From The President

Dear Members,

Circa 1990: "Here you go. Don’t forget to carry this winter-wear safari-suit jacket with you; it can get really chilly at times," said Mehta Saheb in a thankful tone to Mr Das, his office stenographer. Handing over his cozy safari-suit jacket to Mr Das, the quintessential Mehta Saheb left his Ballard Estate office at 8:00 pm and took the Mumbai local to his home in Dadar.

Mr Das, a fervent steno, also doubled up as a personal assistant to Mehta Saheb on many occasions. Like the last three years, Mr Das had an important task to accomplish — making sure that he reserved a seat for his managing partner at the annual pilgrimage of practising Chartered Accountants, aka the BCAS Members’ Residential Refresher Course (‘RRC’).

Mr Das stood resolutely in a long, winding queue that extended from the BCAS office to the road bordering Churchgate station, braving the cold winter at 4:00 am before daybreak. Engaging in conversation with those ahead of him — some of whom claimed to have camped out since the previous night — he waited for the BCAS office to open at 8:00 am to start accepting applications. After persistent efforts, Mr Das successfully had his master’s application acknowledged by the BCAS at 2:00 pm. Notably, like many previous years, applications for the BCAS Members’ RRC closed