The Shloka in Bhagavat Geeta states that everyone who is born in this world is bound to die one day and therefore one need not lament the demise of a person. Whereas, the above maxim is non controvertible, we human beings cannot refrain from doing so. Shri Bhupendra Dalal, the past President of the Society, passed away on 29th January, 2014, leaving behind all his relatives, friends and organisations with which he was intimately connected.
Bhupendra was born on 4th day of September, 1938. He qualified as a Commerce Graduate in 1960 and chose the profession of Chartered Accountancy as his career, qualifying in 1964. He joined the firm of A. H. Dalal & Co. as a Partner in 1964 and retired from the firm in 1994, to establish his own firm of B. V. Dalal & Co., wherein he practiced till the end. Both his sons and daughter also qualified as Chartered Accountants and even his son-in-law is a C. A. Thus, his entire family was deeply connected with the profession.
The most important quality as a professional was his hard-working nature and he was never tired of professional work. Zeal and sincerity characterised his work as a Chartered Accountant. The word ‘impossible’ was not found in his dictionary and he would undertake any professional task which was daunting and challenging. Whatever work he undertook during his career was preceded by a deep study of the subject and research revolving round the same. He would argue the appeals before the Commissioners and the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal and would not give up the arguments before the Tribunal, though, the Hon’ble members of the Tribunal may be against his submissions. Even the audit of corporate and non-corporate entities was characterised by principles and Accounting Standards complied by him. Where necessary, he would qualify the Audit Report appropriately. Perusing the qualifications in Audit Report of companies was his passion, resulting in his authoring a book on the subject for the Society. He displayed a deep study of the Company Law in his professional work and organised Seminars, Residential Refreshaer Courses (RRC) on Company Law and Practice, with great enthusiasm.
His devotion to the Bombay Chartered Accountants’ Society bordered on religion, so that his contribution to the Committees on Accounting & Auditing and Taxation was invaluable. But above all, he edited the Bombay Chartered Accountant Journal for a number of years. He interviewed for the Journal several leading luminaries like Sarvashri Nani Palkhiwala, Morarji Desai, R. K. Laxman, Jayant Narlikar, Justice Krishna Iyer, Prof. Purshottam Mavlankar, Swami Sundaranand. He attended most of the RRCs and Seminars organised by the Society and studied all the papers contributed there thoroughly, by getting up at 4 or 5 a.m. No work relating to Society was too low or insignificant.
Equally eminent were his personal qualities. He was always humble in his work and activities. He was personification of humility and always ready to help other members. But he was a child while he was in the company of children. He had a keen sense of humour, which endeared him to others.
He loved playing instruments like the flute, piano, harmonium and mouth organ. He was fond of Bhajans and sang them with devotion. He loved nature and trekking in the Himalayas was his passion, so that he visited ‘Maan Sarovar’ twice with his family. Very fond of long drives in his car and road trips, he also composed poems particularly in early mornings. He wrote poems on peoples’ achievements, talents and social occasions like weddings, birthdays, etc. He appreciated music, particularly folk songs. At the same time, he was pious by nature and a firm believer in God. It is difficult to find so many qualities and widely varying virtues in a person and the best tribute one could pay to him is to emulate his example.
He will leave his footprints on the sands of time for a long time.
