hate such questions and they say classically, "Ok then undress now! "(Now that was not a joke, some doctors say it to embarrass them and make them stop).
Ask pointed questions like, "Im following these books (or have these in mind), and am preparing like this, however in this particular area(say in Operations research I find crashing difficult"
However, dont get too pointed and come to them with a paper,pen and a problem in hand and ask them to solve it! Hell no, that would scare their wits because as long as you are a student you read once you become a CA you just refer.For example: For my exams I had studied dedcutions thoroughly and I was an expert then.But now if you coem to me and ask whats the thing with 80C Who are the eligible assesses? What the thing with tuition fees in 80C? I will give you blankstares and give some excuse and escape.For amnythings would have changed and unless Im in the tax field, I wont know.Coming from USA, I wont be knowing much in taxes now, I would need to refer some portions again, though I have a general idea.But if you ask me something like, "Where can I read to know about 80C?"Then I can answer with a sigh of relief..."Ok please look into TN Manoharan he has dealt with it in a simple fashion in his book" or the like.Hope you get it.
Everything in life depends on what questions you ask others and yourself deep inside.You ask wrong questions like(Why do good people suffer? why are bad people enjoying?) then you get bad answers!
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A wise man knows all,
Whereas a shrewd man knows everybody!
In today's world it is not enough to be wise but also shrewd.
see you all after 10 days, till then be good CA students and study study study! have fun too!
Bye
Signing off,
'Vidhyashankar'
CAclubindia
