ICAI Elections 2012

I am glad that my Nomination as a Candidate for the election to the 22nd Council of ICAI (Central Council) has been approved as Candidate No. 3 in the list.

The Council is the policy making and implementing body of the ICAI.

It is the duty of every member to elect the best Council of ICAI this time with a commitment to high values of professional standards

I hope my CA friends will wish me the best with their Best Preference Vote in my favour.

I am committed to do my best in all my endeavors to serve the CA fraternity

ICAI Motto (contd.)

The motto 'ya esha suptheshu jagarthi' has its origin also in 'Aditya Hridayam' verse 23, which is a part of Yudha Kanta of Valmiki Ramayana. This source is quite apt. Sage Agastya is advising Rama to worship the Sun, when he is about to face Ravana in the battle. He says about the Sun, as 'ya esha suptheshu jagarthi', 'one who is awake while others sleep'. The Sun is the symbol of all pervading conscious knowledge. We CAs are the 'watchdogs', who are always on the watch, awake. Hence the Motto is so apt in the context of the source, Valmiki Ramayana, rather than Kathopanishad. According to me, expansion of the Motto, basing it on Kathopanishad, went overboard with the kind of commentary etc., totally ill matching with the profile of the ICAI.

The song - ok, I am aware of the sound, voice, tune and echo effect, which, for most of us, are good enough and awesome. But this is not light music or some background score. This is the motto song of the ICAI. This being so, all CAs shall be able to sing it in chorus in a simple manner with straight tune and matching music. Hence, the pronunciation has to be correct and clear and the words given in the text shall not be meddled with jarring repetition, thus marring its import. Only 'kamam' is given twice in the text. But in the song each word or phrase is repeated to give an echo effect. In the motto, the word is 'jagarthi', but all along the word is uttered as 'jagrathi', which is unfortunate indeed - the meaning is changed from 'wakeful' to 'warning'! the utterance of the other words in the text is not at all up to the mark, since, as is evident, the singers are not good in sanskrit diction. But the final nail is at the last phrase which is repeated towards the end. Actually these words, 'etad vai tat', a sign off, which demands clear emphatic utterance, prompted Eckhart to give his cryptic remark, quoted at the end. But the singers spoiled the conclusion with a kind of bizarre utterance of those words, which I am unable to figure out how it happened! And in some version being played in conferences, the song ends with a thunderous reverberation, definitely, not a solemn note for a motto song! Anyway, that is how it is, our ICAI motto song. 

As I begin with -

Our ICAI

As we are CAs, we consider our Institute as the epitome of professionalism, our alma mater. We expect to derive strength and nourishment from such an august body.

It has to lead us by example, showing high calibre of professionalism in whatever it stands for, in whatever it discharges as part of its purpose of existence as a national body of professionals and in whatever it projects to the outside world as part of its commitment for high standards of the profession.

ICAI Motto

With this view, I start considering the Motto of the Institute, its translation or commentary thereon and its audio presentation, ‘motto song’, which is available on its web site: http://www.icai.org/new_post.html?post_id=163&c_id=192

My academics provided me with fair knowledge of Sanskrit, which is the language of the Motto, my spiritual inclination took me to some reading of vedic texts, such as Kathopanishad, which is the source of the Motto and my musical training made me appreciate the sublime tunes of our national melodies, Vandemataram and Janaganamana, which the Motto purports to align with.

With this background, I have a feeling of being hugely disappointed.

The reasons are too many – it, the Motto, speaks volumes of cluelessness and the total apathy on the part of those responsible for the elaboration of the Motto (which could be simply left at the opening words – ‘ya esha suptheshu jagarthi’-), their apathy towards certain values on which our profession is supposed to stand – the values of relevance, objectivity, sensibility, clarity, profundity with simplicity and purity with strength, and again, apathy on the part of those, who first gathered those words and those who later tinged them with some music and those, further, carry the same with blissful ignorance as part of their commitment as office bearers of the Institute.

As we are CAs, we have to be aware of the following about the Motto of our Institute:

a)      the opening words - ‘ya esha suptheshu jagarthi’- is the Motto. The rest is superfluous for a body like our Institute

b)      The translation, which is an esoteric commentary on the upanishadic verse ending with an epigram from Eckhart, a German mystic, is redundant  both in context and content

c)      The song is unsavoury, in all aspects, such as, utterance of words, jarring echo-like repetition in each phrase, tonal content, clarity in pronunciation and its chanting (in another version, thunderous) tune.

As I am a CA, I have to substantiate the above observations, which I will surely do in my subsequent posts.

What next?

Dear CA friends,

This is only a beginning of how I perceive the way in which the matters of our Institute are attended to and are being managed by those who are made responsible for the same by all of us by electing them to their respective capacities.

What other topics are to follow, which come to my mind at this juncture, can be summed up as follows:

CA course and examination - training at the academic and practical levels - regulating ‘discipline’ among the members with total absence of supporting their cause in several matters affecting them - lack of standards in structuring and conducting professional deliberations in workshops, seminars and conferences - preponderance of programmes for practicing CAs, always, leaving one wondering what could be the purpose of CAs in service continuing as members of the Institute? - do we have representatives from CAs in service and also women CAs, in the governing committees or councils at different levels, commensurate with their strength in the fraternity and if not, why?

These and other matters you can expect in my posts to follow.

A request

And meanwhile, why not join me, with your valuable inputs or, even just comments, a bit critical I don’t mind, or that is what I am looking for!