Beloved Guru CA T N Manoharan
My wife tells me how dedicated as a Teacher he was. Before he goes to the podium in his class, the first thing he does is to remove his shoes. Very stickler to time. When in unavoidable circumstances, very rare, he had to reach the class belatedly, he profusely apologised. Students didn't learn just taxation discipline, his pet subject, but also all learnt best of life values. The valiant who transformed Satyam from chaos to clarity.
Not just CA fraternity but we all miss him. Amar Rahe hamara Guruji.
Sharing the mails, how he respected everyone regardless of big timers or small timers:
Forwarded Message -----
From: President <president@icai.org>
To: "subra_m@yahoo.com" <subra_m@yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006, 03:16:43 PM GMT+5:30
Subject: Fw: CA in regional languages
Dear CA. Subramanian
Thank you for your mail and thought provoking views on the significance of Indian regional languages. While I appreciate your affinity, as much as my own, there are certain practical difficulties in implementing such suggestion. In any case, I will keep it in the back of my mind and explore the possibility.
With best regards
Yours sincerely
CA. T N MANOHARAN
President, ICAI
----- Original Message -----
From: T.N.Manoharan
To: president@icai.org
Sent: Monday, April 10, 2006 12:47 PM
Subject: Fw: CA in regional languages
----- Original Message -----
From: subramanian subramanian
To: mcach@touchtelindia.net
Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 4:22 PM
Subject: CA in regional languages
To : Shri T N Manoharan, President, ICAI.
Sub : CA in Tamil
Dear Sir,
After completing CA inter and having worked with an MNC bank’s associate, I started working for a CA firm on the advice of a senior CA and my relative. And quite a number of my relatives are CAs.
Being associated with CA profession, questions on taxation crop up every now and then. Those times, the book my hands reach to on our shelf is yours on Taxation. In that angle, I’m your student.
What better occasion can I expect to express my humble views on the above subject than at this eve of bringing out ‘Mission 2006’ document!
It is heartening to see that course promotion brochure in vernacular is already there on the Mission Chart as part of Stepping up of Student services.
Is it, then, far off to dream the CA course in and through medium of Tamil? Or for that matter CA course in as many Indian languages as possible. And many foreign languages as well!!!
Mother Tongue-medium - The raison d’etre
Despite their erudition in English language skills of Mahatma, Swami Vivekananda and our own Subramania Bharatiyar – remember he loved to call himself, Shelly Dasan, they all advocated study in mother tongue.
Nearly well over 2/3rd of our brethren still live in rural area.
Ours is not yet a fully literate nation, albeit we have made significant strides in literacy level and the graph of literacy rate is ever up. Promoting social development is also part of the Mission 2006 charter. We will comfortably drive home the points, policies, aims et al to our rural masses in their own language. Why to burden them in such an incomprehensible language which is beyond their ken?
English may have opened up global vistas and opportunities galore. Time and again, this cliché that only if students firm up their English language skills, they rest assured of a sound future. Else, their life would get doomed. People can stay rest assured that no heavens would fall down like a pack of cards without English. I’m not contending to do away with English. With English or sans English, the potential for a professional is ever abundant. The opportunities don’t understand the Economic theories of scarcity, law of diminishing returns etc. As long as our professional competency has relevance and utility value, we will have endless opportunities.
China and Japan may evince keenness to learn English. I would not subscribe to the theory that they would do it at the cost of their own native languages.
We got freed from the shackles of the colonial rule. But not complete freedom from their language. Is it to perpetuate their language that we did get freedom from them? Don’t we have languages of our own?
After all, should an Indian student in this independent nation not have a choice to pursue his studies in his own mother tongue? Is it too much to expect so? Even examinations in civil services went mother-tongue way a long ago.
We don’t lack competent faculties, well read professionals who could structure the syllabi in respective Indian languages.
If we want to call our nation a strictly well accounting and complying nation, the professional education should reach the nook and corners of this nation. This would ensure egalitarian spirit.
As long as a course like CA remains in CA, only the middle class urban elite and a few others having aptitude to learn English would pursue the CA course thus depriving the chance to substantial number of youngsters who may have aptitude for the course but could not pursue for the sheer lack of opportunity to pursue the course in their mother-tongue.
It is a pity that we have to voice for the sustenance of our own languages.
In this independent nation, I’m pained to say English should rather accommodate other languages and never be in the way to block those who want to pursue the course in their respective mother tongue.
I wind up this with the wish the day may dawn when I can say the Indian languages should accommodate as many foreign languages as possible and not vice versa . Thank you for patiently reading this and please pardon me for stealing away your precious time to read this.
Regards,
RM Subramanian.
