VOL. NO. II (Set up by an Act of Parliament) e-newsletter LUDHIANA BRANCH OF NIRC OF THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF INDIA For Private Circulation Only FEBRUARY, 2018
MESSAGE FROM CHAIRMAN Dear Fellow Colleagues, It is my pleasure and privilege to communicate with you all through this month s News Letter as the Chairman of our esteemed & illustrious Ludhiana Branch of NIRC/ ICAI. This will be my last message to you as the chairman of Ludhiana Branch. At the outset, I wish to thank all the members of Ludhiana Branch for their unconditional support and best wishes without which I could not have achieved this position. Further, I express my sincere thanks to all my colleagues in the Managing Committee for their confidence in me to take up the position of Chairman of the most dynamic and vibrant branch in the State of Punjab for the year 2017-18. I extend Best wishes to the upcoming Chairman of the Branch. During my tenure as Chairman we were able to take the branch activities to new heights by conducting Seminars, Workshops, Post Qualification Courses, conferences, GMCS and OC courses, picnic and other programs for the students and members. My sincere thanks to the Office Staff and the Executive Team for their untiring efforts in initiating and conducting various events for the branch during my tenure. Last but not the least, a word of gratitude to all my predecessors who contributed immensely for the development of the branch in their own way and gave a strong foundation for the future because of which we are now enjoying the fruits of increased activities. Thanking everyone once again Warm Regards CA. Dinesh Sharma MESSAGE FROM SECRETARY Dear Respected Members and Students, We are back again with our 2nd News Letter to interact with you all. As accustomed, our Editorial Board is working hard to stay connected to potential member and students to hand in their articles/ write ups for our next issue. I earnestly request and encourage people to develop the habits of reading and writings and thereby contribute to the institutional monthly magazine through your skills and knowledge. This would be of immense help both to the author and the readers. Let us showcase your talents at different levels. With best wishes. CA. Sandeep Gupta 2
Life Changing Decisions -Choosing the Right Path in Your Life Many of us grow up not knowing what we want to do with our lives. It can take years to figure it out and some never do. Many of us change jobs, careers, move to a different location, country and even different relationships, searching for their purpose and destination. To achieve success in finding your way, soul-searching is a necessity. You need to ask yourself "what do I want in life?" Think about your strengths, your weaknesses and most importantly your passions. It may take a day, a week, a month or even longer, but when you answer your question, your personal destination becomes clear. Your direction will not fall in your lap, so don't waste another moment, create an inner compass and find it yourself. Life is all about many paths. There are no two people in this world whose journeys are the same. What people must realize is that all paths are different. Each leads someone in a different direction, ultimately leading them to your purpose in life. Each thought, moment, decision and experience leads us to a new path in our journey. Choosing the "right" path is a difficult subject to discuss, after all who's to say that a path is right for one person, but wrong for another? It's about your thoughts, where you are in your journey. You will be able to ultimately determine how and when to seek opportunities in front of you. These decisions will all inevitably take you to a whole new path in your life. Life is like a journey down the road. It mostly goes straight, but you do come across bumps on the road. When you reach a bump in your life, you need to make a decision to choose the right path that you should travel on. The right path is then the chosen path taken that enables individuals to increasingly meet their needs. Yes it is true the bumps on the path can set you back, but when you are faced with great decisions, like to work or not to work, an individual would choose to work in order to have the money to provide themselves with food, water and shelter. What is the right path? Right or wrong vary from person to person. In order for a person to choose the right paths in their life, they have to understand where they stand in meeting their needs, and make decisions to increase their abilities to meet those needs. In which case, no path is definitely right, and no path is definitely wrong. Right or wrong is dependenton the individuals, their needs, their personalities and their circumstances. A human being's ability to choose is a privilege and a responsibility. In my opinion, the two goes together. You cannot take one without the other. If you want to be free to make your own choices, you must be ready to accept the responsibility for the consequences that will derive from those choices. You may ask "Why should I allow anyone to tell me what to do? Why should anyone allow it? Although, you see how some people may be well intended, you still fail to understand what makes them think that anything that they could tell you will be better for you, than your ability to make your own choices. The bottom line is, no matter what others may tell you to do, at the end of the day, it has to be your own choice and decisions to act on it. The last thing you want is for someone to make up your own mind for you, and to be in control of your destiny and choices. 3
Our circumstances may be parallel, but they are not the same. The choices may be comparable, but not equal. The outcomes may be similar, but they will never be identical. You have to be comfortable with the choice and path you are on. I am my own person with a unique and specific set of conditions that impact my life, my thinking and my beliefs. However, because I refuse to follow the path that others have taken, I have been called stubborn. Because I claim to know better what is best for me, I have been called arrogant. Because I stay focused on what is important for me, I have been called inflexible. I accept these names gladly, since it is a small price to pay for my freedom to be and to choose for myself. However, at the end of the day, it is invigorating and empowering to know that I control my life. At the end of the journey, the choices I have made in my life have taken me at times to a very successful place. This is the place where I experience the fulfillment of knowing that I arrived there because I, and only I, elected it. Other times, my choices have taken me through a path of tears and disappointments. In spite of the outcome not being the expected joyful one, I have upon reflection felt fulfilled. More often than not, when I evaluate the choices made and the path taken, I conclude that I am still at a successful place because the learning process I endured has made me a far better person. Even in these instances, I am fulfilled because the choice was mine. In the same manner, you have control over your life. Don't allow others to dictate the path you must follow. Don't permit others' disenchantment to become yours, and blind you to the power that lies within you to direct your life to true fulfillment. Don't let others' fears limit your potential. Don't let your fears limit your potential. Stand on your own two feet and make decisions based on what you feel, and what you need to accomplish in your life. You need to have patience, perseverance and always keep in mind that your life is unique, your purpose is unique, and you are unique. Focus on these things while choosing the right path in your life. When we talk about choosing the right path, we need to first understand that one of the greatest things of modern societies the freedom to choose which paths in life we want to take. Before we can start analyzing the various paths, we need to firstly know ourselves and recognize the values that we have as individuals. In my personal opinion the right path leaves you with no regrets and no doubts, eventually leading you to a purpose in your life. Expectation Leads Stress Best-wishes friends on your future endeavor. Stop expecting people to be picture-perfect, you may find the happiness that you have always sidestepped. In modern world people have fewer time to develop their instinct personalities. If you ask anybody; how are you? The answer will be I am fine, I am good. But are they really fine or good? No, why it is so? Reason is due to the overburden and an attempt to walk with difficulties in personal and professional ends which leads stress in their lives.the victim of stress can be the person of any age. This is as similar as love i.e. in love there is no age limit. No wonder a small child can be the part of it. However stress has been discussed and elaborated by many researchers and doctors a lot of times. Causes and remedies are still available in market. What is to be discussed here new about stress then? The new horizon of stress is expectation. But why focus on expectations? The main motive is to let the people aware about the fact that expectations are a major source of stress in our lives. Expectations are always there, whether we are familiar to them or we are oblivious to them. Expectations produce stress mostly in two ways. One is that they are frequently fictitious or unrealistic which if not satisfied generate stress. The other is that most of the times, we are completely unaware that we are expecting from others. In this case we are no longer in a position to work out the real source of stress which is even more terrible.. 4
So the question arises from where does the expectation come? Are we born with that? Or is it developed? It has three main spheres. 1. Intrapersonal Level - Many of our moods and emotions are intimately tied to our expectations. If we are feeling low, we will keep on evaluatingourselves about our achievements, our behaviour with others, our value system, and ethics and so on. In this state our expectation from ourselves (to achieve more, to behave good etc.) rises which causes stress in us. This is vice versa too i.e. if our expectations with ourselves are not met, we will start feeling low which causes stress. This is a vicious circle. 2. Situational Level - There are certain situations in which we always expect bad things, particularly those which are not in our control, e.g. outcome of an examination, accident of a near one, wait of someone etc. We will obviously feel frightened, anxious or worried. 3. Interpersonal Level - Expectations play a major role in relationships. When somebody comes into our life may be our friend or lover or spouse, we start feeling good about that person. We start spending time together. And after sometime we start assuming that he/she will understand us and will always take care of our needs though unsaid. We almost always have expectations about how that person should think, feel, and behave and when this does not happen, we start feeling hurt because of ourunsaid and unfilled expectations. Another part of this sphere is of parents and kids relationship. Parents have strong expectations about how their kids should think, feel, and behave. But the little brood almost never follow those game plans exactly. Hopefully we can instil healthy values, virtues, and morals into them, but beyond that all bets are off. Just don't have the hope that most of your expectations will come true. Some, yes. But most, may not. Now the question arises, can we stop our self from expecting? The answer is NO. After all we all are human beings and it is genuine to expect from our near ones. But at the same times we cannot always expect them to live up to our liking of how they should behave. We are not in this world to live up to others expectations and nor are the others to live up to our expectations. Everyone has certain limit. So it is fair to expect but up to a certain extent. The mantra or rule is not to change the actions of others but to reframe our own expectations, to make them more realistic. Yes, this is easier said than done. But by small practice we can be master in that. The upcoming remedies may help easing the action: Whenever you are upset by your unfilled expectations-ask yourself: Am I dependent upon others for my needs? You will get your answer. So identify the disparity amid expectation and dependence. Reconsider your relationship with the person in question. May be that person is not worth of you. Therefore this is worthless to expect from that person. Remember you cannot change others. Because this is easier to understand the person than to change him. Accept the person as he is. It will help you not to take the conduct of others personally. May be the person is like that only and he would have done the same thing to the other person also. Empathise with others. Ups and downs come in everybody's life. Moreover every person is not able to give his hundred percent daily. Have guidelines in the relationships. Because the best way is to express what you feel rather than expect others to understand. People cannot be held accountable for the things which you have not expressed. Be aware of your hidden and unrealistic expectations, this can help you free from being dominated by them. You can look at a specific expectation such as "Life should always be fair" then ask yourself "is this really true?" When you pause to think about this question for a moment, you will see things in a much more accurate light. Of course life isn't fair. Storms aren't fair. Accidents aren't fair. Death isn't fair. Betrayals aren't fair. The point is, once you become aware of an untrue or unrealistic expectation. You can gain the power to free yourself from it. Even if you have failed trying the above techniques. Try this. Always carry an eraser with you. This will act like a trigger in your mind. So whenever you get hurt by your unfilled expectation, recall that eraser and speak to yourself, I am erasing all my expectations from others. It really works! To conclude this is important to understand that whenever we are expecting from others, we are giving away the remote control of our life to others. It is the time to decide either to take remote control back or to let others control our life. Remember the other person cannot always understand what wewant at which time. No one can take care of us better than ourselves. Be your own caretaker! Wishing you good health, happiness, and a stress free life. Mrs. Shikha Gupta 5
BRANCH ACTIVITIES DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY, 2018 * Management Course Skills * ICITSS - Information Technology Training * ICITSS - Orientation Programme * AICITSS Advanced Information Technology Training e-newsletter * Training programme on capacity building measures for CA profession with special focus on Budget Organized by- Committee for Capacity Building of Members in practice (CCBMP) Hosted by Ludhiana Branch of NIRC * Seminar on E Way Bill under GST DISCLAIMER Ludhiana Branch of ICAI is not in any way responsible for the result of any action taken on the basis of views expressed in different articles published in this newsletter. Glimpses of Branch Activities ICAI BHAWAN, PAKHOWAL ROAD, BASANT CITY ROAD,LUDHIANA-142022 (PUNJAB) Email: ludhiana@icai.org Website: www.ludhiana-icai.org 6