1. Tell us about your CS Student days and how you were attracted to this course?
I have always been financially independent since my PUC (Plus One). In
1998, I got married and at that time I was working as a lecturer. It was then
that I began to think of how to earn more revenue and during those days, CS was
not very much in vogue. Since the
subjects of CS course were of interest to me and the fee was very reasonable
and the profile looked very promising, I immediately plunged into this journey
of becoming a Company Secretary. At this juncture, I must thank my parents who
kept saying that education is most important in life. My father used to keep
pushing me to study further and that really helped me a lot.
As a CS student, I had to go through lot of challenges. Firstly, after
marriage, I was living in a big joint family of about 7 elderly people whom I
had to take care of and finding time to study was a great hurdle. Secondly, I
had no proper place to sit and read and I must thank my neighbours and close
friends who offered their space, as and when available, at their homes, for me
to go there and study. Be it verandah or terrace or a small garage, and I was
there occupying that place for my studies. Those days during 1998- 1999, there
were hardly any institutions taking classes for the CS. I had no choice but to
study on my own! I made sure that I made a proper timetable and planned my day
and night accordingly. I ensured to clock in atleast 12 hours of hardcore
study. I gave up on all entertainments, social gatherings and get togethers etc.
I joined Wipro in the year 2001 as a Management trainee for 18 months
and I was yet to complete my final. I was left with one group and I made sure
that I don’t waste a single minute. Whenever I got any free time, I would start
reading my books. The distance from my home to Wipro campus would easily take
me about more than an hour and so I started studying in the bus as well. Thus, I
got 2 hours (to and fro journey) to study. Being in a joint family, I had to
struggle to find spare time for my studies. My husband was very co-operative
and did his best to support me. I learnt a lot at Wipro and it was the Y2K
days, so there were lot of activities happening at that time. I was fortunate
to learn under the able guidance of CS Satish Menon who was then the Company
Secretary and Corporate Vice President – Legal, Wipro Limited.
I qualified in 2002, and felt I had climbed the Mt Everest! This was one
of the major achievements of my life because I had put my heart and soul to
this. I always believed that anything is possible, provided we believe in it &
we work hard towards it.
Journey as a CS has been really wonderful. I began my career in a
manufacturing Private Limited Company. Since the work here was very limited, I
began venturing into other areas like handling debtors, creditors and also did
shop floor audit. Post this, I worked in an aerospace engineering Company which
was later taken over by Mahindra & Mahindra. Here, I got a great opportunity
to meet eminent personalities like Mr. Anand Mahindra, Mr. Hemanth Luthra, Mr.
Pavan Kumar Goenka etc. I worked in
various Multi National Companies and my last job was at a French Company after
which I took a break in the year 2015.
I have had great experience in the Corporate world for more than 20
years in my life (15 years as a qualified CS and prior to that, I had taken up
various roles like Front Office Assistant, Telemarketing executive and
Administrative Head in various Companies) and I truly enjoyed those times. In
2004, my son was born and I had to take a decision to quit my job to take care
of him. My mother- in- law was bedridden due to a paralytic attack and there
was no one to assist me. It was quite depressing to quit my job but I told
myself that I would come back soon.
The second sabbatical was during 2015 when my son had to go through a
couple of surgeries near his neck and it was inevitable for me to leave my job
to give him my full time. But yes, I never gave up and I strongly believed that
I would build my career sooner or later!
Today my son is 19 years old and I feel very proud that I have done my
best for him and I don’t have any guilt about not have given him the priority
in life.
I joined V Sreedharan and Associates as a Partner in the year 2016. I
had known sir for a long time. He invited me to be a partner and I just joined.
At that time, many people asked me if I would be able to adjust to practice
since I had been all through in employment. I was always confused why such a
question is being asked to me. Yes, practice is fully different from
employment. But its not difficult to shift. All you need is a right attitude
and the flexible nature to adjust and adapt to new situations in life.
3. You wear so many hats-
Secretary of Bengaluru chapter for 2023 and now the Vice Chairperson for the
year 2024, involvement in social activities, working as a PCS in a firm,
managing family - How do you manage all?
I have always believed that life is a
beautiful journey and that we need to keep adding value to our lives. All human
beings have been given 24 hours a day equally on this planet and 24 hours are
more than sufficient to achieve all that we want in our lives.
Primarily, discipline plays a very
important role in managing our time. I don’t believe in wasting any time and
for me, my time should be spent on my professional life or adding value to
someone’s life by helping them or I should be productively used for the benefit
of society at large. I should be in full
control of my time and this approach has helped me in a great way to plan my
every day and every activity.
Secondly, I am very thankful to God
for all that he has given me and I keep counting my blessings every moment of
my life. This keeps me motivated all the time to keep doing more and more with
all my capacity and opportunities that come my way.
I am very delighted to be the Vice
Chairperson of Bengaluru Chapter for the year 2024 and I will give my best and
contribute for the betterment of the profession. I don’t believe in superficial
involvement or involving for the sake of it. I put my heart and soul into every
activity that I take up and that’s how I believe one should approach any role
or responsibility.
I came into the committee only
because I want to give back something in return to this great Institution which
has given me bread, butter and some mayonnaise as well!
Working as a Partner in a firm is
something like living in a family. One should always remember that mutual trust
and respect for each other is the key to a successful relationship, be it at
home or at work. So, working as a partner has been a great journey for me and
since I enjoy leadership and decision making roles, this profile suits me
aptly.
Thirdly, I strongly believe that in
life we should not focus only on earning money. We have to be spiritually and
philosophically oriented to stay balanced in life. I started doing some social
service at a very young age by helping those in need and over a period of time,
it became a habit to me to serve people and I began to focus on promoting
education to the girl child. I think doing social service is our responsibility
and there is no big deal about it. As human beings we all need to give back
something in return to this beautiful life and the best way to do is social
service. I also believe strongly in the theory of Karma and next life. In a
way, I must say that I am preparing for my next life by doing as many good
things as possible in this life.
Coming to family, I must mention
about the undaunting support I have been getting from both my husband and my
son. They both have seen me actively involved in many social activities from
many years and they have kind of got used to it as well-😊 I
prioritise my activities on a daily basis and that is how I have been able to
balance my life in all the spheres. I ensure to give atleast an hour of quality
time to my family every day and that keeps it going. I love to buy peace
wherever I am and that also helps in preventing from wasting time over petty
quarrels etc. Since I don’t have the habit of watching TV over any serials etc,
this gives me ample time to focus on all other things and activities.
4. Heard that you have acted in
some movies - can you tell us about that?
Acting in movies came as a chance to
me. I have never been really passionate about it, but yes, since the
opportunity came my way, I said, why not and I took up the role whole
heartedly.
Regarding my involvement in movies, currently
I have acted in 2 Kannada movies. One movie titled “Ithyaadi” which is
scheduled to release on January 26th, 2024. I have acted as a doctor
in this movie and it was a great experience. My dialogues in this movie is
quite lengthy and to remember those dialogues along with giving the right
expressions was indeed an adventure! But yes, I believe I did a great job (as
per the Director’s remark)
The second movie is still in the
making, wherein I am playing the role of a judge. This role is quite exciting
to me since I have always loved to be a judge in my real life.
Since most of the shoots happen in
the evenings or during weekends, I don’t feel the pressure of managing time.
In addition to acting, I was also
actively involved in a movie titled “Selfie Mummy Google Daddy” (Kannada
movie), which did well in theatres and is available on Amazon movies as well.
This movie was based on how the world has got addicted to mobiles and how
important it is to keep it under control.
5. Your firm consists of Mr. V Sreedharan,
Past Central Council Member and Mr Pradeep B Kulkarni. Chairman of SIRC and
yourself – Vice Chairperson of Bengaluru Chapter of ICSI. Tell us about your
firm's culture and how it encourages in Institute related activities.
We, at V Sreedharan and Associates
are a firm of 3 partners namely Mr. CS V Sreedharan, Mr. CS Pradeep B Kulkarni
and me. Pradeep has now been elected as the Chairman of SIRC and I am the Vice
Chairperson for Bengaluru Chapter for the year 2024.
Sreedharan sir has been a mentor to
many professionals across the nation and we are not an exception to it! Sir
believes that we must contribute to the betterment of our profession and is
always encouraging us to take up roles and activities towards the same. Mr CS V
Sreedharan himself has always been actively involved in institute related
activities and he was the Past Chairman of Bengaluru Chapter in 1997. He was
the Central Government Nominee for one term at the Central Council from 1998 to
2000 and was elected twice to the Central Council during the terms from 2001 to
2006. He was an active member in the Companies Act, 2013 Rules making committee.
Hence, for us to get involved in Institute related activities happened with
great ease, wherein we keep seeing him and learning.
Pradeep on the other hand has been in
the Bengaluru Chapter for two terms and it has become a culture in our firm to
actively contribute to the Institute. Hence, when I mentioned to them about my
interest to get involved in Chapter etc., there was hardly any discussion and
both the partners agreed to it whole heartedly.
Managing the profession as partners
and being involved in Institute has been two sides of a coin for all the three
of us! Our firm operates like a family and we ensure that the work does not
suffer in any way. There is an underlined understanding that the partner who is
busy or not available need not worry about the work unfinished, coz the
remaining partners shall take it forward from there. The culture at our firm is
very warm, helpful and encouraging.
6.
How do you see CS as a profession and opportunities around it in the coming
years?
The
profession of a CS has been growing day by day and it is currently one of the
best professions in the country. The scope has widened to various other areas
including IBC, Valuation, GST etc. But a lot of it depends on how each
professional will groom himself/ herself and become a successful person.
There
are ample opportunities in the industry and we need to make use of these
opportunities at the right time. There is a strong difference between
profession, professional and professionalism and we need to bridge those gaps
to be successful in our lives.
Interview
by: CS Mohan Kumar, Central Council Member ICSI
