Hyderabad mason’s son beats Covid, cash crunch to clear CA exam, builds hope for kin

HYDERABAD: Despite severe financial constraints, a health scare and his family's scepticism, 22-year-old Sai Dinesh achieved his dream goal this weekend, when he secured an All India Rank 40 in the CA final examinations held by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The son of a mason-turned-small-time construction contractor from Hyderabad's Saidabad area, Dinesh is now headed towards a new goal: To earn a comfortable life for his family, away from the days of penury.

"I want to give back to my parents and my sister who have supported me through thick and thin...I stand here only because of them," said the younger of the two siblings. His 24-year-old sister is a graduate from IIIT Basara, currently working for a software company in Hyderabad. The two are the first from their generation to get a college education.

But the journey till here has been packed with challenges. The first one came his way after class 10, when Dinesh told his family that he wanted to pursue chartered accountancy. "We were very apprehensive, even his friends discouraged him. I knew it was a tough path, and I wasn't sure how long I could support him financially. But Dinesh was adamant, so we relented," said his father S Subrahmanyam — standing tall with pride today. "Through our children, we've fulfilled our own dream of securing an education," the school dropout said, his voice choking with emotion.

Dinesh faced a second major setback during his CA Inter exams, which coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic. He became severely ill because of the virus and was forced to take the group 1 exam in Nov 2020 and the group 2 exam in May 2021. "There were days when I had to push myself through ill health. I could not give the group exams at once and had to give them over time," recalled Dinesh. He finally cleared the CA Inter level exams in Dec 2021. But these obstacles didn't break him, they only strengthened his resolve.

"In the run up to his finals, he would often study late into the night, sometimes from 10pm to 5am. In all his months of preparation, he barely took a week's off," said his home-maker mother, S Kumari, brimming with pride. Dinesh is anything but modest about it himself. "I really slogged it out. I studied 12 to 14 hours every day. It was stressful, but I'm grateful to my parents, teachers, and mentors during my articleship for their unwavering support," he said, admitting how securing a rank wasn't his goal initially. "During my articleship when I saw my peers work hard and give their all, I was motivated to push my limits as well," he added.

Looking ahead, Dinesh plans to participate in the special placement programme for rank holders.

"I'm keeping an open mind about and focusing on the immediate opportunities available through placements," he said.