IMO optionals in CSE are going to stay for atleast one more year (2013) before the Centre approves the new CSM pattern. So what I am going to write here wont be obsolete for atleast one more year.
History optional should be chosen only if one is deeply interested in it. It is a vast subject unlike public administration or sociology or literature or philosophy. Unless one is inquisitive about the subject it becomes tedious to read. People tend to choose optionals like PA or socio or literature etc, even if they dont have any positive interest in them, as they have less voluminous syllabus, as they are easy to score, as they are easy to understand, as study material and coaching are easily available etc. History differs from them on the first two points. So history is normally taken by people who do BA or MA in history or those who are really fascinated by the subject.
So, what to read for history optional from the exam point of view then?
Unfortunately there is no one book which is comprehensive enough, which has everything we need to study. There are many books to read and one has to take the help of internet too. But I will try to present the absolute minimum number of books you have to read which are indispensable. A beginner should first read +1, +2 NCERT books. After that proceed to read the following books.
1. Ignou BA (not MA material) for ancient, medieval, modern Indian history. Most important source of all. There are only very few topics in these booklets which you dont have to study. Otherwise you have to read most of them. It is lucidly written.
2. Gazetteer of India Volume-2 for ancient and medieval Indian history. You need to be discreet enough to leave some topics and subtopics through out the book particularly in political history part as these are not necessary for the exam but very interesting. This book is a good source for the art, architecture, S&T, social life, different sources of history. It is full of facts, there is a risk that some may lose interest in reading history. :-)
3. Medieval India by Satishchandra (both parts). Lucidly written book although biased.
4. Spectrum's A brief history of Modern India. This is a book which is normally studied for GS History. But this is enough for optional history too. It is well written abridged version of Grover and Bipanchandra put together.
5. Jain&Mathur for world history. I observed that some people have a low opinion about this book. But I found it be good from the exam point of view. Buy it.
6. Modern World History by Lowe. A very well written book.
7. Spectrum's Historical Atlas of India. This is not enough. You have to do much more than reading this one. I will write a separate post on how to prepare for map question which carries 60 marks.
Apart from the above books which are absolutely essential, take the help of internet particularly Wikipedia wherever necessary. There are certain other books which some people suggest but which are NOT necessary in my opinion. They are -
1. AL Basham's the wonder that was India - very nice book. Read it if you have spare time.
2. Romila Thapar's Ancient India - well written from Marxist perspective, biased. No need to read. One may hate Romila but none can disagree that she is good writer. :-)
3. DN Jha's book on ancient India - lucid but very biased. Useless to read.
4. Medieval India by JL Mehta (all 3 volumes) - good books but no need to read.
5. Bipan Chandra's two books : Struggle for Independence, India after Independence - very biased and useless books written by a Congress chamcha. Resist indoctrination. Dont forget to perform shuddhikaran on yourself to clean the polluted mind after reading these books. :-)
6. Modern Indian History by Sumit Sarkar -No need to read.
7. Grover's Modern India - Modern Indian history between 18th century and 1905 is given at length in this book. But history after that is rushed through. This is voluminous, full of details. Good book Buy this.
8. Modern Europe to 1870 by CJH Hayes - very nice book. Read it in spare time. If I am not wrong there is another book written by Hayes for history after 1870. I dont have that book.
9. Ensemble's History Atlas - no need.
There are many NBT books on History which makes your knowledge comprehensive like India by Al Biruni, Medieval India by Irfan Habib, Coins, Temples of South India, Temples of North India, a book on Aryans by Romila, Asokan inscriptions, Shivaji, Bhagat Singh, Partition, philosophy of bomb, Tagore and Nehru, etc etc. These books are of very low prices and if history intrigues you then read them in spare time (Not from the exam point of view but just for fun).
One may be wondering, "But what about the coaching material, like Baliyan?" I haven't even seen any coaching material for history but generally speaking coaching material is useless, shallow, unorganised, incomprehensive, written in poor language. So my suggestion would be not to buy any coaching material.
So these are the books to be read. But beginners may be wondering where to start. My suggestion would be to start with old NCERT books for +1, +2. Read them twice as if you are reading a good non-fiction non-acdemic book. Then proceed to read IGNOU material. After that you will figure a way by yourself.
And remember that studying history doesnt mean cramming all the facts. It is more about understanding the perspectives and ideologies, looking through the motives behind actions, understanding the causes behind the social, economic, political, cultural, religious, technological changes (change and continuity!). Dont blindly believe what the author is saying. Indian Marxist historians and Congress chamcha historians are good at twisting the facts into deceptively convincing and false narratives. Try to build your own arguments based on facts against what the author is saying.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Ignominy of Defeat
Before the beginning of the ongoing test series with England, our cricket superstars dubbed the series as the revenge series for the lashing we got in England last summer. And the Indian cricket fans like me believed them blindly, thinking that we are really going to avenge the drubbing. Alas, we became bakras again! :-( The last thing we expected is to lose the series in a humiliating way which is what is going to happen most probably (still the 4th test remains).
Vainglorious English commentators, English cricket fans, haters of Indian cricket like Paki pigs are ripping apart Indian team on television and internet forums respectively for our loss and if our cricket stars are not thick-skinned, they would be feeling like being naked on a busy Indian street. But I guess our stars are used to getting this kind of torrent of criticism and they know the best way out - shrugging off just like pigs shaking off the mud. Next best way is to plan a series with Zimbabwe (not Bangladesh as it is a better team than India) in India and give a lifeline to the forlorn heavyweights in the team.
Much of the flak is directed against Sachin, Gambhir, Sehwag in the batting lineup which is as usual and Dhoni escaped with light criticism which is also as usual. Whatever is the criticism of Dhoni, it is not about his batting but about the captaincy and the possibility of losing it after the latest humiliating flagellation. If his test batting statistics are looked into then one conspicuous fact emerges. He stopped performing well from the middle of 2010. From then on, save 3 or 4 innings on the whipping boys of test cricket -West Indies and New Zealand, he is a failure. A few times he made half centuries on England etc after ugly slogging and when the defeat is a foregone conclusion.
In the press conference yesterday, Dhoni talked about the leadership quality of leading the side when in crisis and taking up responsibility and not thinking of running away. Rather deceptive words for the undiscerning. I dont know why this responsibilty didnt come to his mind when he came to bat in first innings of 3rd test only to play a careless shot of the first ball he faced almost into the hands of fatboy Samit Patel in midwicket. If only Samit was more athletic, Dhoni would have not made a fifty. His captaincy was something which I never liked. I always held that he was lucky to get a team with players at peaks of their careers. Now that the players are not at their best Dhoni is cut down to size. He doesnt deserve a place in the test team. A bowler like Ashwin is a better batsman with better technique than Dhoni. I just hope India loses the 4th test and he loses his place.
For someone who has seen Sachin playing in his glory days, the sight of Sachin looking bewildered at some ordinary ball from a commonplace bowler like Monty or Swann or some insignificant Kiwi bowler is a letdown. Sachin is almost 40 now, he played international cricket for almost 24 years and he has achieved whatever is achievable. His reflexes are not going to improve anymore and he is getting bowled most of the times. Except a few hardcore fanboys who are in denial mode, everyone wants him to vacate the place for an youngster but he is not listening. It no more amuses anyone when Sachin says he is enjoying playing cricket just as much as he did some 23 years ago. It actually leaves us sulking. He is gradually becoming a butt of jokes which is pitiful. I dont know what is stopping him but I guess it is the advertising contracts.
One important thing which begs for attention in Indian team is the famed spin bowling. After the retirement of Kumble our spin department continues to look precariously weak with inefficient spinners like Harbhajan, Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Sharma. etc. Ojha is not as penetrating as Harbhajan once used to be, leave alone Kumble. Ashwin can only do well when the opposition is Windies or Kiwis on spinning tracks. Our batsmen too are very susceptible on not just fast spinning tracks like that of Mumbai but ordinary spinning tracks like that of Eden. Dhoni has become a butt of jokes after Mumbai debacle for his stubborn demand for rank turners which backfired badly. A classic case of hunter becoming the hunted.
With this series, the halo of invincibility at home that India has been wearing since long is shattered for good. I hope this loss sets in motion the requisite amends. Our imbecile selectors should show some spine in dropping the white elephants which are past expiry date.
Vainglorious English commentators, English cricket fans, haters of Indian cricket like Paki pigs are ripping apart Indian team on television and internet forums respectively for our loss and if our cricket stars are not thick-skinned, they would be feeling like being naked on a busy Indian street. But I guess our stars are used to getting this kind of torrent of criticism and they know the best way out - shrugging off just like pigs shaking off the mud. Next best way is to plan a series with Zimbabwe (not Bangladesh as it is a better team than India) in India and give a lifeline to the forlorn heavyweights in the team.
Much of the flak is directed against Sachin, Gambhir, Sehwag in the batting lineup which is as usual and Dhoni escaped with light criticism which is also as usual. Whatever is the criticism of Dhoni, it is not about his batting but about the captaincy and the possibility of losing it after the latest humiliating flagellation. If his test batting statistics are looked into then one conspicuous fact emerges. He stopped performing well from the middle of 2010. From then on, save 3 or 4 innings on the whipping boys of test cricket -West Indies and New Zealand, he is a failure. A few times he made half centuries on England etc after ugly slogging and when the defeat is a foregone conclusion.
In the press conference yesterday, Dhoni talked about the leadership quality of leading the side when in crisis and taking up responsibility and not thinking of running away. Rather deceptive words for the undiscerning. I dont know why this responsibilty didnt come to his mind when he came to bat in first innings of 3rd test only to play a careless shot of the first ball he faced almost into the hands of fatboy Samit Patel in midwicket. If only Samit was more athletic, Dhoni would have not made a fifty. His captaincy was something which I never liked. I always held that he was lucky to get a team with players at peaks of their careers. Now that the players are not at their best Dhoni is cut down to size. He doesnt deserve a place in the test team. A bowler like Ashwin is a better batsman with better technique than Dhoni. I just hope India loses the 4th test and he loses his place.
For someone who has seen Sachin playing in his glory days, the sight of Sachin looking bewildered at some ordinary ball from a commonplace bowler like Monty or Swann or some insignificant Kiwi bowler is a letdown. Sachin is almost 40 now, he played international cricket for almost 24 years and he has achieved whatever is achievable. His reflexes are not going to improve anymore and he is getting bowled most of the times. Except a few hardcore fanboys who are in denial mode, everyone wants him to vacate the place for an youngster but he is not listening. It no more amuses anyone when Sachin says he is enjoying playing cricket just as much as he did some 23 years ago. It actually leaves us sulking. He is gradually becoming a butt of jokes which is pitiful. I dont know what is stopping him but I guess it is the advertising contracts.
One important thing which begs for attention in Indian team is the famed spin bowling. After the retirement of Kumble our spin department continues to look precariously weak with inefficient spinners like Harbhajan, Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Piyush Chawla, Rahul Sharma. etc. Ojha is not as penetrating as Harbhajan once used to be, leave alone Kumble. Ashwin can only do well when the opposition is Windies or Kiwis on spinning tracks. Our batsmen too are very susceptible on not just fast spinning tracks like that of Mumbai but ordinary spinning tracks like that of Eden. Dhoni has become a butt of jokes after Mumbai debacle for his stubborn demand for rank turners which backfired badly. A classic case of hunter becoming the hunted.
With this series, the halo of invincibility at home that India has been wearing since long is shattered for good. I hope this loss sets in motion the requisite amends. Our imbecile selectors should show some spine in dropping the white elephants which are past expiry date.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
IAS Coaching Centers : New players in the field
Every month new coaching centers spring up in Delhi. It is common for
those who fail to make it to come to
Rajendra Nagar or Mukherjee Nagar and start a coaching center. It is
also common for many coaching centers to wind up when they fail to make money to pay the rent for the office and classroom. This too happens every month.
But what is not common is predatory coaching centres which are already established in other areas like IIT JEE etc, with deep pockets (very deep indeed), which are run like corporate companies making foray into the IAS coaching business. This is a dangerous development.
I am talking about Sri Chaitanya and Narayana institutions which have made the life of students and parents hell in AP, which have made education a very costly proposition to the common man of AP. Now their evil eyes have fallen on Civil Services Exam, and mark my words, they are going wipe out everyone in the field within 10-12 years and establish monopoly if the things continue as they are. As of now these two started a joint venture in Rajendra Nagar to make joint efforts towards wiping out others and fleecing the students. This came as a surprise to me as they are fierce competitors in other areas.
If you have noticed, now a days children in AP start studying from the point of view of IIT JEE from class 6 or 7 itself. You may have noticed numerous schools going by the name of 'IIT Concept Schools'. 10-12 years back it was not like this. This trend has put tremendous pressure on the children and harmed their alround growth and thinking process. If you are from AP, you may know this. All this is because of the unscrupulous organisations like Sri Chaitanya and Narayana.
Now they are trying to replicate this scheme of things in IAS coaching too. These people have started coaching for IAS for intermediate students (+1, +2). They are trying to lure gullible parents into enrolling their children in these courses saying that taking coaching from intermediate onwards helps them get through in to the services early. Program details are given here and here. TN Seshan who is upright and whom I and many like me look upto is the chief mentor of these programs. I dont know what lured him but definitely not money. There are some issues here.
It is important to remember that only 900 people get selected every year and the competition is fierce, fiercer, fiercest. What happens when the student doesnt perform well during intermediate or graduation because of the burden and focus on Civils? These coaching centers had this point in mind and to allay the fears of the students they said that they will take care of the issue of burden. It is easier said than done. It is extremely burdensome at that stage to manage even maths and sciences which are part of the syllabus, so leave aside general studies part. If you have your feet on two boats at that stage, you may not get admission into a good graduation college like IIT. At the age of 15-16 mind is not mature enough to understand the social or political issues. Trust me on this. And ideas and attitudes attained at that formative stage wont go easily.
During the graduation, focus should be completely on course subjects and not on the subjects of civil services. I did a grave mistake by neglecting my graduation subjects and studying random and general subjects only in pursuit of knowledge. Most of the time I used to read random pages in wikipedia on different subjects like history, polity, philosophy, religion, economics etc. This has increased my knowledge and understanding of social sciences tremendously but my graduation subjects(computer science) suffered a lot irreversibly. It is another matter that I had no interest in them but fact remains that I neglected them which I am repenting now. Now I cant go back to my core area incase I dont make it to the civil services.
One more issue is that preparing GS and some subjects like PubAd, Soc, etc from the exam point of view at imtermediate stage or graduation stage is useless. Reason is the 'dynamic' nature of the subjects. They change so much in a time of one year that people who excel in year may get very low marks in the next year itself. If you have observed question papers in the last 5 years, you can easily understand what I am saying. Only thing 'constant' with civil services exam is 'change'. So why waste time? Moreover UPSC is planning to eliminate the otptionals by 2014, so why study the optionals from now on?
Now what should the intermediate(11,12) students enrolled in the IAS coaching in these institutes take up in graduation? Should they go for IITs or other engineering colleges or medical colleges? Or should they join any degree college in a BA course? These institutes havenot spoken with clarity on this one but the accent is on joining a BA course. Think and think. This will be a big blunder in case of undesired eventualities.
So, intermediate students (and their parents) who are thinking of enrolling in these institutes, please dont do that. Dont fall in the trap.
But what is not common is predatory coaching centres which are already established in other areas like IIT JEE etc, with deep pockets (very deep indeed), which are run like corporate companies making foray into the IAS coaching business. This is a dangerous development.
I am talking about Sri Chaitanya and Narayana institutions which have made the life of students and parents hell in AP, which have made education a very costly proposition to the common man of AP. Now their evil eyes have fallen on Civil Services Exam, and mark my words, they are going wipe out everyone in the field within 10-12 years and establish monopoly if the things continue as they are. As of now these two started a joint venture in Rajendra Nagar to make joint efforts towards wiping out others and fleecing the students. This came as a surprise to me as they are fierce competitors in other areas.
If you have noticed, now a days children in AP start studying from the point of view of IIT JEE from class 6 or 7 itself. You may have noticed numerous schools going by the name of 'IIT Concept Schools'. 10-12 years back it was not like this. This trend has put tremendous pressure on the children and harmed their alround growth and thinking process. If you are from AP, you may know this. All this is because of the unscrupulous organisations like Sri Chaitanya and Narayana.
Now they are trying to replicate this scheme of things in IAS coaching too. These people have started coaching for IAS for intermediate students (+1, +2). They are trying to lure gullible parents into enrolling their children in these courses saying that taking coaching from intermediate onwards helps them get through in to the services early. Program details are given here and here. TN Seshan who is upright and whom I and many like me look upto is the chief mentor of these programs. I dont know what lured him but definitely not money. There are some issues here.
It is important to remember that only 900 people get selected every year and the competition is fierce, fiercer, fiercest. What happens when the student doesnt perform well during intermediate or graduation because of the burden and focus on Civils? These coaching centers had this point in mind and to allay the fears of the students they said that they will take care of the issue of burden. It is easier said than done. It is extremely burdensome at that stage to manage even maths and sciences which are part of the syllabus, so leave aside general studies part. If you have your feet on two boats at that stage, you may not get admission into a good graduation college like IIT. At the age of 15-16 mind is not mature enough to understand the social or political issues. Trust me on this. And ideas and attitudes attained at that formative stage wont go easily.
During the graduation, focus should be completely on course subjects and not on the subjects of civil services. I did a grave mistake by neglecting my graduation subjects and studying random and general subjects only in pursuit of knowledge. Most of the time I used to read random pages in wikipedia on different subjects like history, polity, philosophy, religion, economics etc. This has increased my knowledge and understanding of social sciences tremendously but my graduation subjects(computer science) suffered a lot irreversibly. It is another matter that I had no interest in them but fact remains that I neglected them which I am repenting now. Now I cant go back to my core area incase I dont make it to the civil services.
One more issue is that preparing GS and some subjects like PubAd, Soc, etc from the exam point of view at imtermediate stage or graduation stage is useless. Reason is the 'dynamic' nature of the subjects. They change so much in a time of one year that people who excel in year may get very low marks in the next year itself. If you have observed question papers in the last 5 years, you can easily understand what I am saying. Only thing 'constant' with civil services exam is 'change'. So why waste time? Moreover UPSC is planning to eliminate the otptionals by 2014, so why study the optionals from now on?
Now what should the intermediate(11,12) students enrolled in the IAS coaching in these institutes take up in graduation? Should they go for IITs or other engineering colleges or medical colleges? Or should they join any degree college in a BA course? These institutes havenot spoken with clarity on this one but the accent is on joining a BA course. Think and think. This will be a big blunder in case of undesired eventualities.
So, intermediate students (and their parents) who are thinking of enrolling in these institutes, please dont do that. Dont fall in the trap.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Relieved of the burden
Finally relieved of the burden that I have been carrying on my back for the last 5 years. My fourth and last mains is behind me now. From now on I can focus on something else for a change. Feeling a bit strange, afterall I spent 5 years reading for this exam and did nothing else. And suddenly all of that comes to an end and leaves behind a kind of vacuum. Once Adapa Karthik who topped in CS-2007 said that one may hate studying for so long hours everyday, but once attempts are finished one will miss that times badly. I am already feeling that.
So how were the question papers this time? Sciences and other less popular subjects are not finished yet, but most of the popular subjects save Psychology(which is today) are finished. There are quite a few surprises(in a negative sense) and heart breaks for the aspirants this time.
First of the surprises was the statistics part of the General Studies 2. It was tougher this time. I always did well in statistics in my last three attempts, used to leave only around 3-8 marks out of 30-36 marks. But this time I did extremely badly, I attempted only for 10 marks. The questions were different from what used to be asked since 1979. They were asked from different topics which we dont study, which coaching centers dont teach. More over the calculations were lengthy. One question which carried 3 marks required us to draw two ogives and find median! Quite ridiculous. Because of wrong time management as a result of my habit of giving importance to statistics, I had to leave questions worth 25 marks. Other than that I felt GS paper 2 was easy. I just hope other questions which I wrote well, better than last year will fetch me good marks. GS-1 was lot easier than last year. Others too felt the same. I just hope I score very well in that paper.
In Essay, people mostly wrote on Public-Private-Partnership and Working women. There is not much difference between last year and this year in the difficulty levels. After a good 20-25 minutes of dilly dallying on the two, I decided to write on PPP. I wrote well and expect good marks too.
Then came the dreaded part, optionals. Public Administration is fucked severely this time. PA-1 was both lengthy and tough like hell. We had to write 5 sub-questions of 150 words in each of the questions 1 and 5 instead of the usual 3 each of 200 words. So 400 words extra. This came as a surprise for some of us and all the planning into time managment strategies before the exam have gone wasted. Till this time my handwriting was too good in GS, and excellent in Essay. But in PA-1 it was as bad as last year which can cost me dear. I just hope the evaluator reads what I wrote instead of going on face value.
The questions in PA-1were a lot tougher than what used to be asked till last year. I can say with conviction that this paper may be the toughest paper since PA was introduced in late 1980s as an optional. Believe me I am not exaggerating. I attempted all but I feel I wrote good to average answers only for 264 marks. Remaining 36 marks may fetch me not more than 5-7 marks I suppose. I expect average marks in this paper with out scaling. But I think normalisation will benefit us in this paper.
PA-2 is easier and I wrote well. More questions in 1 and 5 was not a surprise as we tasted that in the PA-1. So I manged well from the beginning itself with good pace. My handwriting for most part of the time was good save last 30 minutes or so. I expect good marks.
My other optional History had more surprises in store. I dont know what has bitten the question paper setter in the case of H-1. Boy, he has gone bonkers. Other wise why would he change the pattern of questions on MAP which is flawed and has loopholes. Earlier location names used to be given and we had to mark on the map given to us. But this time locations were already marked on the map and a hint (in only two words). We have to identify the location and write 40 words about eac (not the usual 20 words).
There are two flaws in this scheme. One, the locations were not marked correctly in 2 or 3 cases and they dont match with the hints given. For example, the hint for that site in AP which is located just east of Hyderabad is that it is an art center. We dont know whether he is talking about Nagarjunakonda or Hyderabad itself. But Nagarjunakonda is further south east of Hyderabad and not just east of Hyderabad. Another mistake may be that capital town in Bihar which is located around Gaya. Two, there are some locations on the map for which there are 2 or more candidates equally good. For example, for that prehistoric site in Kashmir, both Burzahom and Gufkral are equally good. And for that port near Mumbai, there are atleast 3 candidates - Sopara, Kalyana, Salsette.
One more change is 5 sub questions in 5th question (each of 150 words) instead of usual 3 of 200 words each. So 400 words extra including map question. There is one 12 marks question on Jaina paintings, Pothi format etc which is compulsory question. I read this topic a long time ago and I couldnt recall anything. Everyone whom I interacted with could not write anything on this. One more question on Acharyas' contribution to Bhakti movement was togher too. Thankfully I got it correct. Other questions were normal. I was disappointed that I couldnt perform to my satisfaction. I am expecting above average marks without scaling.
History-2 was better than H-1. In this too, there are 1 or 2 difficult questions like that one on interlocking management agencies (1.d). Thank God, it carried only 12 marks. My handwriting in H-1 was not good at all., just like last year. But in H-2 it was good enough for most of the time. On the whole, both H-1 and H-2 are very lengthy. I heard from many that they left atleast one 12 marks question in each paper. Overall I am satisfied with my performance in it. I am excpecting good marks in it without scaling.
From what I heard, Sociology paper was very easy. Most of the people wrote well. Even the Literature papers inlcuding Pali are easier it seems. Geography was difficult. This makes it necessary for scaling (normalisation) in all subjects as PA, History, Geography were difficult and Soc, Lit were easier. I hope better sense prevails among those who run UPSC and do this scaling. Otherwise there is no hope for me.
And I hope God doesnt cause me more heartbreaks. Let the worthy get selected, not those stupids who dont even deserve to qualify prelims, and not those perverts whose sole aim is to make my money by getting into the services.
So how were the question papers this time? Sciences and other less popular subjects are not finished yet, but most of the popular subjects save Psychology(which is today) are finished. There are quite a few surprises(in a negative sense) and heart breaks for the aspirants this time.
First of the surprises was the statistics part of the General Studies 2. It was tougher this time. I always did well in statistics in my last three attempts, used to leave only around 3-8 marks out of 30-36 marks. But this time I did extremely badly, I attempted only for 10 marks. The questions were different from what used to be asked since 1979. They were asked from different topics which we dont study, which coaching centers dont teach. More over the calculations were lengthy. One question which carried 3 marks required us to draw two ogives and find median! Quite ridiculous. Because of wrong time management as a result of my habit of giving importance to statistics, I had to leave questions worth 25 marks. Other than that I felt GS paper 2 was easy. I just hope other questions which I wrote well, better than last year will fetch me good marks. GS-1 was lot easier than last year. Others too felt the same. I just hope I score very well in that paper.
In Essay, people mostly wrote on Public-Private-Partnership and Working women. There is not much difference between last year and this year in the difficulty levels. After a good 20-25 minutes of dilly dallying on the two, I decided to write on PPP. I wrote well and expect good marks too.
Then came the dreaded part, optionals. Public Administration is fucked severely this time. PA-1 was both lengthy and tough like hell. We had to write 5 sub-questions of 150 words in each of the questions 1 and 5 instead of the usual 3 each of 200 words. So 400 words extra. This came as a surprise for some of us and all the planning into time managment strategies before the exam have gone wasted. Till this time my handwriting was too good in GS, and excellent in Essay. But in PA-1 it was as bad as last year which can cost me dear. I just hope the evaluator reads what I wrote instead of going on face value.
The questions in PA-1were a lot tougher than what used to be asked till last year. I can say with conviction that this paper may be the toughest paper since PA was introduced in late 1980s as an optional. Believe me I am not exaggerating. I attempted all but I feel I wrote good to average answers only for 264 marks. Remaining 36 marks may fetch me not more than 5-7 marks I suppose. I expect average marks in this paper with out scaling. But I think normalisation will benefit us in this paper.
PA-2 is easier and I wrote well. More questions in 1 and 5 was not a surprise as we tasted that in the PA-1. So I manged well from the beginning itself with good pace. My handwriting for most part of the time was good save last 30 minutes or so. I expect good marks.
My other optional History had more surprises in store. I dont know what has bitten the question paper setter in the case of H-1. Boy, he has gone bonkers. Other wise why would he change the pattern of questions on MAP which is flawed and has loopholes. Earlier location names used to be given and we had to mark on the map given to us. But this time locations were already marked on the map and a hint (in only two words). We have to identify the location and write 40 words about eac (not the usual 20 words).
There are two flaws in this scheme. One, the locations were not marked correctly in 2 or 3 cases and they dont match with the hints given. For example, the hint for that site in AP which is located just east of Hyderabad is that it is an art center. We dont know whether he is talking about Nagarjunakonda or Hyderabad itself. But Nagarjunakonda is further south east of Hyderabad and not just east of Hyderabad. Another mistake may be that capital town in Bihar which is located around Gaya. Two, there are some locations on the map for which there are 2 or more candidates equally good. For example, for that prehistoric site in Kashmir, both Burzahom and Gufkral are equally good. And for that port near Mumbai, there are atleast 3 candidates - Sopara, Kalyana, Salsette.
One more change is 5 sub questions in 5th question (each of 150 words) instead of usual 3 of 200 words each. So 400 words extra including map question. There is one 12 marks question on Jaina paintings, Pothi format etc which is compulsory question. I read this topic a long time ago and I couldnt recall anything. Everyone whom I interacted with could not write anything on this. One more question on Acharyas' contribution to Bhakti movement was togher too. Thankfully I got it correct. Other questions were normal. I was disappointed that I couldnt perform to my satisfaction. I am expecting above average marks without scaling.
History-2 was better than H-1. In this too, there are 1 or 2 difficult questions like that one on interlocking management agencies (1.d). Thank God, it carried only 12 marks. My handwriting in H-1 was not good at all., just like last year. But in H-2 it was good enough for most of the time. On the whole, both H-1 and H-2 are very lengthy. I heard from many that they left atleast one 12 marks question in each paper. Overall I am satisfied with my performance in it. I am excpecting good marks in it without scaling.
From what I heard, Sociology paper was very easy. Most of the people wrote well. Even the Literature papers inlcuding Pali are easier it seems. Geography was difficult. This makes it necessary for scaling (normalisation) in all subjects as PA, History, Geography were difficult and Soc, Lit were easier. I hope better sense prevails among those who run UPSC and do this scaling. Otherwise there is no hope for me.
And I hope God doesnt cause me more heartbreaks. Let the worthy get selected, not those stupids who dont even deserve to qualify prelims, and not those perverts whose sole aim is to make my money by getting into the services.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
One More Time!
UPSC CSP - 2012 results are out and yet again I am through. Prelims is the only exam I have been performing well consistently since my first attempt. It is not like Mains where your luck and fate matters more than your merit. So even before I gave the exam, I knew that I would pass this easily, unless God wants to fuck me badly and prove that anything can happen if he wants. Moreover prelims is only the first and easiest hurdle to cross, most difficult being Mains. So there is nothing like feeling elated.
Some are saying 12876 have qualified, and some 13000 plus. I am too slothful to count. But what is special about this results is the day UPSC declared them. Today is Saturday and never ever UPSC released Civils results on Saturday. Everyone was cocksure that results wont be out today. That was till this afternoon. Someone called me in the afternoon and asked me whether I have qualified. I told him that results are not out yet. Then he informed me what UPSC is upto. UPSC has proved to the world once again that it is unpredictible and that nothing is sacrosanct.
Bye for today.
Some are saying 12876 have qualified, and some 13000 plus. I am too slothful to count. But what is special about this results is the day UPSC declared them. Today is Saturday and never ever UPSC released Civils results on Saturday. Everyone was cocksure that results wont be out today. That was till this afternoon. Someone called me in the afternoon and asked me whether I have qualified. I told him that results are not out yet. Then he informed me what UPSC is upto. UPSC has proved to the world once again that it is unpredictible and that nothing is sacrosanct.
Bye for today.
Monday, July 23, 2012
RTI: Making it more citizen friendly
Now a days I have been filing many RTI applications with different organisations and it has been not a good experience at all so far.
Some organisations don't disclose any information citing different provisions of RTI Act even after CIC, SC, different HCs have given orders and judgments to disclose the information asked for. That shows how much respect they give to judiciary, laws. Some times they give very ambiguous answers which frustrates the applicants.
Some organisations dont accept Indian Postal Orders. If you have sent them an application with IPOs, they reply to you asking you to resend the application with DDs, or pay orders of Rs 10, or ask you to affix court fee stamps worth Rs 10. The irony is that they spend Rs 35 on sending the reply. Not just that. They spend time in typing the letter which they could have easily spent on typing the requisite info. Rules are given more importance than efficiency which is a trait of any typical sarkari organisation. And the time taken in sending this reply is nearly a month after they receive the application. Time taken to deliver the posts and replies by the postal department is more than 8 days in total. Result is delay.
There are many deficiencies in the working of RTI and there are solutions suggested by civil society, 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission. But they didn't suggest one change which I am going discuss here which is about the mode of payment and mode of sending the application.
Sending a postal mail to someone is anachronistic in the age of internet, e-mails. If RTI Act is amended to allow e-mail as one form of filing application, it will reduce the delays, reduce the costs on sending the posts. It will improve the access to netizens who feel lazy in going to post office to file the application.
Implementing this doesn't require huge resoures. Only requisite is a secure payment gateway, which is already available, already being used by different government agencies like Railway department etc. Other things like creating an email id for every PIO, a tracking system of the applications etc are simple.
This electronic communication is only to be supplementary to the main form of communication i.e postal mail. I dont know why this mode is not mentioned in the RTI Act. This can definitely make RTI Act more citizen friendly.
Some organisations don't disclose any information citing different provisions of RTI Act even after CIC, SC, different HCs have given orders and judgments to disclose the information asked for. That shows how much respect they give to judiciary, laws. Some times they give very ambiguous answers which frustrates the applicants.
Some organisations dont accept Indian Postal Orders. If you have sent them an application with IPOs, they reply to you asking you to resend the application with DDs, or pay orders of Rs 10, or ask you to affix court fee stamps worth Rs 10. The irony is that they spend Rs 35 on sending the reply. Not just that. They spend time in typing the letter which they could have easily spent on typing the requisite info. Rules are given more importance than efficiency which is a trait of any typical sarkari organisation. And the time taken in sending this reply is nearly a month after they receive the application. Time taken to deliver the posts and replies by the postal department is more than 8 days in total. Result is delay.
There are many deficiencies in the working of RTI and there are solutions suggested by civil society, 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission. But they didn't suggest one change which I am going discuss here which is about the mode of payment and mode of sending the application.
Sending a postal mail to someone is anachronistic in the age of internet, e-mails. If RTI Act is amended to allow e-mail as one form of filing application, it will reduce the delays, reduce the costs on sending the posts. It will improve the access to netizens who feel lazy in going to post office to file the application.
Implementing this doesn't require huge resoures. Only requisite is a secure payment gateway, which is already available, already being used by different government agencies like Railway department etc. Other things like creating an email id for every PIO, a tracking system of the applications etc are simple.
This electronic communication is only to be supplementary to the main form of communication i.e postal mail. I dont know why this mode is not mentioned in the RTI Act. This can definitely make RTI Act more citizen friendly.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Back Again!
It has been more than 2 months since I last posted on this blog. I didnt get through in CSE-2011 and the results were absolutely shocking to me. I didnt get through and on the top of it, few people I know got very good ranks which even they weren't expecting. I distinctly remember what happened on that day. After I opened the pdf file of results, I quickly searched for my name. I didnt find. Immediately I started scanning from the top. I found 4 names whom I know in the top 60. In short I received 5 shocks within 1 minute or so. :-) Thank God, I have a strong heart. :-))
More shocks were in store for me which came to the fore when the marks were declared. I got very less marks in subjects which I wrote well and in which I was cocksure of getting good marks. In the first few days after the results and the marks were out, I couldn't even sleep thinking about the disasters. It is not an hyperbole to say that not a minute passed by without thinking about what happened.
It took time to recover normality. Even though I have one more attempt in progress, now I have reconciled with the fact that I may never become a civil servant which is my passion. I have learnt it hard way that passion only makes you a sad person if unfulfilled. What is the use of hardwork when the result is zero? Everyone who knew me, including those top rankers used to expect that I would get a good rank. What is the use of their expectations or wishes? Afterall man proposes, god disposes.
The more I write in this post, the sadder I become. So stopping it here.
More shocks were in store for me which came to the fore when the marks were declared. I got very less marks in subjects which I wrote well and in which I was cocksure of getting good marks. In the first few days after the results and the marks were out, I couldn't even sleep thinking about the disasters. It is not an hyperbole to say that not a minute passed by without thinking about what happened.
It took time to recover normality. Even though I have one more attempt in progress, now I have reconciled with the fact that I may never become a civil servant which is my passion. I have learnt it hard way that passion only makes you a sad person if unfulfilled. What is the use of hardwork when the result is zero? Everyone who knew me, including those top rankers used to expect that I would get a good rank. What is the use of their expectations or wishes? Afterall man proposes, god disposes.
The more I write in this post, the sadder I become. So stopping it here.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Sitting On The Edge Of The Seat
'Personality test' which is third and final stage of the year-long and gruelling Civil Services Exam - 2011 is nearing completion in 10 days. Along with 2417 others who reached this stage, I am eagerly waiting for the results, the Judgement Day with 1000 eyes.
I have to say I have been looking forward to 2012 May all along from 2010 ever since my failure in CSE - 2009. Not an hour went by in the last 2 years without me thinking about the results day, about how to achieve success, about what I have to do after the results etc. I think what I said holds true for every other serious aspirant of civil services, particularly for those to whom becoming an IAS officer was a childhood dream, a passion.
I have to say that contemplating about how I wrote mains exam, how I performed in the interview makes me nervous. Immediately after writing each mains paper (exam) I pondered over how it all went.....and I have to say that I was sure that I did well and I was overall happy over it inspite of some minor hitches and glitches.
But I am no longer so sure of my performance in mains. The problem is I don't remember what I wrote in mains papers particularly in Pub Ad. I started estimating my performance in early December, one month after the mains, and by that time I forgot most of what I wrote in mains. Because of that I can't judge my performance, I can't estimate what marks I would get in mains. Sometimes I get an uneasy feeling that my mains marks would be around 920 a figure which is far lower than my immediate expectations after writing the exams.
Adding to the misery my interview didn't go well. I am expecting around 150-160 marks only which in opinion I deserve. As 150-160 are less-than-average marks, I don't have the luxury of getting less marks in mains in any case thinking that I could cover the gap with high marks in interview.
Looking back I have to say there were some mistakes I committed in mains and interview which were completely avoidable. But as they say, man proposes and God disposes.
The results of the CSE-2011 may be declared in the first week of May, tentatively on May 3rd or 4th. Till then I have to remain cool and calm. At least I have to try to be so.
I have to say I have been looking forward to 2012 May all along from 2010 ever since my failure in CSE - 2009. Not an hour went by in the last 2 years without me thinking about the results day, about how to achieve success, about what I have to do after the results etc. I think what I said holds true for every other serious aspirant of civil services, particularly for those to whom becoming an IAS officer was a childhood dream, a passion.
I have to say that contemplating about how I wrote mains exam, how I performed in the interview makes me nervous. Immediately after writing each mains paper (exam) I pondered over how it all went.....and I have to say that I was sure that I did well and I was overall happy over it inspite of some minor hitches and glitches.
But I am no longer so sure of my performance in mains. The problem is I don't remember what I wrote in mains papers particularly in Pub Ad. I started estimating my performance in early December, one month after the mains, and by that time I forgot most of what I wrote in mains. Because of that I can't judge my performance, I can't estimate what marks I would get in mains. Sometimes I get an uneasy feeling that my mains marks would be around 920 a figure which is far lower than my immediate expectations after writing the exams.
Adding to the misery my interview didn't go well. I am expecting around 150-160 marks only which in opinion I deserve. As 150-160 are less-than-average marks, I don't have the luxury of getting less marks in mains in any case thinking that I could cover the gap with high marks in interview.
Looking back I have to say there were some mistakes I committed in mains and interview which were completely avoidable. But as they say, man proposes and God disposes.
The results of the CSE-2011 may be declared in the first week of May, tentatively on May 3rd or 4th. Till then I have to remain cool and calm. At least I have to try to be so.
Monday, April 16, 2012
China Town
China Town is a small eatery, more of a kind of dhabha in front of IIT Kanpur Gate. It used to be the favourite adda of omnivores and carnivores of IITK, don't know whether it continues to be. Needless to say, yours truly used to go there at least 2-3 times a week on an average, all through my 4 years of stay in IITK. There were times when I used to go there daily for 5-10 days on a stretch. It started in the first month of the 1st semester itself though I dont remember who exactly suggested me that place, how I came to know of it.
Although the ambience used to be bad, the taste of the dishes used to compensate for everything and pull us there over and over again. And the tasteless food served in the hostels was another factor which made students throng China Town. And another factor was the students were free to take hard drinks in the open. I dont drink :-))
Although not many varieties were served there, the taste of whatever were served was of top notch. My favourite dish served there was chicken kalimirch. I ate kalimirch at many places all my life but nothing ever have beaten China Town. That was the dish which brought me there repeatedly without failing. Whenever and wherever I eat kalimirch, I always search for that taste of China Town only to get disappointed. :-( .....Other dishes I used to devour there were chicken biryani, butter chicken, seekh kabab, tandoori chicken etc.
I miss China Town badly. I hope I get a chance of going to Kanpur again to eat there again.
Although the ambience used to be bad, the taste of the dishes used to compensate for everything and pull us there over and over again. And the tasteless food served in the hostels was another factor which made students throng China Town. And another factor was the students were free to take hard drinks in the open. I dont drink :-))
Although not many varieties were served there, the taste of whatever were served was of top notch. My favourite dish served there was chicken kalimirch. I ate kalimirch at many places all my life but nothing ever have beaten China Town. That was the dish which brought me there repeatedly without failing. Whenever and wherever I eat kalimirch, I always search for that taste of China Town only to get disappointed. :-( .....Other dishes I used to devour there were chicken biryani, butter chicken, seekh kabab, tandoori chicken etc.
I miss China Town badly. I hope I get a chance of going to Kanpur again to eat there again.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
My Civil Services Interview (CSE - 2011)
I was eagerly waiting for 4-4-12 as it was one of those days which can decide my fate. Finally the day had come. My interview was scheduled in the afternoon, so I had to be there at UPSC before 1:15 PM. I reached there before 12:45 PM. There were as many as 20 more interviewees present there at the gate when I reached there.
At 1:00PM the guards allowed us in after verifying our call letters. After checking in and depositing our mobiles there at the desk of the clerk, we were divided into groups of 6. We went to the waiting room, there was a table arranged for each group. There the clerk came to us and took our documents to verify. The formalities took 15 minutes or so. Before the clerk told us anything about the board, we came to know that we would be interviewed by K.K.Paul the name of whose was written on the file the clerk carried. I was bit disappointed because he doesn't give high marks, gives around 150 to most of them. The only silver lining is he doesn't give very low marks like 100 or less except in exceptional cases.
There were 3 people in my group giving interview in Hindi, 3 in English. We were waiting impatiently for the interviews to begin which finally began at 2:05 or so. I was 3rd person in the list. The first 2 persons interviewed before me were grilled for 30 minutes each. The person before is already in Indian Forest Service, and he said that he could answer only 40-50% of the questions. Worse he couldn't answer when UPSC was established, when his institute PUSA was established. His was 4th civil services interview in last 5 years. He already faced K.K. Paul earlier, got 135 marks or so.
Next came my turn. I was called by someone while the interview of 2nd person was still going on. I was thoroughly checked by the guards, no one should carry anything not even a pen or a watch into the interview room. I went and sat on the chair outside the interview room. 2nd interviewee came out of the room. After few minutes the bell rang, the peon opened the door for me to go in. That was around 3:12 PM.
This was completely unexpected for me. According to my script, I would open the door and ask "May I come in Sir?". Next came another surprise. I found that there were no women in the panel. This again was not there in my script. I was cocksure that there would be a woman in the panel, prepared only to say "Good afternoon Maam" and then say "Good afternoon to you all" looking at all the members. My mind went blank for 2 seconds or so. I involuntarily raised my hand as if to wish them, which needless to say is not there in the script.
Before I recovered from the shock, Mr Paul asked me to take the seat. I recovered immediately and wished them Good Afternoon by looking at the panel. I took the seat without disturbing the chair. I sat erect which I normally don't do.
Before I proceed further, let me give some relevant details from my bio-data. I am from Anantapur in AP, I graduated from IIT Kanpur in Computer Science Engineering. My hobbies are 'reading', 'watching movies', 'blogging', 'melodic whistling'. My optionals are Pub Ad and History.
Now the questioning began. I can't reproduce the exact verbatim here, worse I don't even remember some questions. My English was not as good as what I am writing here, but I could convey the message most of the time except in one question.
Chairman - Ch, Members - M1, M2, M3, M4. Members were all old people, two of them had grey hair.
Chairman: What is your name?
Ch: What is your roll number?
Ch: What is your date of birth?
Ch: Where do you come from?
Ch: You did btech in IITK in CSE?
Answered them all.
Ch: Which was the first IIT to be established?
Me: Sir, it is IIT Kharagpur in 1951.
Ch: There was a country which helped us to establish that IIT. Which country helped us to establish that?
Me: Sir, it was USSR. (I knew that IIT KGP was established on our own, we didn't take any help. But going by what he said, and how convincingly he said, I thought I was wrong. So I told him USSR which is wrong. Disaster!)
Ch: No, it was not USSR.
Me: Okay (said it with a long face. I knew it was not USSR.)
Ch: Which country helped us establish IIT Kanpur?
Me: Sir it was USA. MIT. (I was actually going to say 'a coalition of universities of USA led by MIT. But he didn't give me a chance.)
Ch: Yes, it was USA.
Ch: What do you read?
Me: Sir, I read both fiction and non fiction, but mostly fiction. And I read random articles from Wikipedia.
Ch: Which was the last fiction book you read?
Me: Sir, Digital Fortress by Dan Brown.
Ch: What kind of movies do you watch?
Me: Sir, I watch all kinds of movies. Particularly English language movies. (I could have told the genres which I like the most, but I was not given time. Before I utter my next words he asked me the next question)
Ch: What is melodic whistling?
Me: Sir, it is whistling any tune. (he didn't say anything as if he was expecting me to say something more.)
Ch: You see in Kanpur, eve teasing is a big problem. (paused)
Me: Sir, I am not aware of it. (I was smiling while I said this.)
Ch: People whistle before the women, girls passing by. No, I am not accusing you....(He was smiling when he said this)
M1: It is melodic whistling. (He was grinning, there was a wide grin on the faces of all the members. I too was smiling sheepishly.)
Ch: Eve teasing is big problem in North India.....(He give a long list of all the cities of North, which I don't remember.) What do you think are the reasons behind this evil?
Me: It is a patriarchal society. Earlier women were confined to their homes, now they are coming out. They are mingling with the men. Men were not habituated with this. Women are being looked like some kind of sexual objects.
Ch: Why are they being looked like that?
Me: (Repeated the same thing with few changes. My mind was not working properly. Added something else to my answer to escape from the trap. )
Me: Sir gradually men will become accustomed with the presence of women in the public, at work places, at colleges and eve teasing will subside.
Ch: Do you think it is only a transition phase?
Me: Yes sir, it is only a transition phase, gradually things will change. In the meantime, women needs to be protected by the police from eve teasing. (I really don't know what I am saying.)
Ch: Passed on to M1. M1 noticed chairman's gesture only after 2 seconds.
M1: Your name is XXXXXX. Do you know anything about Amarkantak?
Me: Yes sir, Amarkantak is the originating place of Narmada. Recently, a few years back, it had been declared as a National Park....a Biosphere reserve. (first said national park, immediately corrected it to biosphere reserve. I didn't say that it is pilgrim centre of devotees of Shiva, which I knew, which I should have said. Anyway, this question is something I didn't expect.)
M1: Which state is it in?
Me: Sir it is in Madhya Pradesh.
M1: There was a foreign invader who invaded India for 17 times. Who was he?
Me: Sir it was Ghazni....Muhammad of Ghazni. (As a history student, I knew that Ghazni invaded India only 5 or 6 times. But a layman knows only this number 17. So I didn't want to argue on that.)
M1: He looted a temple. Which was that?
Me: Sir, he plundered many temples, but the most famous one was Somnath.
M1: Where is it?
Me: Sir it is in Gujarat.
M1: Do you anything about the slave dynasty? When was it established and who established it?
Me: Sir, it was established by Qutubuddin Aibak in 1206. Flourished till 1451. Iltutmish who was son-in-law of Aibak, succeeded Aibak. Later his son. Later his daughter Razia. (As a history student this was a cakewalk. I told 1451 because in that year Afghans led by Bahlul Lodi came to power. Till then all the dyansties were slaves including the Khalji, Tughlaq, Sharqi. This proved me costly.)
M1: Who was the first lady to sit on throne of Delhi?
Me: Sir, it was Razia Sultana.
M1: How was she related to Aibak?
Me: Sir, she was daughter of Iltutumish, who was son-in-law of Aibak.
M1: So she was grand daughter of Aibak?
Me: Yes sir, she was grand daughter.
Ch: Sorry to interrupt here (said this to M1). (looking at me) You said it was up to 1451. But by that time not even Tughlaqs were in power.
Me: They were Turks and.......(before I utter any word, chairman continued with his flow)
Ch: But Khaljis and Tughlaqs were not slaves. Slave dynasty ruled before Khaljis.
Me: Till Balban and his son. (I wanted to take the control, so I said Balban. But chairman didn't give me any chance to say after that, he immediately turned to M1 and asked him to continue.)
Me: (Before M1 could say something, looking at chairman I just said...) Thank you sir for correcting me.
M1: What is Sasaram associated with. You know Sasaram?
Me: Yes sir, I know it. Sasaram is famous for Shershah Suri's tomb.
M1: Yes. It is the birthplace of a famous personality. Who was that?
Me: I don't know sir.
M1: It was Babu Jagjivan Ram.
Me: (Nodded my head in affirmation. I know that Jagjivan Ram was born there, but I couldn't recall it at that time.)
M1: Which king was associated with Buland Darwaza?
Me: Sir it was Akbar.
M1: Passed on to the next member M2. M2 was sitting almost besides me. M2 and M3 could observe me from tip to toe, my body language from close.
M2: You did your btech in IITK. What was your branch?
Me: Sir, it was computer science.
M2: What is the difference between ipad and personal computer?
Me: ipad is portable, it has less processor speeds than normal personnel computers and so they can't be used for some tasks.
M2: Anything else?
Me: ipad has touch screen. Normal computers don't have touch screen monitor. (He nodded.)
M2: Do you know about Aakaash? Some company is manufacturing it.
Me: Aakaash is a tablet PC being manufactured by Datawind. Our government is distributing them to students and youth at subsidised prices.
M2: Some public servants say, they are acting in 'good faith'. What do they mean by 'good faith'?
Me: Sir, it means acting in the interest of the public unmindful of the consequences. (oh shit, I could have said acting without any malice. I couldn't get that word malice. I blame my self, I couldn't convey exactly what I wanted to say. But he nodded as if he was satisfied with my answer.)
M2: Can the public servants claim immunity if they are acting in good faith?
Me: (paused) No sir, they can't. They can be investigated, and prosecuted in the courts if something goes wrong. (He nodded.)
M2: Do you know anything about NRHM?
Me: Yes sir, National Rural Health Scheme. A central government scheme aimed at improving primary health care in rural areas. There is provision under it to deliver primary health care with the help of ASHAs. (he didn't ask me to say the full form, but I could not say the full form.) This scheme is going to end in 2012, began in 2005.
M2: Any corruption case related to NRHM?
Me: Yes sir, a minister of UP was arrested recently in a corruption case related to NRHM, some people were murdered.
M2: He passed on to M3.
M3: Tell us some e-governance initiatives by the government.
Me: Sir, in 2006 central government came up with NeGP - National e-Governamce Plan. Under it there are many e-governance projects which government is taking up.....(he interrupted me.)
M3: Tell me some specific initiatives.
Me: Sir, in my state, there are some initiatives like e-seva under which people can pay public utility bills online. There are around 66 public services being delivered online through this. At the central government level there is a bill pending about the public services which can be delivered electronically......(he interrupted me again.)
M3: Tell me about the initiatives related to land records.
Me: Land records are being digitised in many states....(interrupted me)
M3: What is the status of the initiatives?
Me: Sir, in some states like AP, Karnataka land records have been fully digitised. In many states work is still going on.
M3: What are the hurdles?
Me: Sir, the land records which they are digitising are old records, land surveys being conducted long time back. So there are many errors in them which makes them not very useful. Another hurdle is e-readiness of the people, many are computer illiterates. (I didn't say anything about the problems in business process re-engineering, lack of broadband connectivity to many villages which I knew.)
M3: Who are patwaris?
Me: Sir, they traditionally maintained the land records at the village level.
M3: What will be impact on them? In this digitisation initiative, a central database will be created.
Me: They may be rendered useless sir. (He nodded as if I am correct. But I felt that I was doubtful about my answer.)
M3: He talked about the Natural Language Processing initiative of the government, which I was aware about. I tried hard, but I could not understand what he was asking me as it appeared to me that he was not asking me a question but just explaining me something.
Me: Sir, I am not aware about that. (Just to avoid falling in any trap, even though I knew that there is such thing. One of my professors in my college was working on the project which he used to tell us.)
M3: Passed on to the next member M4.
M4: What are the reasons behind our dominance in IT sector?
Me: Sir I think there are two reasons behind that. One is there are lot of engineering colleges which are offering computer science courses, there is lot of low cost man power. Second is there is lot of demand from western countries for our cheap services. (I could have explained it better I thought. After coming to my room, I asked the same question to my friend. He talked about the small size investment which is required for setting up the company, how not having good infrastructure is not a hurdle. These things which I knew, I could not say as I could not recall at that time.)
M4: What are the challenges India is facing in this sector?
Me: Sir, India is facing competition from countries like Philippines, Bangladesh, even China is catching up with us. (I didn't say anything about the protectionist measures of USA, lack of domestic market for ITeS in India which are important. I have to blame myself for that.)
M4: What should be done?
Me: Sir, we need to concentrate on KPO as against BPO. KPO is knowledge and skill intensive, and these countries can't compete with us. We need to focus on skill development of our youth. (I could have talked tax incentives etc, which I didn't.)
M4: Many people are leaving IT sector to pursue career in civil services or MBA. What are the reasons?
Me: Sir, I think that is because of the monotony of the job, lack of job satisfaction in IT jobs.
M4: What should be done to prevent them? Should they be left like that?
Me: (His intention was as if to prevent them from entering civil services.) Sir, nothing should be done sir, they should have freedom of choice. (I was smiling when I said that. Later I realised that I should have told them about what should be done to eliminate the monotony and increase the job satisfaction. But M1 was nodding as if he was in agreement with me.)
Ch: He pointed to M2 and said "You want to ask something?"
Now the disaster started. He took around 3 to 4 minutes. I felt that this 4 minutes were the low point of my interview.
M2: What is the difference between rule of law and rule by law?
Me: Sir rule of law means equality before law, no arbitrary application of the law, checks and balances......I think there is no difference between them sir. (Later when I was taking my breakfast the next day, when I was thinking about this question, I suddenly realised the difference like an Aristotle. The difference is he said Eureka!, I said Oh shit!.)
M2: What is the difference between Public order and Law and order?
Me: (I knew that there is a difference between these two, I read that in 5th report of ARC. But I didn't recall it correctly.) Sir if only a small area is affected by a problem it is a law and order problem. If a large area is affected, then it is a public order problem. (I was not able to convey properly what is going on in my mind. He was smiling.) (After coming to the room I thought my answer was exact opposite of the correct answer, but when I am writing this post, I looked into the report of ARC, and realised that what I said was correct. But the problem is whether he got what I said.)
M2: What is the difference between fundamental rights and human rights?
Me: Sir all human rights are fundamental rights....(he interrupted me)
M2: Or is it the other way round?
Me: It is 'all human rights are fundamental rights'. (Oh my god, what did I say! I was in soup. I gave examples in the next minute contradicting myself. I was embarrassed.)
Me: For example, equal employment opportunities to all and religious freedom to all are fundamental rights but not human rights. For example, good health is a human right but not a fundamental right. (What the fuck did I say just now! Equality and religious freedom not human rights? Hell! I knew I messed up big time even before I was saying the next sentence.) Sir, human rights are something very essential for living, where as fundamental rights are not very much necessary, people can live even without some fundamental rights. (By now I was literally pleading God to help me come out of this mess.)
M2: No, those rights you were talking about are essential for living. Religious freedom is absolutely essential. You were born into a religion......(he said something else which I don't remember which prompted me to say something.)
Me: Sir, people have choice to become atheist. (I don't why I said that.)
M2: He was continuing with his rights thing. The moment he gave me chance to say something I said....
Me: I may be wrong sir. (I was smiling when I said that. I just wanted to get out of the quagmire. He got the point, he asked me the next question.)
M2: Is there any way human rights can be enforced?
Me: Sir, there are DPSPs which guide the actions of the government regarding the human rights but they are not enforceable.
Now the peon came into the room with some snacks. I was so engrossed that I didn't observe him entering, but I noticed him when came in between me and M2.
M2: Any other way?
Me: (Now I got the clue.) Sir there is judiciary and there are human right commissions at national and state levels. They fight for the protection of human rights.
M2: Any international institution?
Ch: You can leave. Your interview is over. (What the hell? Before I answer the question? I felt he was in a hurry to eat the snacks. But I answered before saying thank you.)
Me: Sir, it is UNHRC. Thank you sir.
Got up, took 2 steps back and left the room.
It was 20 minute odd interview. My immediate reaction after coming out of the room was disappointment at the way it ended. The last 3 topics on which questions were asked were some thing I could have answered if I was given some time under normal circumstances. I have to blame myself for the soup I got into with the last question.
All the time while the members were asking the questions, and I was answering them, K.K.Paul was scribbling something on the paper. God knows what was that about. But I think he was attentive to what was going around him, because when the peon came in with the snacks he noticed that. :-)))
Overall I would say, I am not satisfied with my performance. The questions were very easy, most of them were factual, I could have done a lot better than what I did there in the room. The only silver lining is my body language. I was not tense when I was answering the questions. My voice was not low at any point, I was sitting erect, I smiled many times, I was looking at all the members of the panel while I was answering the questions (which I never did in my mock interviews.)
Lets see what I will get.
At 1:00PM the guards allowed us in after verifying our call letters. After checking in and depositing our mobiles there at the desk of the clerk, we were divided into groups of 6. We went to the waiting room, there was a table arranged for each group. There the clerk came to us and took our documents to verify. The formalities took 15 minutes or so. Before the clerk told us anything about the board, we came to know that we would be interviewed by K.K.Paul the name of whose was written on the file the clerk carried. I was bit disappointed because he doesn't give high marks, gives around 150 to most of them. The only silver lining is he doesn't give very low marks like 100 or less except in exceptional cases.
There were 3 people in my group giving interview in Hindi, 3 in English. We were waiting impatiently for the interviews to begin which finally began at 2:05 or so. I was 3rd person in the list. The first 2 persons interviewed before me were grilled for 30 minutes each. The person before is already in Indian Forest Service, and he said that he could answer only 40-50% of the questions. Worse he couldn't answer when UPSC was established, when his institute PUSA was established. His was 4th civil services interview in last 5 years. He already faced K.K. Paul earlier, got 135 marks or so.
Next came my turn. I was called by someone while the interview of 2nd person was still going on. I was thoroughly checked by the guards, no one should carry anything not even a pen or a watch into the interview room. I went and sat on the chair outside the interview room. 2nd interviewee came out of the room. After few minutes the bell rang, the peon opened the door for me to go in. That was around 3:12 PM.
This was completely unexpected for me. According to my script, I would open the door and ask "May I come in Sir?". Next came another surprise. I found that there were no women in the panel. This again was not there in my script. I was cocksure that there would be a woman in the panel, prepared only to say "Good afternoon Maam" and then say "Good afternoon to you all" looking at all the members. My mind went blank for 2 seconds or so. I involuntarily raised my hand as if to wish them, which needless to say is not there in the script.
Before I recovered from the shock, Mr Paul asked me to take the seat. I recovered immediately and wished them Good Afternoon by looking at the panel. I took the seat without disturbing the chair. I sat erect which I normally don't do.
Before I proceed further, let me give some relevant details from my bio-data. I am from Anantapur in AP, I graduated from IIT Kanpur in Computer Science Engineering. My hobbies are 'reading', 'watching movies', 'blogging', 'melodic whistling'. My optionals are Pub Ad and History.
Now the questioning began. I can't reproduce the exact verbatim here, worse I don't even remember some questions. My English was not as good as what I am writing here, but I could convey the message most of the time except in one question.
Chairman - Ch, Members - M1, M2, M3, M4. Members were all old people, two of them had grey hair.
Chairman: What is your name?
Ch: What is your roll number?
Ch: What is your date of birth?
Ch: Where do you come from?
Ch: You did btech in IITK in CSE?
Answered them all.
Ch: Which was the first IIT to be established?
Me: Sir, it is IIT Kharagpur in 1951.
Ch: There was a country which helped us to establish that IIT. Which country helped us to establish that?
Me: Sir, it was USSR. (I knew that IIT KGP was established on our own, we didn't take any help. But going by what he said, and how convincingly he said, I thought I was wrong. So I told him USSR which is wrong. Disaster!)
Ch: No, it was not USSR.
Me: Okay (said it with a long face. I knew it was not USSR.)
Ch: Which country helped us establish IIT Kanpur?
Me: Sir it was USA. MIT. (I was actually going to say 'a coalition of universities of USA led by MIT. But he didn't give me a chance.)
Ch: Yes, it was USA.
Ch: What do you read?
Me: Sir, I read both fiction and non fiction, but mostly fiction. And I read random articles from Wikipedia.
Ch: Which was the last fiction book you read?
Me: Sir, Digital Fortress by Dan Brown.
Ch: What kind of movies do you watch?
Me: Sir, I watch all kinds of movies. Particularly English language movies. (I could have told the genres which I like the most, but I was not given time. Before I utter my next words he asked me the next question)
Ch: What is melodic whistling?
Me: Sir, it is whistling any tune. (he didn't say anything as if he was expecting me to say something more.)
Ch: You see in Kanpur, eve teasing is a big problem. (paused)
Me: Sir, I am not aware of it. (I was smiling while I said this.)
Ch: People whistle before the women, girls passing by. No, I am not accusing you....(He was smiling when he said this)
M1: It is melodic whistling. (He was grinning, there was a wide grin on the faces of all the members. I too was smiling sheepishly.)
Ch: Eve teasing is big problem in North India.....(He give a long list of all the cities of North, which I don't remember.) What do you think are the reasons behind this evil?
Me: It is a patriarchal society. Earlier women were confined to their homes, now they are coming out. They are mingling with the men. Men were not habituated with this. Women are being looked like some kind of sexual objects.
Ch: Why are they being looked like that?
Me: (Repeated the same thing with few changes. My mind was not working properly. Added something else to my answer to escape from the trap. )
Me: Sir gradually men will become accustomed with the presence of women in the public, at work places, at colleges and eve teasing will subside.
Ch: Do you think it is only a transition phase?
Me: Yes sir, it is only a transition phase, gradually things will change. In the meantime, women needs to be protected by the police from eve teasing. (I really don't know what I am saying.)
Ch: Passed on to M1. M1 noticed chairman's gesture only after 2 seconds.
M1: Your name is XXXXXX. Do you know anything about Amarkantak?
Me: Yes sir, Amarkantak is the originating place of Narmada. Recently, a few years back, it had been declared as a National Park....a Biosphere reserve. (first said national park, immediately corrected it to biosphere reserve. I didn't say that it is pilgrim centre of devotees of Shiva, which I knew, which I should have said. Anyway, this question is something I didn't expect.)
M1: Which state is it in?
Me: Sir it is in Madhya Pradesh.
M1: There was a foreign invader who invaded India for 17 times. Who was he?
Me: Sir it was Ghazni....Muhammad of Ghazni. (As a history student, I knew that Ghazni invaded India only 5 or 6 times. But a layman knows only this number 17. So I didn't want to argue on that.)
M1: He looted a temple. Which was that?
Me: Sir, he plundered many temples, but the most famous one was Somnath.
M1: Where is it?
Me: Sir it is in Gujarat.
M1: Do you anything about the slave dynasty? When was it established and who established it?
Me: Sir, it was established by Qutubuddin Aibak in 1206. Flourished till 1451. Iltutmish who was son-in-law of Aibak, succeeded Aibak. Later his son. Later his daughter Razia. (As a history student this was a cakewalk. I told 1451 because in that year Afghans led by Bahlul Lodi came to power. Till then all the dyansties were slaves including the Khalji, Tughlaq, Sharqi. This proved me costly.)
M1: Who was the first lady to sit on throne of Delhi?
Me: Sir, it was Razia Sultana.
M1: How was she related to Aibak?
Me: Sir, she was daughter of Iltutumish, who was son-in-law of Aibak.
M1: So she was grand daughter of Aibak?
Me: Yes sir, she was grand daughter.
Ch: Sorry to interrupt here (said this to M1). (looking at me) You said it was up to 1451. But by that time not even Tughlaqs were in power.
Me: They were Turks and.......(before I utter any word, chairman continued with his flow)
Ch: But Khaljis and Tughlaqs were not slaves. Slave dynasty ruled before Khaljis.
Me: Till Balban and his son. (I wanted to take the control, so I said Balban. But chairman didn't give me any chance to say after that, he immediately turned to M1 and asked him to continue.)
Me: (Before M1 could say something, looking at chairman I just said...) Thank you sir for correcting me.
M1: What is Sasaram associated with. You know Sasaram?
Me: Yes sir, I know it. Sasaram is famous for Shershah Suri's tomb.
M1: Yes. It is the birthplace of a famous personality. Who was that?
Me: I don't know sir.
M1: It was Babu Jagjivan Ram.
Me: (Nodded my head in affirmation. I know that Jagjivan Ram was born there, but I couldn't recall it at that time.)
M1: Which king was associated with Buland Darwaza?
Me: Sir it was Akbar.
M1: Passed on to the next member M2. M2 was sitting almost besides me. M2 and M3 could observe me from tip to toe, my body language from close.
M2: You did your btech in IITK. What was your branch?
Me: Sir, it was computer science.
M2: What is the difference between ipad and personal computer?
Me: ipad is portable, it has less processor speeds than normal personnel computers and so they can't be used for some tasks.
M2: Anything else?
Me: ipad has touch screen. Normal computers don't have touch screen monitor. (He nodded.)
M2: Do you know about Aakaash? Some company is manufacturing it.
Me: Aakaash is a tablet PC being manufactured by Datawind. Our government is distributing them to students and youth at subsidised prices.
M2: Some public servants say, they are acting in 'good faith'. What do they mean by 'good faith'?
Me: Sir, it means acting in the interest of the public unmindful of the consequences. (oh shit, I could have said acting without any malice. I couldn't get that word malice. I blame my self, I couldn't convey exactly what I wanted to say. But he nodded as if he was satisfied with my answer.)
M2: Can the public servants claim immunity if they are acting in good faith?
Me: (paused) No sir, they can't. They can be investigated, and prosecuted in the courts if something goes wrong. (He nodded.)
M2: Do you know anything about NRHM?
Me: Yes sir, National Rural Health Scheme. A central government scheme aimed at improving primary health care in rural areas. There is provision under it to deliver primary health care with the help of ASHAs. (he didn't ask me to say the full form, but I could not say the full form.) This scheme is going to end in 2012, began in 2005.
M2: Any corruption case related to NRHM?
Me: Yes sir, a minister of UP was arrested recently in a corruption case related to NRHM, some people were murdered.
M2: He passed on to M3.
M3: Tell us some e-governance initiatives by the government.
Me: Sir, in 2006 central government came up with NeGP - National e-Governamce Plan. Under it there are many e-governance projects which government is taking up.....(he interrupted me.)
M3: Tell me some specific initiatives.
Me: Sir, in my state, there are some initiatives like e-seva under which people can pay public utility bills online. There are around 66 public services being delivered online through this. At the central government level there is a bill pending about the public services which can be delivered electronically......(he interrupted me again.)
M3: Tell me about the initiatives related to land records.
Me: Land records are being digitised in many states....(interrupted me)
M3: What is the status of the initiatives?
Me: Sir, in some states like AP, Karnataka land records have been fully digitised. In many states work is still going on.
M3: What are the hurdles?
Me: Sir, the land records which they are digitising are old records, land surveys being conducted long time back. So there are many errors in them which makes them not very useful. Another hurdle is e-readiness of the people, many are computer illiterates. (I didn't say anything about the problems in business process re-engineering, lack of broadband connectivity to many villages which I knew.)
M3: Who are patwaris?
Me: Sir, they traditionally maintained the land records at the village level.
M3: What will be impact on them? In this digitisation initiative, a central database will be created.
Me: They may be rendered useless sir. (He nodded as if I am correct. But I felt that I was doubtful about my answer.)
M3: He talked about the Natural Language Processing initiative of the government, which I was aware about. I tried hard, but I could not understand what he was asking me as it appeared to me that he was not asking me a question but just explaining me something.
Me: Sir, I am not aware about that. (Just to avoid falling in any trap, even though I knew that there is such thing. One of my professors in my college was working on the project which he used to tell us.)
M3: Passed on to the next member M4.
M4: What are the reasons behind our dominance in IT sector?
Me: Sir I think there are two reasons behind that. One is there are lot of engineering colleges which are offering computer science courses, there is lot of low cost man power. Second is there is lot of demand from western countries for our cheap services. (I could have explained it better I thought. After coming to my room, I asked the same question to my friend. He talked about the small size investment which is required for setting up the company, how not having good infrastructure is not a hurdle. These things which I knew, I could not say as I could not recall at that time.)
M4: What are the challenges India is facing in this sector?
Me: Sir, India is facing competition from countries like Philippines, Bangladesh, even China is catching up with us. (I didn't say anything about the protectionist measures of USA, lack of domestic market for ITeS in India which are important. I have to blame myself for that.)
M4: What should be done?
Me: Sir, we need to concentrate on KPO as against BPO. KPO is knowledge and skill intensive, and these countries can't compete with us. We need to focus on skill development of our youth. (I could have talked tax incentives etc, which I didn't.)
M4: Many people are leaving IT sector to pursue career in civil services or MBA. What are the reasons?
Me: Sir, I think that is because of the monotony of the job, lack of job satisfaction in IT jobs.
M4: What should be done to prevent them? Should they be left like that?
Me: (His intention was as if to prevent them from entering civil services.) Sir, nothing should be done sir, they should have freedom of choice. (I was smiling when I said that. Later I realised that I should have told them about what should be done to eliminate the monotony and increase the job satisfaction. But M1 was nodding as if he was in agreement with me.)
Ch: He pointed to M2 and said "You want to ask something?"
Now the disaster started. He took around 3 to 4 minutes. I felt that this 4 minutes were the low point of my interview.
M2: What is the difference between rule of law and rule by law?
Me: Sir rule of law means equality before law, no arbitrary application of the law, checks and balances......I think there is no difference between them sir. (Later when I was taking my breakfast the next day, when I was thinking about this question, I suddenly realised the difference like an Aristotle. The difference is he said Eureka!, I said Oh shit!.)
M2: What is the difference between Public order and Law and order?
Me: (I knew that there is a difference between these two, I read that in 5th report of ARC. But I didn't recall it correctly.) Sir if only a small area is affected by a problem it is a law and order problem. If a large area is affected, then it is a public order problem. (I was not able to convey properly what is going on in my mind. He was smiling.) (After coming to the room I thought my answer was exact opposite of the correct answer, but when I am writing this post, I looked into the report of ARC, and realised that what I said was correct. But the problem is whether he got what I said.)
M2: What is the difference between fundamental rights and human rights?
Me: Sir all human rights are fundamental rights....(he interrupted me)
M2: Or is it the other way round?
Me: It is 'all human rights are fundamental rights'. (Oh my god, what did I say! I was in soup. I gave examples in the next minute contradicting myself. I was embarrassed.)
Me: For example, equal employment opportunities to all and religious freedom to all are fundamental rights but not human rights. For example, good health is a human right but not a fundamental right. (What the fuck did I say just now! Equality and religious freedom not human rights? Hell! I knew I messed up big time even before I was saying the next sentence.) Sir, human rights are something very essential for living, where as fundamental rights are not very much necessary, people can live even without some fundamental rights. (By now I was literally pleading God to help me come out of this mess.)
M2: No, those rights you were talking about are essential for living. Religious freedom is absolutely essential. You were born into a religion......(he said something else which I don't remember which prompted me to say something.)
Me: Sir, people have choice to become atheist. (I don't why I said that.)
M2: He was continuing with his rights thing. The moment he gave me chance to say something I said....
Me: I may be wrong sir. (I was smiling when I said that. I just wanted to get out of the quagmire. He got the point, he asked me the next question.)
M2: Is there any way human rights can be enforced?
Me: Sir, there are DPSPs which guide the actions of the government regarding the human rights but they are not enforceable.
Now the peon came into the room with some snacks. I was so engrossed that I didn't observe him entering, but I noticed him when came in between me and M2.
M2: Any other way?
Me: (Now I got the clue.) Sir there is judiciary and there are human right commissions at national and state levels. They fight for the protection of human rights.
M2: Any international institution?
Ch: You can leave. Your interview is over. (What the hell? Before I answer the question? I felt he was in a hurry to eat the snacks. But I answered before saying thank you.)
Me: Sir, it is UNHRC. Thank you sir.
Got up, took 2 steps back and left the room.
It was 20 minute odd interview. My immediate reaction after coming out of the room was disappointment at the way it ended. The last 3 topics on which questions were asked were some thing I could have answered if I was given some time under normal circumstances. I have to blame myself for the soup I got into with the last question.
All the time while the members were asking the questions, and I was answering them, K.K.Paul was scribbling something on the paper. God knows what was that about. But I think he was attentive to what was going around him, because when the peon came in with the snacks he noticed that. :-)))
Overall I would say, I am not satisfied with my performance. The questions were very easy, most of them were factual, I could have done a lot better than what I did there in the room. The only silver lining is my body language. I was not tense when I was answering the questions. My voice was not low at any point, I was sitting erect, I smiled many times, I was looking at all the members of the panel while I was answering the questions (which I never did in my mock interviews.)
Lets see what I will get.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Synesthesia
A few days back I was talking to a friend. In the middle of the conversation I asked him whether he associates gender to digits, numbers, alphabets, weekdays, months which I do. His immediate reaction was I have gone mad. When I told him that I also associate some relationships among the numbers, and among the alphabets, he almost convinced me that I have gone mad.
Later that day, I searched in the web about this "disorder", and to my relief I found that there are many like me who associate gender with the numbers. This neurological condition is called Synesthesia in general and Ordinal linguistic personification in particular.
The gender I associate with the digits, alphabets and weekdays is as follows.
0 - very old women, alone
1 - old man around 60 years old
2 - old women, wife of 1
3 - daughter of 1 and 2
4 - son of 1 and 2
5 - short and stout man who tries to influence 4. not related to anyone.
6 - a middle-aged women
7 - a man married to 6
8 - a women around 30 years old.
9 - a man, somehow related to 8.
Male - A, D, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, N, P, R, T, U, V, X, Y, Z
Female - B, C, G, K, O, Q, S.
A, B are married middle-aged couple.
C, D are married old age couple.
E, F are grand sons of C, D. E is elder to F.
H is grand son of G.
I, K, L are grand children of J.
M, N, P are cousins. They harass the old woman O.
S harasses R and T.
U, V are brothers and middle-aged.
X, Y, Z are old men like the three wise of the bible.
Sunday - middle-aged women.
Monday - Young man.
Tuesday - middle-aged man.
Wednesday - Old man
Thursday - young man.
Friday - young man.
Saturday - middle-aged women.
I will research more on this synsthesia later.
Later that day, I searched in the web about this "disorder", and to my relief I found that there are many like me who associate gender with the numbers. This neurological condition is called Synesthesia in general and Ordinal linguistic personification in particular.
The gender I associate with the digits, alphabets and weekdays is as follows.
0 - very old women, alone
1 - old man around 60 years old
2 - old women, wife of 1
3 - daughter of 1 and 2
4 - son of 1 and 2
5 - short and stout man who tries to influence 4. not related to anyone.
6 - a middle-aged women
7 - a man married to 6
8 - a women around 30 years old.
9 - a man, somehow related to 8.
Male - A, D, E, F, H, I, J, L, M, N, P, R, T, U, V, X, Y, Z
Female - B, C, G, K, O, Q, S.
A, B are married middle-aged couple.
C, D are married old age couple.
E, F are grand sons of C, D. E is elder to F.
H is grand son of G.
I, K, L are grand children of J.
M, N, P are cousins. They harass the old woman O.
S harasses R and T.
U, V are brothers and middle-aged.
X, Y, Z are old men like the three wise of the bible.
Sunday - middle-aged women.
Monday - Young man.
Tuesday - middle-aged man.
Wednesday - Old man
Thursday - young man.
Friday - young man.
Saturday - middle-aged women.
I will research more on this synsthesia later.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Analysis of Civil Service Mains - 2011 results
List of roll numbers and optionals of candidates who wrote civil services written test (Mains) in 2011.
List of candidates who passed Mains in 2011 along with their optionals, Indian language paper, center code.
Pass percentage in different optionals in Mains 2011.
List of Indian Languages and the corresponding number of students selected with these language papers.
Lion's share of 2418 candidates who are selected for interview come from Hindi heartland of India. 1496 candidates to be exact. They come from the states of Bihar, UP, MP, Haryana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarsh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, few from Punjab etc.
Last year, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu candidates performed extremely well grabbing disproportionately high number of seats. But this time their numbers in all likeliness will decrease as relatively less number of candidates are selected for interview. Maharashtra's performance will improve this time.
Coming to the performance of the optionals, this year UPSC didn't punish subjects and treated most of the optionals in a balanced way, evenly. Last year Psychology, History, some science optionals suffered, whatever be the reasons. Most of the candidates with Psychology optional got ridiculously low marks with few getting ridiculously high marks. Till now no body is sure about the reasons behind this. But this time that kind of surprises are limited to two optionals Management and Law. Management has 7.79 conversion rate and Law has 14.59 conversion rate. Low conversion rate with Management can be explained by taking in to account CSAT because of which non-serious MBA candidates wrote Mains.
CSAT also explains why number of candidates with optionals either History or Philosophy decreased drastically when compared with earlier years. Most of the Hindi medium junta with these optionals either failed in CSAT or didn't write it.
History and Psychology performed well this time with conversion rates over 22%. This is good news for me as one of my optionals is History. :-) Generally the conversion rates reflect the marking scheme, this year it is most likely liberal.
As usual literature optionals performed extremely well with conversion rates ranging from 25% to 100%. Overall conversion rate is 33.58% which is ridiculously high. Overall 538 got selected out of 1602. Kannada, Malayalam, Pali, Hindi, Tamil constitutes the bulk.
And as usual science subjects didn't perform well. Only silver lining is Chemistry which has seen this year its best performance since 2008 with 18.5% conversion rate. This is on par with the low level performance of Pub Ad.
Overall I am satisfied that UPSC's methods of normalization or scaling is more balancing than last year when Sociology, Geography, Pub Ad benefited and many undeserving candidates got through.
List of candidates who passed Mains in 2011 along with their optionals, Indian language paper, center code.
Pass percentage in different optionals in Mains 2011.
List of Indian Languages and the corresponding number of students selected with these language papers.
Lion's share of 2418 candidates who are selected for interview come from Hindi heartland of India. 1496 candidates to be exact. They come from the states of Bihar, UP, MP, Haryana, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarsh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, few from Punjab etc.
Last year, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu candidates performed extremely well grabbing disproportionately high number of seats. But this time their numbers in all likeliness will decrease as relatively less number of candidates are selected for interview. Maharashtra's performance will improve this time.
Coming to the performance of the optionals, this year UPSC didn't punish subjects and treated most of the optionals in a balanced way, evenly. Last year Psychology, History, some science optionals suffered, whatever be the reasons. Most of the candidates with Psychology optional got ridiculously low marks with few getting ridiculously high marks. Till now no body is sure about the reasons behind this. But this time that kind of surprises are limited to two optionals Management and Law. Management has 7.79 conversion rate and Law has 14.59 conversion rate. Low conversion rate with Management can be explained by taking in to account CSAT because of which non-serious MBA candidates wrote Mains.
CSAT also explains why number of candidates with optionals either History or Philosophy decreased drastically when compared with earlier years. Most of the Hindi medium junta with these optionals either failed in CSAT or didn't write it.
History and Psychology performed well this time with conversion rates over 22%. This is good news for me as one of my optionals is History. :-) Generally the conversion rates reflect the marking scheme, this year it is most likely liberal.
As usual literature optionals performed extremely well with conversion rates ranging from 25% to 100%. Overall conversion rate is 33.58% which is ridiculously high. Overall 538 got selected out of 1602. Kannada, Malayalam, Pali, Hindi, Tamil constitutes the bulk.
And as usual science subjects didn't perform well. Only silver lining is Chemistry which has seen this year its best performance since 2008 with 18.5% conversion rate. This is on par with the low level performance of Pub Ad.
Overall I am satisfied that UPSC's methods of normalization or scaling is more balancing than last year when Sociology, Geography, Pub Ad benefited and many undeserving candidates got through.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Civil Services Mains 2011 Results
Finally the wait is over. Results are declared today. In total 2418 candidates are selected. And I am one of them. :-))))
As usual, there are some genuinely deserving candidates who aren't selected. They are knowledgeable, intelligent, hard working, have good writing skills, and more importantly they did well in the exams. I can understand what may be going through in their minds now. Friends, don't give up! UPSC may be unpredictable, it may test your character, this time you may not be lucky, but persistence may pay you finally.
Going by what I see, this time more veterans got selected than freshers. That was expected, as many of the people who got selected in prelims were freshers who were not good either in GS or optionals. They got through only because of the aptitude exam newly introduced in prelims. It was natural that they would funk in Mains.
After the results are out, we can estimate which optionals have high success ratio and which have low. That can't be said now.
As usual, there are some genuinely deserving candidates who aren't selected. They are knowledgeable, intelligent, hard working, have good writing skills, and more importantly they did well in the exams. I can understand what may be going through in their minds now. Friends, don't give up! UPSC may be unpredictable, it may test your character, this time you may not be lucky, but persistence may pay you finally.
Going by what I see, this time more veterans got selected than freshers. That was expected, as many of the people who got selected in prelims were freshers who were not good either in GS or optionals. They got through only because of the aptitude exam newly introduced in prelims. It was natural that they would funk in Mains.
After the results are out, we can estimate which optionals have high success ratio and which have low. That can't be said now.
Monday, February 20, 2012
IAS test series: GS, Essay, History, Public Adm - 2
In GS, there are some coaching centers which offer test series like Srirams, Synergy(Expert Brain), CST etc.
Regarding Expert Brain, from what I heard from many, it is good enough. Mostly I got positive feedback on it. I have seen the question papers, standard of the questions in most cases is on par with the level of the questions UPSC asks.
I attended Srirams 3 years back, I can give first hand info on that. The question papers were of the same standard as the question papers set by UPSC. I wrote 3 tests, one in polity, other two in statistics and geography. My answer sheets were evaluated properly. To my surprise, Sriram himself evaluated polity questions which is his subject. He pointed out the mistakes I did, which are actually difficult to notice if he didn't read what I wrote. That means that he actually read what I wrote.
For Essay, there are numerous coaching centers which offer test series like Ramaswamy IAS, some one in Vajiram, Minocha etc. All of them teach same things, give same suggestions about writing the essay. There is absolutely no need to spend Rs4000 or Rs5000 on it. Just search in google, you will find many blogs written by successful IAS candidates on how to write essays. I will also write on this topic later.
For the optional History, there are few coaching centers in Delhi which offer test series. There is Baliyan of Insight in Rajendra Nagar who takes around Rs 10K which is enormous. I attended his test series for lack of choice in Delhi.
First of all his questions are not up to the mark. They are of some what lower standards. Most of his questions are direct questions, i.e., you just need to have pertinent knowledge, you don't have to write any analysis. Most of the questions asked now a days require you to write down analysis.
His evaluation is not good enough. He awards good marks even if you don't write a good answer. That means that he is not actually reading properly what you write
He discusses the answers of all the questions in a lecture after every test. He tries to maintain student-teacher interaction which is actually a good thing. His answers are not consistently perfect, sometimes bad, sometimes good.
Overall I was neither satisfied nor disappointed with Baliyan's test series. But there are very few choices in Delhi in the case of History.
Regarding Expert Brain, from what I heard from many, it is good enough. Mostly I got positive feedback on it. I have seen the question papers, standard of the questions in most cases is on par with the level of the questions UPSC asks.
I attended Srirams 3 years back, I can give first hand info on that. The question papers were of the same standard as the question papers set by UPSC. I wrote 3 tests, one in polity, other two in statistics and geography. My answer sheets were evaluated properly. To my surprise, Sriram himself evaluated polity questions which is his subject. He pointed out the mistakes I did, which are actually difficult to notice if he didn't read what I wrote. That means that he actually read what I wrote.
For Essay, there are numerous coaching centers which offer test series like Ramaswamy IAS, some one in Vajiram, Minocha etc. All of them teach same things, give same suggestions about writing the essay. There is absolutely no need to spend Rs4000 or Rs5000 on it. Just search in google, you will find many blogs written by successful IAS candidates on how to write essays. I will also write on this topic later.
For the optional History, there are few coaching centers in Delhi which offer test series. There is Baliyan of Insight in Rajendra Nagar who takes around Rs 10K which is enormous. I attended his test series for lack of choice in Delhi.
First of all his questions are not up to the mark. They are of some what lower standards. Most of his questions are direct questions, i.e., you just need to have pertinent knowledge, you don't have to write any analysis. Most of the questions asked now a days require you to write down analysis.
His evaluation is not good enough. He awards good marks even if you don't write a good answer. That means that he is not actually reading properly what you write
He discusses the answers of all the questions in a lecture after every test. He tries to maintain student-teacher interaction which is actually a good thing. His answers are not consistently perfect, sometimes bad, sometimes good.
Overall I was neither satisfied nor disappointed with Baliyan's test series. But there are very few choices in Delhi in the case of History.
IAS test series: GS, Essay, History, Public Adm - 1
Writing mock tests is an important part of the preparation for civil services mains exam. You can get feedback on what you write, rectify the mistakes, improve your writing skills. Writing mock tests prepares you to face the actual exam, write all the answers in the exam within stipulated time.
Unfortunately many coaching centers in Delhi cheat the students who attend the test series offered by them. The answer sheets of the students are not evaluated properly, the questions given in the mock tests are not of the standard of the actual questions given in the mains. The fees they take are ridiculously high, ever increasing year after year.
These greedy coaching institutes admit hundreds of students in their test series courses. So they don't find enough time to evaluate the answer sheets.
For example Sunil Gupta of Inspiration offered test series in which hundreds of bakras used to join even a year back. Me too was one of those bakras. He never used to evaluate the answer sheets properly. He just used to scribble something on the answer sheet to give an impression to the student that he has actually read it and evaluated it which he never does (we verified that empirically). He used to take care that what he writes cant be read as that may give away that he didn't read the answers. He was a lazy pig who used to repeat the same question papers for different batches in different years. Our batch in 2009 was given same question papers which were given to batches in 2007, 2008 with only the changes in the question numbers.
Puri of VisionIAS also didn't have time to evaluate last year. He admitted some 400-500 students. He evaluated only one or two answer sheets per student out of 15 (15 mock tests). May be remaining answer sheets were sold to raddi-walas of Rajendra Nagar.
Pawan didn't offer a test series in 2011 as he felt that he couldn't evaluate the answer sheets because of lack of time. Instead, he offered a course for improving the writing skills under some name. It had 6 or 7 classes. At the end of the course he conducted 2 tests. He didn't even have time to evaluate those papers. Some of us had to be persistent to get our answer sheets evaluated. I had to go to him thrice for getting my copy evaluated, had to kind of persuade him. Even then he evaluated only 4 questions. Even those questions, he didn't read properly, just glanced at them for less than 10 seconds. I was thoroughly disappointed with this. We had lot of hopes about him actually. He promised many things but he didn't live up to his promises.
Mohanty of Synergy Institute is another lazy bug in this business. This time he had put some efforts to evaluate the answer sheets. He was not directly involved in the evaluation but he recruited some to that work for him. But what is the use if they evaluate instead of him. It was as good as your friends evaluating your answers. And there was no guarantee that they were actually reading the answers while evaluating.
That is the story of PA test series. Picture in other subjects is not much different.
(cont)
For example Sunil Gupta of Inspiration offered test series in which hundreds of bakras used to join even a year back. Me too was one of those bakras. He never used to evaluate the answer sheets properly. He just used to scribble something on the answer sheet to give an impression to the student that he has actually read it and evaluated it which he never does (we verified that empirically). He used to take care that what he writes cant be read as that may give away that he didn't read the answers. He was a lazy pig who used to repeat the same question papers for different batches in different years. Our batch in 2009 was given same question papers which were given to batches in 2007, 2008 with only the changes in the question numbers.
Puri of VisionIAS also didn't have time to evaluate last year. He admitted some 400-500 students. He evaluated only one or two answer sheets per student out of 15 (15 mock tests). May be remaining answer sheets were sold to raddi-walas of Rajendra Nagar.
Pawan didn't offer a test series in 2011 as he felt that he couldn't evaluate the answer sheets because of lack of time. Instead, he offered a course for improving the writing skills under some name. It had 6 or 7 classes. At the end of the course he conducted 2 tests. He didn't even have time to evaluate those papers. Some of us had to be persistent to get our answer sheets evaluated. I had to go to him thrice for getting my copy evaluated, had to kind of persuade him. Even then he evaluated only 4 questions. Even those questions, he didn't read properly, just glanced at them for less than 10 seconds. I was thoroughly disappointed with this. We had lot of hopes about him actually. He promised many things but he didn't live up to his promises.
Mohanty of Synergy Institute is another lazy bug in this business. This time he had put some efforts to evaluate the answer sheets. He was not directly involved in the evaluation but he recruited some to that work for him. But what is the use if they evaluate instead of him. It was as good as your friends evaluating your answers. And there was no guarantee that they were actually reading the answers while evaluating.
That is the story of PA test series. Picture in other subjects is not much different.
(cont)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Well Done Abba
The other day I was watching the movie Well Done Abba of Shyam Benegal. It portrays the true picture of corruption in the government offices in a witty manner, in Benegal's way. It is a story of an illiterate Muslim car driver of Mumbai who visits his native village in Andhra Pradesh. His struggle with the government authorities to grant him money under a government scheme to build a well in his village where there is water scarcity.
Shyam Benegal can narrate a story by touching many social issues in a humorous way. Never it appears in his movies that he is forcefully intertwining the social issues with the story. Here too he touches many issues like oppression of women in Islam, innocent Muslim girls' exploitative marriages with dubious Arab Shaikhs, communal riots, all-pervasive corruption, un-empowered women representatives of local self governments, unaccountable politicians who always indulge in blame game etc. There are many funny moments in the movie.
The actors too acted well in their roles. Boman Irani as the driver, Minissha Lamba as his dauther, Ila Arun, Ravi Kishan, Rajit Kapur etc all have done their bit. Music was nothing to write about. Aesthetics like sets, costumes etc are believable as always in Benegal movies. Not much to write about the cinematography.
When compared with his other satirical comedy Welcome to Sajjanpur, this is not that good. Welcome to sajjanpur was lot better. The witty dialogue in that movie would have you in splits through out the movie. This movie too has that kind of dialogue but comes infrequently in between. The character of the brother of the driver was not that funny. That thread of love story between the daughter of the driver and the automobile mechanic is not that good.
On the whole it is nice movie to watch. I dont know why Benegal's movies don't get popular response they so deserve.
Shyam Benegal can narrate a story by touching many social issues in a humorous way. Never it appears in his movies that he is forcefully intertwining the social issues with the story. Here too he touches many issues like oppression of women in Islam, innocent Muslim girls' exploitative marriages with dubious Arab Shaikhs, communal riots, all-pervasive corruption, un-empowered women representatives of local self governments, unaccountable politicians who always indulge in blame game etc. There are many funny moments in the movie.
The actors too acted well in their roles. Boman Irani as the driver, Minissha Lamba as his dauther, Ila Arun, Ravi Kishan, Rajit Kapur etc all have done their bit. Music was nothing to write about. Aesthetics like sets, costumes etc are believable as always in Benegal movies. Not much to write about the cinematography.
When compared with his other satirical comedy Welcome to Sajjanpur, this is not that good. Welcome to sajjanpur was lot better. The witty dialogue in that movie would have you in splits through out the movie. This movie too has that kind of dialogue but comes infrequently in between. The character of the brother of the driver was not that funny. That thread of love story between the daughter of the driver and the automobile mechanic is not that good.
On the whole it is nice movie to watch. I dont know why Benegal's movies don't get popular response they so deserve.
Pennahobilam
Pennahobilam is located around 50KM away from Anantapur on the road to Uravakonda. It is on the banks of a rivulet of Penna river on which PABR project (Penna Ahobilam Balancing Reservoir) was built which is nearby.
Pennahobilam is famous for the Narasimha Swamy temple which is on a small hillock. According to the mythology, Lord Narasimha left a big footprint here on his way from Ahobilam to some place in Nellore. Inner sanctum is built on the footprint.
I don't know who built the temple but my guess is someone from Vijayanagara ruling fold. It is built in granite stone locally available, so that leaves no scope for any sculpture on the pillars or the walls. There are four gopurams on the four sides of the temple which are renovated recently. Even the tops of the mandapam (temple hall) and inner sanctum are renovated recently. New constructions don't appeal to me much. Temple is enclosed in high walls just like a fort which was a practice developed during Pandyas. So my guess about Vijayagara period may be correct.
One peculiar feature of the temple is there are two high columns(dhwaja sthambham) side by side, excluding the one in front of them. Commonly only one dhwaja sthambham is built in any temple.
A Fair (tirunaallu) takes place here in summer which is quite good. Pennahobilam temple is a popular venue for marriage ceremonies in Anantapur. My parents married here, some of my relatives too. There are many choultries (colonnades) here built over centuries for the convenience of the marriage parties. Some centuries-old choultries indicates that this place was popular for marriages even centuries before.
Whenever Penna is full of water, this place looks beautiful. The "kona" here springs to life during rainy season. Otherwise it is quite dull.
I visited this place 5 times or so in the last 15 years, the last time being after a gap of 10 years or so. What I noticed is, the place has become dirtier. There is pond here which was a living pond even 10 years back. It was thriving with lotuses. Now it is in a sorry state with lot of garbage. Practically dead!!! The river too has become dirtier with the garbage. Urgent steps are needed to restore their beauty.
Pennahobilam is famous for the Narasimha Swamy temple which is on a small hillock. According to the mythology, Lord Narasimha left a big footprint here on his way from Ahobilam to some place in Nellore. Inner sanctum is built on the footprint.
I don't know who built the temple but my guess is someone from Vijayanagara ruling fold. It is built in granite stone locally available, so that leaves no scope for any sculpture on the pillars or the walls. There are four gopurams on the four sides of the temple which are renovated recently. Even the tops of the mandapam (temple hall) and inner sanctum are renovated recently. New constructions don't appeal to me much. Temple is enclosed in high walls just like a fort which was a practice developed during Pandyas. So my guess about Vijayagara period may be correct.
One peculiar feature of the temple is there are two high columns(dhwaja sthambham) side by side, excluding the one in front of them. Commonly only one dhwaja sthambham is built in any temple.
A Fair (tirunaallu) takes place here in summer which is quite good. Pennahobilam temple is a popular venue for marriage ceremonies in Anantapur. My parents married here, some of my relatives too. There are many choultries (colonnades) here built over centuries for the convenience of the marriage parties. Some centuries-old choultries indicates that this place was popular for marriages even centuries before.
Whenever Penna is full of water, this place looks beautiful. The "kona" here springs to life during rainy season. Otherwise it is quite dull.
I visited this place 5 times or so in the last 15 years, the last time being after a gap of 10 years or so. What I noticed is, the place has become dirtier. There is pond here which was a living pond even 10 years back. It was thriving with lotuses. Now it is in a sorry state with lot of garbage. Practically dead!!! The river too has become dirtier with the garbage. Urgent steps are needed to restore their beauty.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
IAS Coaching: Public Admin - Puri and Pawan
These two achieved lot of name in the last two years because of their test series. Promotion by top rankers like Anay Dwivedi helped Pawan a lot. I happened to attend one of Pawan's course which he called as quality enrichment programme. I am not sure about the name though.
Pawan used to teach at Sriram 3 years back. Some of his students didn't like his teaching and they complained to Sriram. Something happened and his courses were removed from the curriculum and he was forgotten. After 1 year or so I heard from Anay Dwivedi that someone by the name Pawan offers test series and he was immensely helped by the test series. Honestly speaking, I didn't think that this Pawan and the Pawan I know were the same.
Pawan is not money minded which is rare among the coaching breed of Delhi. He is always available to the students at a phone call. These are the 2 best things I observed. But in my opinion this very same advantage is working against him. He is not able to manage the time properly. Instead of wasting time in explaining the silly doubts to idiots who come to him after the class, he should concentrate on test series which originally brought him the name.
Coming to the teaching, he makes every thing simple, teaches in simple language which every one can understand. But one problem is he rushes through the things a lot. For someone who read the things once that may be okay but for a beginner that is a big hurdle. So beginners be careful before joining his coaching. He actually tries to correlate the current events with static part, which I found good. That, some what makes our life simple.
I will write about his test series (whatever name he calls it) later which I found not worth.
Puri also became famous because of test series. From what I heard is that he is not good in paper 1 but very good in paper 2. That means that he is good at the dynamic part of the syllabus and he correlates the current affairs with static part well which is good news. His teaching is more information oriented than concept oriented, i.e. he focuses more on delivering lot of information.
I will talk about his test series later.
My suggestion would be don't join any coaching and study yourself. But if you are itching to join one then follow this. If you are a beginner with absolutely no knowledge of the subject then the preference order shall be Mohanty, Puri, Pawan. If you have some knowledge, then the order shall be Pawan, Puri. No Mohanty in this list. Vajiram etc are out of picture as far as Public Administration coaching is concerned.
And avoid Bhavani Singh, Sunil Gupta at all costs.
Pawan used to teach at Sriram 3 years back. Some of his students didn't like his teaching and they complained to Sriram. Something happened and his courses were removed from the curriculum and he was forgotten. After 1 year or so I heard from Anay Dwivedi that someone by the name Pawan offers test series and he was immensely helped by the test series. Honestly speaking, I didn't think that this Pawan and the Pawan I know were the same.
Pawan is not money minded which is rare among the coaching breed of Delhi. He is always available to the students at a phone call. These are the 2 best things I observed. But in my opinion this very same advantage is working against him. He is not able to manage the time properly. Instead of wasting time in explaining the silly doubts to idiots who come to him after the class, he should concentrate on test series which originally brought him the name.
Coming to the teaching, he makes every thing simple, teaches in simple language which every one can understand. But one problem is he rushes through the things a lot. For someone who read the things once that may be okay but for a beginner that is a big hurdle. So beginners be careful before joining his coaching. He actually tries to correlate the current events with static part, which I found good. That, some what makes our life simple.
I will write about his test series (whatever name he calls it) later which I found not worth.
Puri also became famous because of test series. From what I heard is that he is not good in paper 1 but very good in paper 2. That means that he is good at the dynamic part of the syllabus and he correlates the current affairs with static part well which is good news. His teaching is more information oriented than concept oriented, i.e. he focuses more on delivering lot of information.
I will talk about his test series later.
My suggestion would be don't join any coaching and study yourself. But if you are itching to join one then follow this. If you are a beginner with absolutely no knowledge of the subject then the preference order shall be Mohanty, Puri, Pawan. If you have some knowledge, then the order shall be Pawan, Puri. No Mohanty in this list. Vajiram etc are out of picture as far as Public Administration coaching is concerned.
And avoid Bhavani Singh, Sunil Gupta at all costs.
IAS Coaching Centers: Public Administration (Cont)
Other famous PA coaching centers in Delhi are Pawan Kumar's institute, Bhavani's institute which is NIAS if I am not wrong, Sunil Gupta's institute which is Inspiration. Other one who is on the rise is Puri who teaches in Vision IAS if I am not wrong.
First of all, about Sunil Gupta's Inspiration. Believe me, he is the worst teacher you can come across ever. I happened to attend 2 of his classes. He cant speak even one proper sentence in English. I don't expect him to speak grammatically correct English which I admit that I cant do. But he is completely incomprehensible, can't communicate anything properly. We cant make out what he is mumbling. Here I am not even complaining about his Bihari accent, which I actually like. He uses his some refrain once in every 15 or 20 seconds, which fortunately I don't remember. Once in a while we may make out what he is saying only to realize that what he is saying is bullshit. His class notes is full of bullshit. Even though I didn't fortunately see his printed notes, safely we can say that even that is bullshit.
I will write about his famed test series in later posts. Don't miss it.
Don't fall for his publicity which unfortunately many does. You will repent later.
Next comes Bhavani Singh's NIAS. He takes up classes in Hindi and English, I am talking about his classes in English here. I met three persons who attended his classes and all of them gave scathing feedback. Absolutely nothing comes from his notes, his teaching is largely irrelevant to UPSC requirements. Most of the time students don't understand what he is teaching. His notes is crap.
My friends says that strength of the class rapidly declines as the course progresses. By the end of first 2 months of the course, less than 10 people attend his classes. This happens with every batch. You can understand that he is incapable of sustaining any interest in the students.
Pawan Kumar and Puri, in next post.
First of all, about Sunil Gupta's Inspiration. Believe me, he is the worst teacher you can come across ever. I happened to attend 2 of his classes. He cant speak even one proper sentence in English. I don't expect him to speak grammatically correct English which I admit that I cant do. But he is completely incomprehensible, can't communicate anything properly. We cant make out what he is mumbling. Here I am not even complaining about his Bihari accent, which I actually like. He uses his some refrain once in every 15 or 20 seconds, which fortunately I don't remember. Once in a while we may make out what he is saying only to realize that what he is saying is bullshit. His class notes is full of bullshit. Even though I didn't fortunately see his printed notes, safely we can say that even that is bullshit.
I will write about his famed test series in later posts. Don't miss it.
Don't fall for his publicity which unfortunately many does. You will repent later.
Next comes Bhavani Singh's NIAS. He takes up classes in Hindi and English, I am talking about his classes in English here. I met three persons who attended his classes and all of them gave scathing feedback. Absolutely nothing comes from his notes, his teaching is largely irrelevant to UPSC requirements. Most of the time students don't understand what he is teaching. His notes is crap.
My friends says that strength of the class rapidly declines as the course progresses. By the end of first 2 months of the course, less than 10 people attend his classes. This happens with every batch. You can understand that he is incapable of sustaining any interest in the students.
Pawan Kumar and Puri, in next post.
IAS Coaching Centers: Public Administration
Public Administration is the most popular optional as of now because of three reasons. Firstly, the syllabus if relatively small. Secondly, people get good marks with not much effort. This may be because UPSC is trying to promote the subject and twice in the last three years people scored heavily in PA (leaving aside 2009). Lastly, PA is very simple to understand. It closely resembles GS, helps in both GS and Essay and so helps in reducing the work load.
Naturally, the number of people who give CSE(Mains) more than doubled in the last 3 years. Number of PA coaching centers kept up with the rising number students. It has become a fad of sorts for those who complete their attempts of civil services to come to Old Rajendra Nagar or Mukherjee Nagar and open PA coaching centers to make a living.
As I wrote in one of my earlier post, PA is dynamic subject. So no amount of coaching is useful. Moreover most of the PA coaching centers in Delhi are of spurious kind which cheat the students under the sun and ruin the precious time and the chances. I will share the info on some of the PA coaching centers in Delhi.
First of all there is Synergy institute in Karol Bagh, run by a failed candidate in civils, Mr Mohanty. Many students attend his coaching and speaking in terms of market share, my guess is he has 30-35% market share. His class rooms overflow with the students, all the time some students have to stand outside the class as there is not enough space, there are not enough chairs. I heard from some that those students dont get to see him while he is lecturing but only get to listen to him through speakers located outside the class.
He is lazy bug, not punctual. He teaches only some part of the syllabus, static part essentially. I should admit that he is good at teaching the static part. Heard this from many. He leaves many important topics which are mostly dynamic to his minions who are utterly useless. He passes good chunk of time teaching what he knows the best. Rest all is rushed through by his minions in Usain Bolt's speed.
The problem is he doesn't relate the current events with the static part. I heard that he is trying to rectify his mistakes but still not okay. He gives case studies in explaining the things and I have to say that they are way pedestrian and stupid. Read them and read the case studies in ARC reports, you will understand what I am saying. I guarantee that if reproduce them in the exam, evaluator of your paper will be amused.
Moreover his students tend to insert his case studies forcefully in the answer. This spoils the flow of the question. Right way is to seamlessly integrate the case studies with the actual answer. More on this, later.
He gives some printed booklets to read from, which are highly unorganised. He merely copied from some papers, textbooks. He is such a lazy bug that he didn't even compile them properly. His class notes is better than his printed notes.
I will write about other coaching centers in the next posts.
Naturally, the number of people who give CSE(Mains) more than doubled in the last 3 years. Number of PA coaching centers kept up with the rising number students. It has become a fad of sorts for those who complete their attempts of civil services to come to Old Rajendra Nagar or Mukherjee Nagar and open PA coaching centers to make a living.
As I wrote in one of my earlier post, PA is dynamic subject. So no amount of coaching is useful. Moreover most of the PA coaching centers in Delhi are of spurious kind which cheat the students under the sun and ruin the precious time and the chances. I will share the info on some of the PA coaching centers in Delhi.
First of all there is Synergy institute in Karol Bagh, run by a failed candidate in civils, Mr Mohanty. Many students attend his coaching and speaking in terms of market share, my guess is he has 30-35% market share. His class rooms overflow with the students, all the time some students have to stand outside the class as there is not enough space, there are not enough chairs. I heard from some that those students dont get to see him while he is lecturing but only get to listen to him through speakers located outside the class.
He is lazy bug, not punctual. He teaches only some part of the syllabus, static part essentially. I should admit that he is good at teaching the static part. Heard this from many. He leaves many important topics which are mostly dynamic to his minions who are utterly useless. He passes good chunk of time teaching what he knows the best. Rest all is rushed through by his minions in Usain Bolt's speed.
The problem is he doesn't relate the current events with the static part. I heard that he is trying to rectify his mistakes but still not okay. He gives case studies in explaining the things and I have to say that they are way pedestrian and stupid. Read them and read the case studies in ARC reports, you will understand what I am saying. I guarantee that if reproduce them in the exam, evaluator of your paper will be amused.
Moreover his students tend to insert his case studies forcefully in the answer. This spoils the flow of the question. Right way is to seamlessly integrate the case studies with the actual answer. More on this, later.
He gives some printed booklets to read from, which are highly unorganised. He merely copied from some papers, textbooks. He is such a lazy bug that he didn't even compile them properly. His class notes is better than his printed notes.
I will write about other coaching centers in the next posts.
IAS Coaching Centers: CSAT
Last year CSAT was introduced and that opened flood gates for many new coaching centers. Irony is that all these measures of UPSC to introduce changes in the pattern of the exam are aimed at eliminating the coaching centers. But introduction of CSAT frightened many students. Many didn't give attempt as they thought it was better to get a feel of the difficulty of the question paper first. Coaching centers made a killing from their fear.
Coaching center people were expecting questions of slightly lesser standard than CAT. They taught keeping in mind this level of difficulty. But the questions which were actually asked were of still lesser standard. Except a few questions of comprehension, every question was so easy that most of the people ended up scoring around 130-140 marks out of 200 with some people scoring as high as 180 marks.
I wrote mock tests of Vajiram, ALS, Sriram, TIME, Career Launcher put together around 20. Of all the question papers, I found TIME's question papers some what closer to the difficulty level of questions asked by UPSC but still on the higher side. I never used to complete the mock question papers of TIME within time but I completed the UPSC question paper within 1 hour 40 or so. Paper was that easy.
My suggestion is please don't join any coaching center for CSAT. Just give mock tests. You can get the photocopy of the mock question papers in the market. Don't give more than 100 hours or 150 hours of your time for preparing for CSAT. It's not worth more than that. Buy a good CSAT manual and practice only from that book.
Coaching center people were expecting questions of slightly lesser standard than CAT. They taught keeping in mind this level of difficulty. But the questions which were actually asked were of still lesser standard. Except a few questions of comprehension, every question was so easy that most of the people ended up scoring around 130-140 marks out of 200 with some people scoring as high as 180 marks.
I wrote mock tests of Vajiram, ALS, Sriram, TIME, Career Launcher put together around 20. Of all the question papers, I found TIME's question papers some what closer to the difficulty level of questions asked by UPSC but still on the higher side. I never used to complete the mock question papers of TIME within time but I completed the UPSC question paper within 1 hour 40 or so. Paper was that easy.
My suggestion is please don't join any coaching center for CSAT. Just give mock tests. You can get the photocopy of the mock question papers in the market. Don't give more than 100 hours or 150 hours of your time for preparing for CSAT. It's not worth more than that. Buy a good CSAT manual and practice only from that book.
Friday, February 3, 2012
IAS Coaching Centers: General Studies
As I wrote in earlier posts, coaching for GS is absolute waste of money and precious time. I told this to my friends and some others when they asked me to suggest some good coaching centers. But they didn't listen to me and joined Vajiram which is quite famous in Delhi.
What I want to say is that even if many advice the beginners not to join any coaching center for GS, they join them. I am familiar with some coaching centers in Delhi, I will give comparative analysis of some coaching centers with the help of the views current among the IAS aspirants in Delhi.
Rau's, Chanakya are the two names which many IAS aspirants would be familiar with even before they come to Delhi because of the advertisements in various magazines. Avoid these two at any cost. Two persons whom I personally know joined there when they came to Delhi and they still regret a lot.
Vajiram, Sriram in Delhi are two names in this field which are famous. Both are located in Old Rajendra Nagar. Vajiram takes thousands of students into several batches. Sriram admits 100 or 200 mostly those who dont get admission in Vajiram. So teacher-student interaction is lot better in Sriram. In the class one may ask any doubts, after the lecture one can go to the teachers and ask any doubts.
Vajiram dedicates more time teaching biology, other sciences, ancient and medieval history, some useless things in economy, things from Manorama and shit which are quite useless from prelims point of view. Sriram doesn't waste much time on these useless things(except ancient and medieval history).
Polity is taught equally well in Vajiram and Sriram but I would prefer Sriram over Vajiram. Economy is taught very well in Sriram, badly in Vajiram. Geography is taught well Vajiram but no questions come from their teaching. S&T is not taught well in Sriram but the notes they give for S&T more than makes up for any deficiencies which is not the case with Vajiram.
On the whole I have to say Vajiram teaches well conventional part of the syllabus and ignores the non-conventional current affairs part. Vajiram is not keeping up with changing times. Sriram is a lot better in this regard. That is why Vajiram students regret a lot, after the giving prelims, after realizing the reality.
In Vajiram, notes is dictated instead of giving printed notes like in Sriram. This is because Vajiram is too lazy to update the printed material which renders it's printed material useless. Sriram updates the printed notes regularly and distributes the notes in the class. This saves a lot of time in Sriram classes.
Coming to the notes given by the coaching centers, there is consensus among the student community in Delhi that Sriram's notes is excellent, whether it is polity, economy, current affairs, social issues, international affairs, India and the World, S&T or anything. Same can not be said about the notes provided by Vajiram. Don't ever read the printed current affairs booklets provided by Vajiram. Even class notes is not upto the mark.
Enough of Vajiram and Sriram. there is one more famous coaching center, ALS in Mukherjee Nagar. It is more on the lines of Vajiram, focus is more on the conventional part.
I will add more later.
What I want to say is that even if many advice the beginners not to join any coaching center for GS, they join them. I am familiar with some coaching centers in Delhi, I will give comparative analysis of some coaching centers with the help of the views current among the IAS aspirants in Delhi.
Rau's, Chanakya are the two names which many IAS aspirants would be familiar with even before they come to Delhi because of the advertisements in various magazines. Avoid these two at any cost. Two persons whom I personally know joined there when they came to Delhi and they still regret a lot.
Vajiram, Sriram in Delhi are two names in this field which are famous. Both are located in Old Rajendra Nagar. Vajiram takes thousands of students into several batches. Sriram admits 100 or 200 mostly those who dont get admission in Vajiram. So teacher-student interaction is lot better in Sriram. In the class one may ask any doubts, after the lecture one can go to the teachers and ask any doubts.
Vajiram dedicates more time teaching biology, other sciences, ancient and medieval history, some useless things in economy, things from Manorama and shit which are quite useless from prelims point of view. Sriram doesn't waste much time on these useless things(except ancient and medieval history).
Polity is taught equally well in Vajiram and Sriram but I would prefer Sriram over Vajiram. Economy is taught very well in Sriram, badly in Vajiram. Geography is taught well Vajiram but no questions come from their teaching. S&T is not taught well in Sriram but the notes they give for S&T more than makes up for any deficiencies which is not the case with Vajiram.
On the whole I have to say Vajiram teaches well conventional part of the syllabus and ignores the non-conventional current affairs part. Vajiram is not keeping up with changing times. Sriram is a lot better in this regard. That is why Vajiram students regret a lot, after the giving prelims, after realizing the reality.
In Vajiram, notes is dictated instead of giving printed notes like in Sriram. This is because Vajiram is too lazy to update the printed material which renders it's printed material useless. Sriram updates the printed notes regularly and distributes the notes in the class. This saves a lot of time in Sriram classes.
Coming to the notes given by the coaching centers, there is consensus among the student community in Delhi that Sriram's notes is excellent, whether it is polity, economy, current affairs, social issues, international affairs, India and the World, S&T or anything. Same can not be said about the notes provided by Vajiram. Don't ever read the printed current affairs booklets provided by Vajiram. Even class notes is not upto the mark.
Enough of Vajiram and Sriram. there is one more famous coaching center, ALS in Mukherjee Nagar. It is more on the lines of Vajiram, focus is more on the conventional part.
I will add more later.
IAS Coaching Centers (Cont)
In the case of the static subjects the personality factors like ability to work hard, ability to understand the things, one's memory power, quality of one's peer group, quality of the guidance one can get etc comes into play.
One has to remember that everything that is taught in the coaching centers of static subjects is readily available in the text books. If the text books are not sufficient, notes of the coaching centers is readily available in the market.
One has to also remember that in coaching centers everything is taught superficially. This shallow knowledge is unhelpful in answering the questions in the exam which are being asked now a days. This is particularly true in case of subjects with huge syllabus like History, Geography etc. So after listening to the lecture, one has to study the textbooks to get a deep picture of the things. Coaching in this case only familiarizes the subject to the beginners. So what is the use of coaching then?
If one is patient enough and works hard, the necessity of the coaching centers can be eliminated. But if one has a starting problem in reading an entirely unfamiliar subject, he may join the coaching center for that static subject.
Some persons may remember the things by just reading the topics of the subject a few times. But to many persons listening to some topics is sometimes helps them more in memorizing the things than just reading them. Here coaching definitely helps. As the coaching centers only teaches superficially, this advantage of coaching is some what neutralized. But I have to admit that the basic structure of the subject sticks in the mind.
Some subjects require proper understanding of the subject unlike some subjects which require lesser understanding and more memory power. Philosophy comes under former category, History comes under later category. Obviously in this case coaching actually helps. Literature subjects like Pali too require coaching which makes life easy.
In my opinion, if there is someone who can guide you well, tell you what to read and where to read them from, clarify your doubts, then there is absolutely no need of any coaching for any subject. I will elaborate on this now.
Even in coaching centers, many times they tell the students to read from their notes and not from any textbooks. It is suicidal to follow this as their notes are ill-organised and written badly in most of the cases, not comprehensive in all the cases. Reading only their notes wont help you in answering most of the questions which are asked now a days. Reading from textbooks is must. Now, there may many textbooks for a subject, and not every thing is given at one place in a text book. Also, not everything given in the textbooks is useful. If there is someone to guide and tell you what to read and where to read from, your time wont be wasted. Coaching centers definitely don't do this.
If there is a quality peer group, your work is simplified, as through discussion your understanding improves. Shelf-life of the subject, in the mind improves. Coaching center's need will be reduced.
So I would say, analyse the subject and your personality from the above mentioned angles and assess the need of coaching yourself.
IAS Coaching Centers
Is it necessary to join any coaching center? If it is, then which coaching center? These are the two questions which inevitably come to a beginners mind.
The 'necessity' of joining any coaching center depends on the subject, the person's ability to work hard, ability to understand the things, his memory power, quality of his peer group, quality of the guidance he can get etc.
I call a subject static if the content of the subject isn't dependent on the current events. I call it dynamic if the content of the subject is dependent on the current events. In a dynamic subject, the questions asked in the exam 'may' be based on the current events. So are the answers to that questions. One needs to read the newspapers for the current events which are related to the subject and constantly update his knowledge about the subject. Needless to say, static subjects don't need all this.
General Studies, Public Administration, Political Science, Sociology, Economics etc come under the category of dynamic subjects.
Sciences and engineering subjects, History, literature subjects, Philosophy etc come under static subjects' category. Content is not at all dependent on the current events.
Geography, Psychology etc should ideally be put under the category of static subjects even though few things are current affairs related.
What is the use of this distinction?
With years of teaching same things again and again (as the content is static), teachers of static subjects are better than those who teach dynamic subjects. Even in dynamic subjects, there are some things which are static which are taught well by some teachers.
Problem arises when the content is dynamic. Most of the teachers are lazy to update their notes, relate the current affairs with the subject, read the government reports (as in the case of public administration). They just teach the static part of the subject and leave the dynamic part to the student himself. In the beginning, students may find that coaching is actually helping them but as the course progresses they realize that they have wasted their money. They feel that they could have easily learnt whatever they are taught by studying the textbooks themselves.
As the students realized this deficiency in them, now a days the teachers are trying hard to rectify it. But things more or less remain the same as of now. Because of few years of experience I have, with conviction I can say that students themselves can do far better job than the teachers. They just have to prepare notes of those things.
General Studies is the most dynamic of all the subjects. Most of the questions are based on the current events. Needless to say, coaching is least effective in it's case. Self-study is the best in this case.
Public Administration is equally dynamic. One can actually call the 2 papers of Public Administration as GS Paper 1 and GS paper 2. There are numerous coaching centers in Delhi which teach the subject, most of them are fraud.
So my concluding suggestion is don't join any coaching center for the dynamic subjects. That stands irrespective of the various personal abilities I mentioned above in 2nd para. I will deal with the static subjects in the next post.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Playing Against India
Before the series with India, the last time he made a test century was 2 years back on Pakistan. After that his form dipped. He played 16 tests since that match till the series with India. he played against New Zealand, Pakistan, India, England, Sri Lanka, South Africa, again New Zealand.
He made only 6 half centuries in those 16 tests. 3 against India in 4 innings. After those 3 fifties it appeared to many as though Ricky Ponting got back his form. But no, he had to wait for another India series. Meanwhile axe was dangling on his neck. If India series didnt happen he sure would have been shown the exit.
Before the India series, when Rahul Dravid was talking about Ponting's form, I had a hunch that Ponting would get his form back in this series. I had in my mind many instances of cricketers gaining their form by scoring against India, nameless cricketers becoming overnight stars by performing against India. Remember Henry Olongo, Douglas Marillier, Matthew Hayden, Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Graham Gooch, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jayawardena etc, who were only a few of them.
I was right on spot!! He scored 2 centuries including a double century, 3 half centuries in 6 innings!!
I bet, every out-of-form batsmen would long to play against India and fancy their chances.
He made only 6 half centuries in those 16 tests. 3 against India in 4 innings. After those 3 fifties it appeared to many as though Ricky Ponting got back his form. But no, he had to wait for another India series. Meanwhile axe was dangling on his neck. If India series didnt happen he sure would have been shown the exit.
Before the India series, when Rahul Dravid was talking about Ponting's form, I had a hunch that Ponting would get his form back in this series. I had in my mind many instances of cricketers gaining their form by scoring against India, nameless cricketers becoming overnight stars by performing against India. Remember Henry Olongo, Douglas Marillier, Matthew Hayden, Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Graham Gooch, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jayawardena etc, who were only a few of them.
I was right on spot!! He scored 2 centuries including a double century, 3 half centuries in 6 innings!!
I bet, every out-of-form batsmen would long to play against India and fancy their chances.
Dhoni Should Retire From Tests
In my opinion Dhoni is the most overrated captain ever. He was only lucky to get breaks even with his stupid decisions. When the team was performing well everyone used to unduly praise him. Now that he lost his midas touch and the team is losing many are criticizing him and showing him his right place.
Going by his form in the last year in tests, he doesn't deserve a place in the test team at all. Even before that, he always performed in fits and starts. He was lucky to captain a good team with all the batsmen in their prime. That made people not to talk about his failures as batsman.
When there were news reports which mentioned that he is planning to retire from tests (which he didnt directly say), I was happy. But going by the latest reports he has no such plans. My happiness is preempted.
Honestly speaking he should go and pass captaincy to Sehwag or Gambhir.
Time To Go (Cont)
Some argue that if all the three are pushed out of the team now itself at a time, India will become new West Indies losing even to Zimbabwe. They argue that Indian spectators may also lose interest in the sport if crowd pullers like these dont play, especially in the longer format. And this is especially bad when there is a perception that test format is fast losing popularity.
These are very much true. No one can attain the crowd pulling capacity of Sachin, and it takes time for the youngsters to reach the level of Dravid, Laxman. So only way out is Laxman should go first, Dravid second, Sachin third, all three with in one or one-and-half years.
If I am not wrong, India's next foreign tour will be in next year. That should be good news for old-timers if they are planning to retire on a high by scoring tons on flat tracks. That should be bad news for Indian cricket if they plan to stick around by scoring heavily on flat tracks.
Young guns should be given opportunities to play on these flat tracks and build confidence that they too can score. Meanwhile BCCI should prepare bowling pitches in at the least 2 regular test stadiums so that these perfect their technique. By the next overseas test tour, they should at the least be able to put up decent performances if not match winning ones. Even if we get defeated we can at least say that we are building our teams!!!
These are very much true. No one can attain the crowd pulling capacity of Sachin, and it takes time for the youngsters to reach the level of Dravid, Laxman. So only way out is Laxman should go first, Dravid second, Sachin third, all three with in one or one-and-half years.
If I am not wrong, India's next foreign tour will be in next year. That should be good news for old-timers if they are planning to retire on a high by scoring tons on flat tracks. That should be bad news for Indian cricket if they plan to stick around by scoring heavily on flat tracks.
Young guns should be given opportunities to play on these flat tracks and build confidence that they too can score. Meanwhile BCCI should prepare bowling pitches in at the least 2 regular test stadiums so that these perfect their technique. By the next overseas test tour, they should at the least be able to put up decent performances if not match winning ones. Even if we get defeated we can at least say that we are building our teams!!!
Time To Go
VVS Laxman is 37 years old. Rahul Dravid is in his 39, Sachin Tendulkar is going to 39 in a few days. Tendulkar has been playing for India for 22 years, Dravid and Laxman for 15 years. How many more years do they want to play when the youngsters are waiting for their chances is the question everyone is thinking of.
The purpose of continuing them in the team till now is they can act as backbone to the batting lineup in longer format of the game which requires good technique suitable for all pitches. Which in the opinion of many, is lacking in the possible young replacements like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Chateswar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, etc. Until these youngsters perfect their technique, these old-timers are to act as fillers.
But they are not doing justice to their assigned roles. Two back-to-back white-wash overseas series are the testimony to that. Tendulkar is better off among them but that is not enough for a man named Tendulkar!!!
Laxman is on the top of the stack of the players waiting to be pushed out of the team. He played an astounding innings of 96 in South Africa in 2010 but after that he isn't able to perform on pitches abroad. No doubt he scored 3 half centuries in West Indies in mid 2011, one or two on tough pitches in that, but that was a depleted West Indies bowling attack. He scored a century on the same West Indies team in India on a flat pitch which doesn't add to his achievements. His England tour and Australian tours are disasters.
Dravid has been fantastic in England series. He rediscovered his form and class when everybody wrote him down. His batting display was the only saving grace in the India's disaster tour of England. Such was his form that he was taken into ODI team against England after some years. He continued his form even on West Indies in India. But his Australia tour didn't go well. He was bowled 6 times in 8 innings!!! If this is any clue, his time has come.
Everyone is waiting for Sachin's 100th century since mid-2011. He was unlucky to miss his century a few times. He got out in 90s, 80s, 70s on England, Australia, West Indies. He got good starts in England in 2nd innings of 3 matches but wasn't able to capitalize on that. He wasn't helped by any on the other end of the pitch in building a partnership. He played well in Australia too in first 2 matches. He was aggressive and hitting the ball well. Among the three, he is the only one who can continue in the team on the basis of merit. But even he should retire after completing his 100th century for every fan's sake. I just hope he wont take another 1 or 2 years to get that. Hopefully he gets it in the current ODI series against Australia.
The purpose of continuing them in the team till now is they can act as backbone to the batting lineup in longer format of the game which requires good technique suitable for all pitches. Which in the opinion of many, is lacking in the possible young replacements like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Chateswar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, etc. Until these youngsters perfect their technique, these old-timers are to act as fillers.
But they are not doing justice to their assigned roles. Two back-to-back white-wash overseas series are the testimony to that. Tendulkar is better off among them but that is not enough for a man named Tendulkar!!!
Laxman is on the top of the stack of the players waiting to be pushed out of the team. He played an astounding innings of 96 in South Africa in 2010 but after that he isn't able to perform on pitches abroad. No doubt he scored 3 half centuries in West Indies in mid 2011, one or two on tough pitches in that, but that was a depleted West Indies bowling attack. He scored a century on the same West Indies team in India on a flat pitch which doesn't add to his achievements. His England tour and Australian tours are disasters.
Dravid has been fantastic in England series. He rediscovered his form and class when everybody wrote him down. His batting display was the only saving grace in the India's disaster tour of England. Such was his form that he was taken into ODI team against England after some years. He continued his form even on West Indies in India. But his Australia tour didn't go well. He was bowled 6 times in 8 innings!!! If this is any clue, his time has come.
Everyone is waiting for Sachin's 100th century since mid-2011. He was unlucky to miss his century a few times. He got out in 90s, 80s, 70s on England, Australia, West Indies. He got good starts in England in 2nd innings of 3 matches but wasn't able to capitalize on that. He wasn't helped by any on the other end of the pitch in building a partnership. He played well in Australia too in first 2 matches. He was aggressive and hitting the ball well. Among the three, he is the only one who can continue in the team on the basis of merit. But even he should retire after completing his 100th century for every fan's sake. I just hope he wont take another 1 or 2 years to get that. Hopefully he gets it in the current ODI series against Australia.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tadipatri Temples (cont)
Chintala Venkata Ramana temple is located near Bugga temple, nearly quarter kilometer away.
This temple is also built by Gandikota Nayaks just like Bugga temple. But I dont know who exactly built them. There are some inscriptions but I couldnt read them. :-)
The temple and gopurams are rebuilt just like Bugga temple. And just like the rebuilt parts in the Bugga temple, these also look awkward (but to a lesser extent) over the beautiful lower structures of the temple which are still remaining.
The sculpture is as exquisite as the Bugga temple. There is not a square-inch of area remaining empty. Ramayana tale is carved over the walls.
But what caught my attention was the rock chariot which reminded me the famous rock chariot in Hampi. This one is not that beautiful but very nice.
I was thoroughly disappointed because of the lack of services of guides to guide us at both these temples. May be that is because these temples are living temples and not very famous outside my district. Archaeological department, tourism department should have at least placed description boards for our convenience but not even one such board is present at Chintala temple. Only two such boards are present at Bugga temple. Because of this I couldnt even know who built the Chintala temple.
Worst thing is we dont find much material on these temples even on the web. Concerned authorities should wake up atleast now and start publicizing the temples by publishing online material in their websites. Guide services needs to be provided to all the visitors. Conservation efforts should be taken up to preserve this heritage which we should feel so proud of.
On the whole, Tadipatri temples are wonderful, I had a pleasant experience.
(I will write more on the architecture of these temples when time permits)
(I will write more on the architecture of these temples when time permits)
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