The Journey Often Leads to a Beautiful Destination

When I was growing up, I used to hear words like “debit, credit, tax, laws, amendments”, since I belong to a family of Chartered Accountants. This is why, when the time came for me to choose a career, I chose Chartered Accountancy without giving it a second thought. Not because it runs in my family, but because I feel connected with this area of work. To read laws, understand their nitty-gritty details, and to help society follow them and thus, be apart of nation-building; it all excites me. I knew it wouldn’t be very easy to get to my goal. Only 0.04 percent of people obtain the ‘CA’ designation in a population of 1.37B in India.

From the start, I knew there was no fun in choosing the easy way out. I knew I had to be strong and determined to reach my goal. There would be days when I would be anti-social, locked in four walls with hundreds of books. But this hardship was worth pursuing if it brought a prefix of ‘CA’ in front of my name.

With that, my journey started. There were sleepless days and books all over and around me. In spite of giving every bit of me, I faced failures. But I kept pushing myself with positivity and determination and kept thinking about the time when I knew it would all be worth it one day.

I learned it’s okay to fail, but it’s not okay to not start again. It’s okay to cry, but it’s not okay to not feel determined again. For me, acceptance is the key to success. Accepting the situation and giving every possible effort to make it awesome. I always embrace failures as it makes you a better and grounded person. Failure teaches you a lot of lessons which success might not.

Finally, after all those struggling years, with my family’s support and my determination, I went from Shail Bhandari to CA Shail Bhandari. I still remember the day of my accomplishment. I didn’t get overwhelmed, I didn’t scream in joy like other CA aspirants on achieving the feat. I was grounded and calm because I realized that my journey brought me more joy than the outcome.

After obtaining my CA, I faced another dilemma: whether to join my family business or start a separate venture as a professional. Working in my family business would be an easy option as I would be backed up for all my work. But choosing an easy way was never my cup of tea. I wanted to work beyond my boundaries and that is what brought me to RENEW.

I connect so much with RENEW. We work in a challenging and growth-oriented environment and things are not always smooth. We all know this and still choose this road and journey. I believe that keeps the team going every day with new challenges and constant learning! We fail, we grow and we learn.

I was nervous and yet excited to be part of the team. We belong to different countries, speak different languages, have diverse beliefs, but we have one goal: to be the most successful SME investment firm and that is what connects us. We share different thought processes and cultures and embrace them all. Challenges make us tougher, stronger and a better person. We know how bad the situation may be, but we have the ability to stand up again and make things happen in our favour.

The journey still continues with lots of ups and downs, lows and highs, but with a constant belief of a beautiful and peaceful journey and destination!