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LAST Saturday, at the Music Academy crossing, I had to make a decision. Both the premier institutes, ICAI and ICSI, were felicitating their new bosses at the same time. Cosecs are good at time management, I told myself, and I should be able to run and catch at least the last few words of the drawls at the CA Institute. That was, however, not to be.

I am not a regular at ICSI conclaves but what struck me was the absence of `airs'. Poor cousins they may be - looked down upon by the chartered community - but they seem to be in touch with reality.

The new president is Mr S. Gangopadhyay, a veteran from the Eastern region, and the VP is Mr Pavan Kumar Vijay, a young `dreaming' Delhiite. They seem to make a good team, a blend of experience and ideas.

And Pavan has no dearth of ideas, some of which he bounced off the few who were present that evening at Hotel Ramada. Such as — achieving a 5-time jump in the circulation of the Chartered Secretary; turning the institute's revenue ratio from its present skew towards students; revamping postal coaching; dedicating a month to each segment such as judiciary, industrialists and so on; gunning for ISO; and elevating the qualified secretary to the level of "strategic manager" from the current role as a mere "compliance officer".

Dr S. P. Narang, the last of the old guards, was the headmaster around but he was quite plain. It was necessary to call the meeting `interaction with members' and not `felicitation'; otherwise a member could initiate a public interest litigation alleging `wasteful expenditure', he pointed out.

It was almost 10 when I left the hall, and there were members who still wanted to interact with the top brass and talk about professional issues. Refreshingly, one thing was missing.

People were not extolling the personal virtues of office-bearers or praising them to the skies, as happens at eagle-wala meets. Perhaps, better sense prevails in Lodi Road, than near ITO.

hindubusinessline@hotmail.com

D. Murali

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