It is my privilege to get this opportunity of putting together views and opinions, expressed by stalwarts of our field, about Dr. N. A. Palkhivala, an adorable person and in fact, is the presiding deity of the legal profession. In the initial days of my career, my senior, Dr. K. Shivaram Sr. Advocate, had given me the rare opportunity to interact with this towering personality of our times —–Padma Vibhushan Dr. N. A. Palkhivala; now again, I am blessed with this opportunity to work on this project.

While I felt elevated to walk a few steps with him, I can only imagine the advantage of those who had lived and worked with him. Even during that era of limited communications, the pre social media days, he became a house hold name for his independent views and for his high moral ground in public life. For professionals, in several walks of life, he was the role model providing inspiration and motivation. His public life with many facets and his professional versatility were an open book – any aspiring youngster can take a leaf out of it. His ‘perseverance’ as a professional had made him one of the greatest jurists of our times.

There is an air of optimism for the future generations due to the eco system created by such stalwarts. I am reminded of the lines written by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers – The Story of success – “It make a difference where and when we grew up. The culture we belong to and the legacies passed down by our forebears shape the patterns of our achievement in ways we cannot begin to imagine. It’s not enough to ask what successful people are like, in other words. It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn’t” This is what is the gift of Padma Vibhushan Late Dr. N. A. Palkhivala to the future generations to excel in their chosen fields. The future generations are going to be indebted to him for creating the eco system where caliber and hard work are the passport for success. On behalf of the Journal Committee of the All India Federation of Tax Practitioners I thank all the contributors of this issue.