Khankari Sir – The CA, who mastered the Malegaonians in Accounts, no more
Khankari Sir, the Chartered Accountant, who mastered the business community of Malegaon in Accounts, and taught Accountancy and Book Keeping to almost every student of Commerce till 2017, died in Pune on Friday September 06, 2024 at the age of 84
Wavikar Lane, or simply Wavikar Galli, of Malegaon links two places of the City that are associated with historic events - One Panch Kandil and the other Teen Kandil.
Quoting old timers it is said that Panch Kandil, where five lanterns or qandils are hanging even today, is the place where India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had addressed a rally before independence.
Teen Kandil is the famous intersection in Malegaon where Muhammad Ali Jauhar had addressed a rally on his visit to the City during the Khilafat Movement, and hence the new name Jauhar Chowk.
The same Wavikar Lane however became famous, and talked about for 40 long years after the Independence, for Khankari Sir’s Tuition Classes.
Khankari Sir, the Chartered Accountant, who mastered the business community of Malegaon in Accounts, and taught Accountancy and Book Keeping to almost every student of Commerce till 2017, died in Pune on Friday September 06, 2024 at the age of 84.
Khankari Sir is survived by wife, two daughters, two younger brothers and one sister. His last rites were held at Baner Shamshan Bhumi in Pune at 08:00 AM Saturday September 07, 2024.
One of the earliest Chartered Accountants of Malegaon
Khankari Sir, who goes by his full name Vijay Kashinath Khankari, was born on May 15, 1941. He was one of the earliest Chartered Accountants of Malegaon – the City in North Maharashtra famous world over for its textiles produce and business acumen.
Khankari Sir’s father Kashinath Khankari, who originally hailed from Zodge – a small town some 22 km from Malegaon, was a lawyer. He had written his own interpretation of Hindu religious book Bhagavad Gita.
Khankari Sir was born and grown up in Malegaon. After graduation, he cracked the Chartered Accountant (CA) exam, probably becoming the first Chartered Accountant of Malegaon. He started practicing in Malegaon, simultaneously joining the M.S.G. College branch in Manmad as Honorary Lecturer.
Soon, files piled up as he became the most sought after auditor and tax consultant of not only Malegaon but also of the entire region. This left him with no time to travel to Manmad, and hence, he excused the M.S.G. College management from teaching.
The teacher in him, however, urged him to start teaching again. He therefore started teaching students right on the first floor of his residence in Wavikar Galli, and the rest is history. A successful Chartered Accountant already, Khankari Sir was now on his way to becoming one of the most acclaimed teachers.
“Learning accounts from Khankari Sir was fun, interesting, and at the same time, intoxicating”, Satish Kasliwal, Chartered Accountant and one of his students, told ummid.com.
“As he was a practicing Chartered Accountant, Khankari sir, besides clearing all the basics and theory, would enrich students with all the practical knowledge of the subject. So much so that a student would require no further coaching in accounts after attending him”, Kasliwal said.
A huge rush of students waiting outside Khankari Tuition Classes in Wavikar Galli was a scene for passer-by for around four decades. They included the students of both the genders, and from all communities and religions. This at the time when Malegaon, the City of Powerlooms, was one of the grounds for communal flare-up.
“Khankari Sir was the kind of person who loved to take everyone along. Hence, the communal politics in the City never poisoned his classes. There used to be Hindu and Muslim girls and boys, and they would attend his class in total harmony.
“He was kind and simple in nature. He used to dress up in khadi kurta and drive a scooter with his trademark Jhola hanging down his shoulder. People would not hesitate to stop him on road and ask questions. Above all, Khankari Sir was the one who never commercialised education”, Muzaffar Shaikh, a Journalist, said while talking to ummid.com.
A Model Rotarian
Chartered Accountant Vijay Khankari did not limit himself to accounts, taxation and teaching. As well a good social worker, he joined Rotary Club of Malegaon and left behind a legacy of extraordinary contribution to social cause and also a team to carry forward the work he started in his tenure.
Rotary Club Malegaon at that time was headed by Raje Bahadur and since its inception in 1950, its activities were limited to Raje Bahadur Wada.
“Khankari Sir was instrumental in expanding the Rotary Club Malegaon from the confines of Raje Bahadur Wada to the entire region”, Rotarian Dr Dilip Bhavsar told ummid.com.
With Khankari Sir at the helm, the membership base of the Rotary Club also increased.
“More and more people from different sections of the society joining the Club provided wings to its activities, especially in healthcare”, Dr Bhavsar said.
Eye care was the key focus area of Khankari Sir. Besides holding cancer and diabetes camps and participating programs such as Polio Eradication programmes, Rotary Club of Malegaon under Khankari Sir conducted eye camps and subsequently arranged surgical eye camps every Sunday regularly for one year.
“This was in 1977. These eye camps and surgeries were conducted at the space provided to Rotary Club at the government run Women and Children Hospital Satana Road”, Dr Bhavsar said.
Khankari Sir was also very quality conscious and he would reach out to renowned ophthalmologists and eye specialists and invite them to Malegaon.
“Renowned ophthalmologist Dr. Badar Maskati and others like him were regular at the Rotary Club Malegaon Eye Camps”, Satish Kasliwal, with whom Khankari Sir later established a partnership tax consultancy firm, said.
Mumbai based Dr B.T. Maskati was awarded for best innovation of 2018 for his invention of “Maskati Cannula” for cataract surgery.
Also Read: Numismatist Ab Razzaque of Malegaon passes away
Khankari Sir however was not satisfied and wanted to take the activities of Rotary Club Malegaon to the next level, especially with respect to eye care.
“The problem however was that Malegaon at that time had not a single ophthalmologist. Khankari Sir and other members of the club met Dr Mangulkar in Chalisgaon and requested him to shift to Malegaon”, Dr Dilip Bhavsar recalled.
Simultaneously, Rotary Club shifted its healthcare activities from the government run Satana Road hospital to its own premises of one storey building close to Market Yard with the name B.S. Bhandari Rotary Eye Hospital.
“In 1980, it was decided to register Rotary Charity Trust for smooth and successful running of B.S. Bhandari Rotary Eye Hospital. In 2007, with the support and grants from SightSavers International [formerly Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind (RCSB)] the 1-storey building of the hospital was converted into the beautiful 3-storey infrastructure that we see today”, Dr Bhavsar, who is also one of the trustees, said.
“Since the day one of its inauguration, Khankari Sir would visit the hospital every day and spend hours to personally monitor and administer the daily routine work. He was so much attached with this hospital that after shifting to Pune he would make phone calls every day to enquire and make himself assured that the hospital is running without any problem”, Dr Bhavsar said.
Khankari Sir was also very concerned about the continuation of the work he had started. He had a peculiar characteristic of identifying people, especially the youngsters, who could be helpful to him in carrying forward the work initiated by him.
On one hand if he had people like Pyarelal Chajed, Vitthal Bakre and other much older than him, he also had people like Dr Dilip Bhavsar, Rajendra Chajed, Bharat Tapde, Ajay Shah, Chandrakant Shirapure and others who were much younger to him but always ready to work for him.
“Khankari Sir never allowed the age difference to be barrier in his work. He would participate in all activities with the same enthusiasm and determination as his younger colleagues, even if it required working for a whole night”. Dr Bhavsar said.
A Responsible Family Man
Though occupied with his work as chartered accountant, teacher and social activities at Rotary Club, but Khankari Sir was also fully aware of his responsibilities as the elder brother of his younger brothers and sisters, and father of his two daughters.
“Khankari Sir was the eldest among his brothers and sisters. Since the age gap was huge, he was a father-like figure for them. Aware of this, Khankari Sir never let his siblings down”, Abhay Shah, a Malegaon based entrepreneur who also enjoyed a long association with Khankari Sir, told ummid.com.
“His two younger brothers – Kishore and Rajendra, both are Scientists and currently in the United States. They have both graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). While in the U.S. they have registered a number of patents in their name”, Abhay Shah said.
“One of his daughters Dr. Sucharita Mandar Paranjpe is an ophthalmologist and is currently practising in Pune whereas his younger daughter, Mrunal Sagar Sabde, is Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) based in the United States”, he said.
Also Read: Ayyub Ansari, one of the finest Mathematics teachers, no more
Abhay Shah also remembered Khankari Sir as a connoisseur who loved music, poetry, ghazals and had a great insight of art and culture.
“He was one of the patrons of Famous Music Club and was regular in Urdu Mushairas and Mehfil e Ghazal. He himself organized various musical events and invited top names in the field to Malegaon including renowned classical singers Shruti Sadolikar, Devaki Pandit, Satyasheel Deshpande and others”, Abhay Shah said.
“Khankari Sir had once invited renowned composer and mandolinist Sajjad Hussain to Malegaon. He was so impressed by Khankari Sir that he extended his stay in the city for eight day to perform for his ailing mother”, Abhay Shah said.
Khankari Sir also had a hand on singing, and the send-off parties organised by his students would not end till without him singing at least one song or ghazal.
“The demand from the students would very often be Jaane woh kaise log the jinke pyaar ko pyaar mila – Hemant Kumar’s popular song from the film Pyaasa”, Chartered Accountant Satish Kasliwal recalled.
The one thing that perhaps his students wished was to play the same song in the background when their beloved teacher’s mortal remain was confined to flames.
[The writer, Aleem Faizee, is Founder Editor of ummid.com. He can be reached at aleem.faizee@gmail.com]
Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
Post Comments