Kal ho na ho – Aman promised Rohit: 6 din ladki IN!!
Chartered Accountancy – I promise you: 15 din GMCS IN!! (In your heart forever!*)
Day 1: My phone alarm goes off at 6.45 a.m. With a right swipe I switch it off. Even if I were to drift off to sleep again, I was confident my extremely-excited parents would bombard me with calls to ensure their cute little baby is off to her first day at school on time!
Tip 1: Keep your clothes ready the earlier night unless you want to set a new record for trying out maximum number of clothes in the shortest time possible!
Tip 2: Don’t dry your eyeliner with a plastic lid unless you want to smack your face.
Tip 3: Don’t carry your bread toast in the car unless you want to look like a Santa with brown snow flakes!
Tip 4: Park your car in front of ‘No Parking’ board ONLY if you’ve guts or money!
Tip 5: Open your eyes or your mouth unless you want to get embarrassed on the first day! (This comes from standing in a line in front of a registration desk only to realize at the end- it wasn’t for my course!)
Tip 6: Either sit in the empty first row and ignore the feeling that you’re being stared at from behind OR walk up to the last row and try to find a seat like in a crowded local train!
Tip 7: Either bring your own lunch or stop being choosy unless you want to die of Frankities!
Lessons of the day:
– The easiest way to make at least a couple of friends on Day 1 is to mention ‘Harry Potter’ in class!
– A Chaiwaala is always a Savior. (Not hinting at politics here!)
– How to keep looking at your watch in NOT so subtle ways while public speaking! 😛 Shows that you’re as bored of speaking as the audience is of pretending to listen!
Day 2:
In class and on the same seat, first row.
A shift in seats for a few who voluntarily occupy the first row seats for some company!
Lessons of the day:
– How the literal spelling of a name isn’t always the right way to pronounce the same, especially if it’s a Bong!
– How it’s NOT weird to stare into some stranger’s eyes for two straight minutes, even when it’s a person of the same sex because it’s an exercise to get the other person look at himself/herself through your eyes and not a line maaroing technique!
Day 3:
Breakfast starts losing its charm because I’d rather spend time deciding what to wear than what to eat!
Mumbai bandh doesn’t call for a GMCS bandh! Also, the internet conks just on the day you need it the most!
I’m still happily seated on the first row.
Lessons for the day:
– Tax Case laws are the solution to every problem in life.
– Crossword stores do NOT exchange/ offer refund on damaged books. No matter what you do, what language you talk, how attractive you are!
– How NOT to stress about stress management is most often the biggest cause of stress! 😛
Day 4:
Breakfast becomes oat cookies to be gulped while driving! *Only applicable to those who can multitask.*
Lessons of the day:
– Your perfect body language CANNOT be the sole factor fetching you a job! Don’t get your hopes too high! Move beyond Bombay Times!
– Begging for an activity-based lecture is ALWAYS the best strategy for a post-lunch lecture!
Day 5:
An after-class party plan can complicate the morning routine, especially when you conclude you’ve nothing appropriate to wear!
Result: Kurta + jeans = Odd wo’man’ out. The only one who steps into a pub in a Kurta!
Lessons of the day:
-To quote a philosopher student;
“Life is Simple. We make it Complicated.”
– A game of Chinese Whisper is a simple proof of the fact that boys love to complicate their lives, just for fun! Girls, you know what to do! 😛
– A feedback session on Public Speaking can result in two things:
1) You become the Bakra and give the class reasons to laugh!
2) You end up eating up so much time that others get spared from similar feedback.
Both ways, you only stand to gain!
1) Sympathy 2) New friends
Day 6:
Progress report: Saturday’s party results in First bencher to Back bencher!
Tip 8: Don’t ratta maarofy your speech. You’re bound to forget those very points you desperately wanted to deliver to impress!
Lessons of the day:
Public Speaking isn’t as dreadful as you’d imagined! Especially when you’ve a bunch full of friends for an audience!
Day 7:
Tip 9: Do NOT iron clothes when you’re in a hurry unless you want to spend the entire day crying over a burnt top! Either be mentally alert or let the expert to do his job. By expert, I don’t mean husband*.
Lessons of the day:
– Tax Case laws continue to be the best way to deal with life problems.
– Be very careful and alert in class. You don’t know who’s capturing your actions on video only to be broadcasted on WhatsApp!
Day 8:
Lessons of the day:
– A roll of tissue can serve other purposes too. It’s okay if your bathroom doesn’t have any as long as it teaches you to co-ordinate and work as a team!
– Badmash Company is the movie to watch if you want to improve your IQ, EQ MQ.
– Reality check with spell check!
1) I couldn’t spell accommodation. (My auto-correct did this one*)
2) Did you know the word travelling no longer has double ‘L’????
Day 9:
Lessons of the day:
– Formal Attire is the ONLY factor for becoming the CEO of a Company.
– For more lessons learnt on this day, contact the winner of the ‘Best Learning Personality’ trophy!
Day 10:
Tip 10: Do not wear heels that you can’t walk in because you could end up going to a play-zone that very evening!
Lessons of the day:
– Don’t worry about how badly you’re prepared for your presentation. Nobody cares to listen, except the lecturer because that’s his job. The others are busy playing Thumbfight and Ludo or getting their content ready when it’s your turn!
– Request the lecturer to let you have an award session! P.S. you decide the categories, you buy the trophies with your money, you nominate the winner! It’s fun!
Day 11:
Lessons of the day:
– It takes only six hours and the right facilitator to bring 39 people emotionally closer and transform them into better human beings.
Day 12:
Lessons of the day:
– Section 21 plays the MOST important role in a CA’s life!
P.S. I’d have expected at least 21 marks in the Audit paper to be dedicated to a topic of such paramount importance! But no. It’s 16! 😀
– Extremely ‘weird’ introduction sessions make you do something as ridiculous as counting the number of ‘Ha Ha Ha’s’! But you have to because you’ve paid 7000 for attendance!
Day 13:
Lessons of the day:
– The lecturer and your pop having the same name does NOT give you the right to apply ‘Mera baap ka raaj hai’!!! 😛
– Yo Ho Ho! There’s never a shortage of weird introduction sessions! You just have to be a part of it because it doesn’t matter as long as everyone looks ridiculous doing it!
Day 14:
Lessons of the day:
– It’s not easy to do a midair capture of a bunch of idiots jumping because 3..2..1 never really registers in each one’s head at the same time!
– English teacher once again makes us realise that a CA degree does nothing to improvise our vocab/ spellings! Google does.
Day 15:
Lessons of the day:
Mumbai bandh does help after all.
Mumbai bandh = Lecture : Mumbai bandh called off = Cancelled Lecture!
There’s no saying how ICAI will work!
It is only when you say goodbye on the last day and click photos enough to bombard the Whatsapp group does the realization sink in – GMCS is done! The fifteen days of schooling that you were dreading is now something you’re missing and hoping to rewind and relive!
BUT… that’s not the end! Some relations go beyond fifteen days to last a lifetime. You don’t need to meet daily to keep them alive! You’ve a Whatsapp group that can be muted to avoid being disturbed by the constant pinging! 😛
Cheers and loads of love to my group of 38 for making my GMCS experience so memorable!
C.A.: Confused Aquarian 
Very patient writing and consistent observations here! …and an absolutely lucid style of expressing that got me reading the whole blog without the blink of an eye. Great job done and looking forward to reading much more. BTW, great choice of font and a charming design to accompany it. Way to go, Buttercup !
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