Microsoft Excel and Myself

Perhaps there is some guilt hidden in my words when I say that I have never really acted on the maxim "When you've got it, flaunt it"!

Excel and I go back a long, long way - and yes, VBA Macro's came in much later, coz I used to do Macro Programming in Lotus 1-2-3 long before I began coding in Visual Basic for Applications. Funny thing is, that I never did it commercially, so far. It was always either for self-consumption, or for my CA Firm, where I had been a partner at that time.

Today, practically everyone who needs to compute figures, uses Excel Spreadsheets, VBA or no VBA. Ironically, a VBA subroutine, if coded properly, can save you hours of manual computing, a point I have proven over and over, in the past, since almost 1995, when I entered private practice, as a CA.

Today, even though Microsoft says that VBA will continue to be a part of the Office Suite, be it Office 2024/25 or Microsoft 365, there are maybe just a handful of CA's who use VBA, that too just the Macro Recorder!! Have yet to come across somebody professional regularly creating or actively using UDF's, userforms or class modules, which is where the true power lies!!

Not that I am complaining, because in any case, I am not doing what I currently do or have been doing commercially, so if I don't earn another rupee, it does not matter!!

Creating formats in Excel is another hobby that I have always had, and I have enough in my Formats folder to keep me going forever. Templates are for those who do not have time to create a format, but I have always carved out time from my schedule to create my own templates, but none that I can share publicly, unfortunately!! Yes, occasionally I too use office templates, like Amortisation of Term Loans, but only to adapt them for my own use.

Self-Learning Artificial Intelligence

What is Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI):

We all have by now realised the ever-growing importance of and demand for Artificial Intelligence, beginning from the second half of 2024. Whether student or researcher, Google had always been our go-to alternative, when wanting to learn more. Of late, you would have realized, whenever you search Google, the first response is from Gemini 2.0 !!!

No, it is not the magic of logic, but it is the magic of what we now know is called "Generative Artificial Intelligence" or GenAI, for short. For example, observe these images, saved from my social media account(s):

The above images are samples of the Generative AI, which is what Meta AI is also based on. Basically, now your actions are recorded, whatsoever it may be that you like, for example, in my case it is Lord Vishnu & Devi Laxmi (including Lord Ram & Devi Sita and Lord Krishna & Devi Radha) and Mahadev and His family, including Devi Parvati, Lord Ganesh and His Ansh-Avatar Lord Hanuman. We can bet our bottom dollar, that unless you share the same beliefs as usual, you would never see these images, but will have seen images of your belief!!

To make us know what gives us an idea of how it works, observe the first and fourth images from above. Both are of Lord Shiv, or Mahadev, but have you ever seen Mahadev with more than four arms? Or a psychedelic Mahadev? Quod Erat Demonstrandum, folks!!

We absolutely adore Mahadev, and naturally would adore whichever Form He appears before us, and that exactly proves our point. AI knows Mahadev, His family and His history, for it has been well trained by it's creator(s), for they are none other than software developers like us!!

Likewise for Lord Vishnu, who has had Nine known avatars so far, and His 10th Avatar, Kalki, is reckoned to arrive when Kalyug deteriorates into it's lowest level of degradation into sheer depravity. Stories of His avatars are all over the internet, especially His Seventh, Lord Ram with Devi Sita, brother(s) Bharat, Laxman and Shatrughan forming the epic Ramayan. His Eighth, Lord Krishna, elder brother Balram and His love story with Devi Radha, His wife(s) Rukmini and Satyabhama; the Pandavas, Yudhishthir, Bheem, Arjun, Nakul and Sahadev, who battled the Kaurav's led by Duryodhan, Dushyant and 98 other brothers in the mega epic Mahabharat. Though the battle lasted 18 days, a lot happened before, during and after the battle. For instance, the Chakravyuh and Abhimanyu, the battle of Arjun and Karan, the beheading of Shishupal, the end of Bhishma Pitamah, etc ,etc.

The teachings of Lord Krishna to his Parth, Arjun also form a beautiful part of this epic. "Karmanye Va Dhikaraste, Maa Phaleshu Kadachana" is the one verse that resounds in my mind, which basically means that a human being should only go about fulfilling his wordly duties, and should leave the awarding of the fruits of his labour to God!! 

No surprises, then, that I am blessed with their images, for that is what I have been wanting, liking and viewing, day in and day out!!

We have started self-learning both Artificial Intelligence and Python Programming from January 1st, 2025.

Our Digital showroom (https://www.vikramshankarmathur.link) is currently in an Advanced stage of refurbishment. Once that is complete, we have another surpise in stow for you!!

Good Evening!!

CA Vikram Shankar Mathur

Last Updated: March 28th, 2025 @ 16:32 Hours IST

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Copyright @ 2025 - CA Vikram Shankar Mathur - ahmedabadfca@gmail.com - All Rights Reserved.

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THEORY VS PRACTICAL:

One never knows what challenge life will throw at you next, and most importantly, when it decides to test your alertness. You have to be alert, like Virat Kohli remains alert at the crease, ready to swat the ball, which is intent on removing your stump (or just the bails balanced delicately atop).

One should create a habit of at least listening to what your seniors (s) tell you, even if the words are harsher than you would like. Because what experience teaches you, no amount of reading theories will!! That is why they say, that experience is the best teacher. 

Reading books will only enrich your knowledge, but unless you learn how to convert a theory, no matter how sound on paper, into a practical application, it remains just that, a theory.

To illustrate, let me explain with an example. Long ago, I used to teach a subject called SADP, short for "Systems Analysis & Data Processing" at the CA (Final) level. I was explaining the student the conceptual theory of a silicon conductor (chip, in layman terms) and I asked him if he has observed what happens when a tubelight is switched off after use? Next time, even you can observe, that the tubelight flickers until the remaining electric charge disperses completely. When the boy followed my instruction and temporarily turned off the tubelight, I explained that the silicon chip is popular in the computing industry for the reason that if you turn off the computer unexpectedly, the silicon chip retains enough charge to write back into the hard disk your last unsaved work. How else does Microsoft Excel present you unsaved versions of your active worksheet even though the electricity failure occurred unexpectedly?

Another last piece of advice to my younger and more enthusiastic fellow members: Never cross swords with the programmer who writes your VBA or Python code, because only he controls what will happen when, in your application!! It has happened with me, though being an ethical hacker (post my FAFP certification in 2016), I was able to catch the error and forced my programmer to suitably amend the code!! :-) :-).

But you may not be so lucky: Better safe than sorry, as they say!! The graphic below has been amended by me to remove references of unwanted variety. Plus, I can now promote, as a #freelancer, my website, www.cavsm1962.co.in - safely!!

Vikramshankarmathur.Info Website Project

https://workspace.google.com/intl/en_in/products/sites/

For those of you who know me, I am also a Google Developer (cavs.mathur@gmail.com) and recognized Google Guide (Level 4).

I am working on Google Site which will be hosted on my domain https://www.vikramshankarmathur.info

Recently, I have created a Google Site (still under development) that I will be connecting to my aforesaid domain. Wish me luck, I hope to complete this project by March 31st 2025.

Thank God, Mumbai is much safer than Delhi

It's a relief to realize that Mumbai, which used to be my home from 1983 till 1988, when my Dad was posted there, is a lot safer than Delhi, where I have lived from 1979 till 1983!! Still, the recent incident in Saif Ali Khan's home is most shocking and has left me in shock, as well!! But something, like a gut feeling, tells me that the attack on the younger Nawab of Pataudi was just a blip on the radar, I hope to God, it is not a precursor to something much more horrible, that may happen. May Lord Shankar Mahadev have mercy. Har Har Mahadev!!