Mein Amir Khan banana chahta hun

Each one of us has grown up watching the success of Sachin Tendulkar, Amir Khan, Dhoni and now Virat Kohli. Their standard of excellence and the artistic level of their competence leaves everyone awestruck. But rarely anyone gives a real thought to what is it like becoming Amir Khan or Virat Kohli? What sort of discipline and attitudinal strength does it call for?

We study for the exams or work on our respective jobs. But in the process, we remain connected with the world. Every now and then, we look at our WhatsApp or facebook to see if anyone has sent some message. Our attention is divided among so many things that oftentimes we are not able to do the justice with the task. On the other hand, just imagine Virat Kohli checking his WhatsApp or Facebook during his practice sessions. I am sure he would never do that. He won't be allowed to do so and even if he is allowed to do so, he must be motivated enough to stay away from such distractions. That's the difference between a common man and a god.

Second such difference is seen in their indifference to the criticism. Big players who are a cynosure of media cameramen know it well that they can be de-floored any day. Therefore, they become too agnostic to such attention and enjoy this media attention without being too sentimental about it. This indifference level reaches only after you invest so much time and effort in your job that reward of becoming a national star looks like a peanut in front of your effort. For people like Amir Khan, I think they have developed the highest level of conviction in what they do. As a result, praise, criticism, success and failure becomes irrelevant. Doing the job in an excellent manner remains their only concern.

Third such difference is seen in the form of the desire to push yourself and specialize. They do not chase multiple rabbits and completely focus on one task. Most of us end up doing n number of things simultaneously and eventually fall in the mediocrity bracket. For these champions of their field, their hobby is same as their job. In a way, they are a specialist in their field who may not be even knowing ABCD of other fields. Becoming Virat Kohli or Amir is not impossible. It may be little difficult but one can always become like them.

In the software domain, what Amir does is can be compared with a role of product manager. Firstly, one should read and gets hands-on information on a range of products. Once we have that, we need to invest ourselves completely in a product. We need to work very very hard on building the right team. The team may take months and years to form but let it be. Just like Amir screens nearly 5000 girls for a role in her movie, similarly, a product manager also needs to invest in the team formation. The product manager needs to completely immerse himself in the product, thinking about every possible use-case and every single click scenario. This and only this submission to deeper details and product features will yield us the desirable product.

Politics compulsion of demonetization

The deadline of 50 days is fast approaching. The government and opposition are busy in making claims and counter claims on the success and failure of the scheme of demonetization. PM Modi is still aggressive about the program of change in the country. He is adamant on the future course of action which involves Benami transactions and land registrations. Whether he would be able to do this successfully is something to ponder upon.

Firstly, I must admit that despite being a limited liberal and anti-rightist, I admire PM Modi fo taking such a bold step. We go to shopping and even while buying a pair of undies, we vacillate and dilly dally. But he took such a hard decision for the entire nation. This is an example of courage and leadership skills. It requires an immense level of self-confidence and mental resilience to bear loads of criticism and ridicule which might come your way. Hats off and ashtanga pranam to such conviction. With this move, Modi has become a larger than life figure.

Some people have compared this to Indira Gandhi's emergency era. To an extent these analyst are right. Those who have read the literature of that era and those who have lived in that era can tell you that Emergency sustained itself for two years because largely people accepted it. People loved the discipline. People loved the strict enforcement of law and order. It was only later that people realized the kind of damage it had done to our democratic political system.

The same is the case now. People are accepting demonetization as it is wrapped in the cover of the fight against black money, corruption, and nationalism. It calls for sacrifice in the national interest. Masses are feeling involved in a social economic project of this grand scale and therefore dutifully standing in the queues before ATM. But people has a limit of patience. They would not hesitate from retaliating in the situation does not become normal in time to come. Their best possible response would come through election ballot. When the collective beep of Indian masses will sounds the bugle of defeat for BJP.

The project of demonetization has become a sort of bone in the neck of BJP's fight against corruption. Now a situation has come where the only option is to swallow the whole bone with a cry of pain. Rolling back or ducking away is not an option for BJP. Somewhere at this point, it seems as if demonetization is becoming a political failure as BJP is running short of options. It may become an economic success in time to come due to it's thrust on the cashless economy and increased tax revenues but that will take time.

The agenda of Benami transaction would be very difficult to implement. We do not have enough tax officers who can actually go through the records and do all the tax analysis. Even the loophole of turning black to white money past-demonetization has not fallen on the net of tax officer. It is like, in the pursuit of getting milk of milk and water of water, the government is trying to catch the thief's underwear rather than the actual thief. The lakhs of crores of money was turned from black to white but the government is only able to capture some kg of gold or some chunk of new currencies in its raid. It requires a large amount of workforce to actually scrutinize all the accounts and catch the black money.

Even for Benami transaction act, I am keeping my fingers crossed given the state of affair in India. People who are the biggest accumulator of wealth the bureaucrats, the politicians, the taxmen, and the policemen are the one who has to implement this. The only victim of this whole scheme would be the middle-class businessmen. One who took risks and worked hard to earn all this. Obviously, he did engage in a little bit of corruption but that was the norm of the day. It was about his survival. It was not his wish or greed.

A moot question to ask is then what is the alternative? Frankly, I do not have any direct answer. The big mistake has already been made when demonetization was launched without proper preparation or supporting reforms. Now people are only a moot spectator. It's like a situation of the year 1942. The country is in the God's hand. I hope political class act with prudence and does not try to antagonize the situation further but that would be so anti of their own existence.

Changing face of Indian Cinema

I am not a bug movie buff. My worldview in the field of Cinema is limited but I have been observing the changes in the cinema in last few years. The recent release of Dangal prompted me to write down some of those thoughts and observations.

Let me begin by paying my tribute to Amir Khan. He is a true idol. Since the days of Andaz Apna Apna and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, I have followed his movies and acting. The only bad movie which I can recall is Mela. Otherwise, be it Sarfarosh or Ghajni, or Mangal Pandey, I have liked his performances. But these are not the movies which have made him an idol of the so many young hearts. His life changing movies like Lagaan, Three idiot and now Dangal are the one which makes him and out and out superstar leaving far behind other khans and also the Kumars and the Kapoors and other who's who of Bollywood. He is like Tom Hanks of Bollywood.

His movies are not just loved for his acting and screenplay. Rather they are admired for carrying a strong social message. For example, through Dangal, he has sent a very special and strong message of women empowerment in the land of Jats which famous for foeticide and gender discrimination. It displayed the power of conviction and action. I salute Mahavir Phogat for showing the kind of courage for which Jats are known. As for Amir khan, he deserves a separate blog describing everyone's desire of "Mein bhi Amir Khan banana chahta hun".

Now coming to the larger topic of changing face of Indian Cinema, one can see it along four dimensions. One is the kind of songs. Second is the lasting impression of movies. Third is the use of technology and grandness scale and the fourth is the parallel evolution of substantive cinema.

When I hear the songs of the current era, they fit on my tongue very quickly. The sound lingers for almost day or two. Some like Aashiqui 2 songs may go on for the entire week. But eventually, as soon as a new movie comes, the previous one fade away. The songs percolate in thoughts for not because of their meaning but because of the soundtrack. The loud beat, the Drum, and heavy guitar combination fill the ears but it falls short of filling the heart. This is in contrast to the old songs which used to be very deep, meaningful and emotional. Nowadays the culture of Item girl dance and DJ has taken away the soul of songs and only the Hungama has left.

The other domain is the lasting impression of movies. Nowadays, barring few Amir Khan movies or theme based cinema, movies have become a fast moving consumer good. The first three days decides whether a movie will continue beyond 10 days or not. Earlier movies like DDLG and Hum Aapke Hai Kaun used to last in the cinema hall for almost an entire year or two. DDLG even made the record of ten years on the same screen. Even the previous era movies like Sholay and Deewar were considered classics of Indian cinema. Now it seems that barring one or two in a year, the film industry is stopped producing classics. Every Friday is scheduled for a new movie release. The previous one goes out and a new one comes in. Another related point is the grandness of the revenues. The hundred crore club has become the new benchmark for a hit or flop film.

The third area is the use of technology. It is very heartening to see that Indian cine industry is fast catching up with the global trend of technological advances. The vigorous use of technology in Babubali was a watershed moment in Indian cinema. Earlier animation and effects were limited in their use. But the new-age action films and the 21st century cinema shows the changing trend. Even the budgets of the movies have gone beyond twenty-thirty crore. Sometimes if a film is a Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic or Karan Johar's family drama then even a single set may cost this much.

The fourth area is the rise of substantive less known YouTube-driven parallel cinema. It is an umbrella category for all kind of meaningful short films, documentaries, and low-budget acting based cinema. For example, the recent Marathi movie Sairat was one that belongs to this category. Similarly, short films like chutney or movie based on women empowerment or communal outrage send a strong message to the society. These short movies are not well marketed and use the platform of Youtube for their promotion. They are the bread and butter for lesser known actors who do cinema for the love of cinema itself and not for the fame and money. Possibly this was the kind of cinema which has given rise to Irfan Khan and Nawazzuddin Siddiqui.

I may not be able to quote many examples in this. The reason being my limited knowledge of the Indian Cinema but from a layman's perspective, I can speak about the changes which my confused segmented fragmented and divided generation is witnessing. One thing is still remaining that is my thoughts of "how to become Aamir Khan"?

The ultimate reality

Every day of our life begins with some ambitions, some desires, some goals and some disappointments. We run, run and run to fulfill those goals and desires. And then every day ends with certain unfinished tasks, some unfulfilled dreams and some sort of incompleteness. The cycle goes on and on and on. And finally, in a turn of events, we all reach the same final destination. We meet death. All the goals, desires, dreams, and disappointments become meaningless at that point. Everyone looks similar in that state. Be it a chief minister of the state or a maid working under her. Everyone become a loaf of mass. Everyone lies naked. All anger, frustration, hatred toward oneself or others or the society members become meaningless. I had this intense realization yesterday.

I was traveling back from Old Rajinder Nagar after taking my class. I got down at metro and took a cab for home. The cab arrived after few minutes wait. I got in the cab and the journey began. The google maps lady suggested a very lengthy route to the driver. I was little cautious so in a span of 5 minutes, I asked me three times about why is he taking this lengthier route? He was also clueless. But as always, everything happens for a reason. A motorcyclist was traveling in front of us with a child and a middle-aged lady. Suddenly a pit on the road came. The roads were dimly lighted. The pillion rider could not reduce his speed and bike had a jerk. The ladies do not sit tightly on the two wheeler. I have noticed that they do not take any support or do not hold the bike tightly. The lady fell down with a thud. The trajectory of fall was such that her upper part of the body happens to hit first and the whole flattened on the road without any movement. We were just behind them. I asked the cab driver to immediately stop the cab and got down to check if she was OK. She was just lying there, without any movement. I checked her. She was breathing but blood was oozing out of her nose. We immediately packed her in the cab and set off for the hospital.

Her male relative who was riding the bike was coming on the bike. The child came with me in the cab. I was asking the lady to speak something. But she wasn't. She was trying to breathe from her mouth but the whole body was motionless. The child was crying and I was surprised to see the instinctive reaction of the child. She was begging her mother "don't leave, don't leave". Maybe the child had witnessed some other deaths also and possibly she was behaving in a similar manner or may be her instinct were telling her that something serious has happened to her mother. I kept asking the daily to remain conscious and speak something but she was just lying in my lap. The tears were rolling out from her eyes onto her cheeks. She was not able to speak, neither able to move her legs or body parts. Suddenly her effortful breathing stopped while we were on the way to the hospital. But the child kept begging her to no go. For a while, I just thought that she is gone. But then suddenly she took a deep gasp of air. As if something infused life in her. Maybe she just went for a while and touched the death but only to return for her child. She started breathing again. We reached the hospital, took her to the emergency. The doctor received her immediately. I was told that she has slipped in the comma and she needs to be put on the ventilator of life support system. Doctor was little rude and straightforward in his conversation but possibly that is the nature of his job.

After a while, I left the hospital but the episode kept looming over my head. I was thinking about the fragility of the human body. The reality of death and futility of doing great things and suffering from anger, frustration, and pain in everyday life. Even the emotions of love, joy seemed nonsense for a moment. When I was in the cab, I was looking at the face of the lady. It made me think that life is too short to think of anything. Just live it. joyfully happily. Do whatever you feel. Do whatever you like. Do not regret anything. And just chill. You never know when you may also die.

What's up Saurabh Jain

My frequency of posting blogs has reduced but the content and topics of discussion have increased in a proportionate manner. My tummy is bulging out because of lack of exercise in last 6 months. So beginning the exercise schedule is the next thing on the card. The crunch of time, restlessness, and tendency to simultaneously engage in an unmanageable number of activities is as usual. I feel like an incorrigible obstinate kid. But that's how the things are and I am bearing with that.

A number of exciting things happened in the past few days. From meeting girls in family settings to taking an unplanned trip for RTI activism to fighting on the job, it is all a new landscape for me. It is exciting as well as boring. It is exciting in a sense that I am meeting people from different walks of life. It is a welcome change from the career-oriented approach. It is boring for the reason that I am discovering that this is it. This is the life about which people write books, sing paeans, and talk incessantly. All nonsense. Nowadays the feeling of loneliness has increased a little bit but given the workload, there is just no scope for these feelings. Youtube has come to my rescue in killing this loneliness but eventually I end up killing my precious time as well.

Anyway, I met a couple of interesting people on my trip to Lucknow for RTI purpose. One was Mr. Javed Usmani Chief Information Commissioner of U.P. His resolute style of working impressed me. He entered the office around 11:30AM and by 1:15PM he finished all his work. Seeing him in action was impressive. He made quick decisions and spoke fluent complicated judicial jargon in Hindi. Another person I met was Mr. Anand Dixit from Sitapur. He is RTI activist who came to my rescue. He helped me in drafting application and advised me on how to proceed in my case so that Mr. Usmani agrees to accept my document despite procedural mistakes on my part. The third person was an interesting stranger beautiful girl. I was moneyless and ticketless after finishing my work at Information commission office. Somehow, I reached the railway station by using public transport. All the trains were running late. Some were canceled. So undecidedly, I headed to a nearby Bus stand. Even buses were running at full capacity. Thankfully I was not alone. I spotted six-seven people in the similar situation and initiated a random conversation about how to reach Delhi. Suddenly the idea of hiring a cab to Delhi sprang into my mind. Others found it interesting and agreed. We went to nearby travel shop and bargained hard. Finally, the travel agent agreed for arranging a vehicle. But then few guys backed out and only three of us were left me, she and Gaurav. After a while, even Gaurav backed out. So it was only me and her. I called up my one of my most caring and dependable friend Kiran. True to her generous nature, She booked sleeper bus coach tickets for both of us. And the journey began.

The girl(nickname pari) was very unusual. She agreed to travel with me without even knowing me. She was bold, tall and beautiful but given the state of affair in U.P., I kept wondering about this strange thing. Anyway, we reached the bus spot. I requested the driver to allocate us different seats, the side one. The Driver did not relent. He gave us the sleeper birth in the same compartment on upper deck. I was quite reluctant. Never ever in my life, I had shared a bed with a girl. But she looked unfazed. Anyway, I was tired after daytime work. I took my space, changed my clothes and sat easy in the compartment. She joined a few minutes later. She was charging mobile on the lower deck.

She was tall, beautiful and bold. We started our conversation. My mobile was switched off as usual due to lack of charging. The lights in the compartment was not working so I was not in the position to read anything. Surprising, I felt very jobless. In the meantime, she got comfortable and stretched herself lying beside me. We started the conversation asking each other about our background and details. I was as usual little reticent in sharing my details. She belonged to a marketing team of real estate company. True to her job, she was outspoken and extravagant in her description but she spoke sensibly. I was enjoying discussions with her. Slowly, she slipped into sleep. For whole night, I kept looking at her. She woke up almost 100 times. She was feeling cold. She had no baggage with her. I opened my bag and gave my warm lower and warm shirt to her plus the head cap. She was feeling cold. But somehow I stopped myself from touching her and cuddling her. I do not know if I was right or wrong. There was no lust in my thoughts but there was curiosity, care, some attraction and futility of this whole scheme of things in my thoughts. We just kept talking to each other for the most part of the night. She was not afraid of sleeping beside me. Anyhow, I managed to pass the night easily with her.At the end of the trip, She gave me her phone number and card. I forgot to give mine. We bided goodbye to each other. Overall it was a memorable and exciting bus journey with a lot of bumps and swings lying beside a beautiful girl, looking at her face and talking to her about so many things of life as I had nothing else to do.

Her joyful and trustworthy nature reminded me of a quote from an old friend "good people always meet good people". I have no intention of approaching her. Though she asked me to call her up and my curiosity still remains but I do not see any purpose in doing so. Kind of adamant and incorrigible person I am.

Classes are going on as usual. Students are reluctant to join but this will pick up in near future. Most important is that I enjoy doing it so will continue with this. However, I need to ration my time more appropriately. I have become very undisciplined in past few months. Will work on this. There are many more observation about life and things. But will write some other time in detail. Till then good bye.

Necessary preparation before demonetization?

The whole country is standing at an inflection point of development. One path leads to the corruption free promising India while other may trigger a nightmarish experience of national collapse. A glimpse of the initial chaos can be seen outside banks and ATMs but the real pinch will be felt when the demonetization will lead to job loss and a decline in industrial production. Many expert analysts have predicted short-term threats to our social economic and political life. But very few people have commented on the timeliness of the decision. Was this the best time for this move in terms of preparedness? Could we have made some arrangements? Is secrecy not given a paramount importance which has led to this situation? Was this jerking off of whole nation from the black money hangover the only way to execute this plan? Is this the economics which drove the politics of the move or vice-versa?

In my opinion, following ten things could have been done before taking this initiative.
1. Hire at least 10000 IRS officer on contract basis to conduct the tax collection drive in the entire country. There are lakhs of UPSC aspirants who are qualified enough but falls on the other side of luck. The government could have absorbed them through the existing scheme of the examination on a 10-year contractual period.
2. Land records digitization should have been expedited and connected with the Adhar accounts. The technological prowess of overlaying techniques should have been used.
3. The mobile van model of ATM should have been tried and tested and popularized in the whole country.
4. The government could have waited few more years. The GST bill was on the anvil. This is expected to bring down taxation rates. This would have increased the taxation compliance for the large segment of population by itself.
5. The RBI should have increased the prevalence of lower denomination currency. At least the figure of 86% prevalence of rs. 500/1000 could have been brought down to 65% without getting attention in the public in a gradual manner over one to two years.
6. The report of Ratan P Watal commission on the spread of card payment was pending. The government could have waited and implemented its implementation first before shaking the whole nation.
7. The original scheme of Jan Dhan account should have been fully implemented. By this the country would have been prepared to switch to banking system. Today those accounts are conveniently used by rich people for conversion of black money to white money.
8. At least all the government offices, services and amenities should have started accepting the card payment and online payments. This would have reduced the corruption to large extent.
9. Jewellers, real estate people, mining barons and politicians account could have been scrutinized and audited by the additional force of 10000 in a detailed manner.
10. Political parties funding, NGO funding and religious organizations funding could have been brought under RTI rule.

Overall, I feel the step was premature. It was taken in haste, without proper political and economic accounting. Modi is a seasoned player of politics so it is hard to believe that how could he make such mistake or take such a polarizing and risky decision. Black money is substituted by the dark thoughts about the future of the country.

Rules of Negotiation

1. Always plan your conversations.
2. Know your options.
3. Do not hurry in responding.
4. Never cross etiquettes.
5. Everything is a perspective.
6. Do not take it personally.
7. It's fun.
8. Always have a plan B and know when to trigger it.
9. No regrets.
10. Do not accept others excuses.
11. Capitalize on others mistake.
12. Don't vie to gain sympathy.
13. Be calm and be forceful in your ways.
14. Never raise voice.
15. Always keep smiling.

Emotional Intelligence

Last time when I wrote the review of Emotional Intelligence book, I missed one very important point. The point is "Emotional intelligence is unlike intelligence quotient". Your IQ more or less remain stable. But Emotional Intelligence varies on the seasonal basis. Whenever a new experience occurs, some rejig takes place in your emotional corner. Neurons move up and down in the limbic system. Some people find the new equilibrium very soon and come back to their normal state while others take some time to understand the new incident and to tackle its emotional repercussions.

Why does this happen? It happens because every day when we begin, we carry an emotional baggage of the previous day. The bags get heavy and heavier as the time passes and eventually it causes huge disequilibrium in your emotional state of mind. Eventually, one fine day, a naturally calm person turns violent or vice versa. There is nothing called right or wrong emotion. But awareness of self and other emotions and ability to manipulate self and others emotion is the key to higher emotional intelligence. So let say you get angry one day. This does not mean you are not emotionally mature or intelligence. The question is "whether you were aware of being angry? Were you able to control your anger? Was the anger intentional to get what you want from the other person?"

For me, last one month was turbulent. My focus was divided. My attention was missing. There was self-doubt about my own priorities and my ways of getting what I want? Even today I am not sure if this is the way to go about it. But then comes the wisdom. Play everything as if it is a game. Do not fear to loose anything. Do not bow down. Negotiate hard. Take it as an experience. Do not show your soft side. Do not tell others about your weakness. Do not let your priority become your weakness. And most important learn to not let your work spill into your studies.

During IAS preparation, the best way was to ignore ignore ignore and let go let go let go. So now if you are not letting it go, make sure that you don't let this interfere with your studies. That would be the best emotionally intelligent behavior.

Principles of politics

Never fear to experiment.
Be ready to backtrack.
Know your strength.
Hide your weakness.
Wait for the moment.
Challenge the powerful.
Discover escape routes.
Network is the key to win.
Identify the polarizing issues.
Communication is your skill.
Know the weakness of your opponent.
Keep opponent confused.
It is a risky game.
Always fight to win.
Never loose hope.
Opponents make mistakes.

Girish Nikam

"Hello and welcome to the Big Picture". These lines reverberate in my mind whenever I think of Girish Nikam. The guy has left an indelible imprint on my psyche and psyche of many others. His shows were like the staple diet for aspirants of Civil Services Examination. I always dreamt of giving a civil service interview with Nikam as one of the interviewers. What an experience that would have been? However, death is the ultimate reality of life. Howsoever high any one becomes in the life but death will ultimate dust all of us.

Nikam did not just deliver the content. He taught us a way of thinking in multi-dimensional and multi-perspective manner through his program. My respect for him increases multifold when I juxtapose him with Rajat Sharma, Rahul Kanwar and Arnab Goswami. The latter set of journalist sold their journalistic ethics to sensationalism, partisan politics and money power. Among those soulless spirits, Girish was a vanguard of ethical ans sensible journalism. May his soul rest in peace. Your lines will keep reverberating in my mind for time to come.

Ingredients of a good job and a good manager

So I am having all new range of experience nowadays. It is disappointing to see an organization killing its own fortune. Anyway, It made me think about what should be the ingredient of a good job and a good manager? In government jobs, the ability to influence system, social status, and job conditions are the most important parameters to judge the attractiveness of the job. Sometimes the media focus, international exposure, and some fringe benefits are also added. However, when it comes to a corporate job, the scene changes entirely. In the government job, one has the certainty on the job. For example, In case you are fired, your file must move to the table of President of India. The snail pace at which our rails and buses move, this takes two to three lifetime of a person in order to become reality. However, In the corporate world, such things are guided by the whims and fancy of your manager. So one should be very careful in choosing a job and choosing a manager. And don't be surprised if I say that "My Baap" culture is not just limited to the centralised governance paradigm. Unfortunately, in the private organisations where work culture is not so strong, "my baap" culture not only exists but it thrives.

Anyway, coming directly to the topic: I think the three most important ingredient of any corporate job is "Learning", "Network", and "Salary". Learning refers to the opportunity to expand your horizon of knowledge, working on new ideas and cracking some or other challenge in your day to day task. This learning happens not all by yourself. It is very important to have right kind of people around. People who are more competent than you and people who are differently competent than you. People who are ready to share their knowledge and people who are not insecure. Unless you have all these things in place, you may be losing something. As a computer science guy, the principle is simple. At least one new technology, one new project and one new team should be added to your professional profile.

Second is Network. It is of extreme important. Especially in the scenario when you face a manager who shows bias in his behaviour and who is insecure about his own standing in the organisation. You never may when you may be fired or deputed to some shitty work. What to do in such situation? I remember, somebody gave me a very good advice in the early phase of my career. "In a corporate job, make sure you maintain a contingency fund. Have a separate bank account and save your six months operational expenses into it. This will be used when you get fired or when you are in the process of switching the job." So in a situation of having a critical situation in one job, the first thing to do is remember your contingency bank account. Second and more important is to explore your network. In a country like India, it is not your skill but it is your network which gets you the desired job. In USA, It is your network + skill which lands you in the dream job. And how do you make a network? Primary network comes from your alma mater. But a much larger network is formed in the job settings. It is not about the company. It is always about the people who you work with. Any big task is always a team work. One man can not play an orchestra. Therefore, networking, meeting people, working with good people is not only necessary but an essential part of any job. You peer group ignites and sets your ambition bar. They influence your dream as you do theirs. Therefore it is necessary to work in a company where you can expand your network and leverage it to move higher up in an organizational ladder.

Third is salary. It is very important to have a right pay package which matches your skill set. Because the day you sense the mismatch in the salary-skillset tuple, you will not be able to work in a calm manner. If your salary is higher than your skillset then you will feel insecure and vulnerable. If salary is lower than skillset then you feel exploited. Therefore, salary must match your skillset. And this is where the manager also comes into the picture. A good manager must ensure that people get what they deserve. Or else, sooner or later things are going to burst. And when they burst in such an unceremonious manner then it is neither good for an organization nor good for the personal relationships.

A good management is all about connecting things. Skill with the right project, skill with the right salary and people with the right people. The moment they fail in doing so, they sow the seed of future troubles.

Anyway, will write later. There is lot of observation and lot more to write.

Psychology tidbits

I was reading "Times of India" and saw the news that a 22-year-old woman instigated the arson attack on 42 buses of a Tamil Nadu-based operator in Bengaluru. More importantly, She was a daily wager and had joined the protest for rupee 100 and one plate Biryani.

Well, firstly hats off to her performance. She really paid off for her wages. Secondly, salute to her competence on the job. She was hired for rioting and she did it pretty well. However jokes apart, This prompted me to think about the psychological underpinning of the issue. What prompted her to instigate the violence? What ignited her leadership skills in the time of crisis? What would have unfolded at the site of the incident which propelled her at the center of things? I am sure, she was not much bothered about Cauvery sharing issue. Given her daily wager status and paid rioting, I am sure she would not have even understood the issue properly. So what was it?

Psychology often answers such question with the explanation of Group Behaviour, social influence and cult behaviour in our society. In crunch situations, people are pushed in fight or flight response. Encouraged by sloganeering and popular support around them, some people rise to the occasion and assume the de facto leadership of headless, directionless mob. The attention of camera, uncontrollable adrenaline rush in the veins further prompts them to throw leadership tantrums. Sometimes, they turn violent and facilitate carnage and arson.

However, what about the Mob? Why do they succumb to such an impromptu leadership? Mostly it has to do with our conforming behaviour. Have you ever observed the process of traffic jams or stampede in crowded places? It happens suddenly because people have no directions to follow and everyone wants to get out of that situation as soon as possible thus they start running helter-skelter and in the process creates a deadlock from which no one could come out without intermediation. But if there is one person who directs them to behave in a certain manner then everything gets resolved in a smooth manner. From my understanding, oftentimes Mob lacks direction and in such situation if someone orders them to do certain thing then they excitedly do so. They exhibit conformity behaviour either due to group obligation or obedience to authority. Suddenly it turns into "We vs. They" or ingroup vs. outgroup behaviour. The Mob starts seeing police and other authority groups as their adversaries and end up playing their role as rioters. We also see the "Eichmaan phenomenon" here where people often pass the buck of responsibility and consequences to their bosses and absolve themselves of all kind of guilt behaviour.

Possibly these factors combine together lead to rioting and mob violence. In such situation, the best strategy for authorities to calm the mob down is to give them clear directions which are not antagonistic to what their leadership is saying. Instead, the directions should be friendly and should show them a way out of the situation. Further, authorities should put people in the mob who can take the leadership role and direct the mob from inside.

Anyway, bidding adieu for now.

Book Review: The Namo Story by Kingshuk Nag

The book by journalist Kingshuk Nag provides a very objective account of Modi's personality and evolution from a Chaiwallah to Prime minister of world's largest democracy. He had observed Modi from close quarters thus the Book is supported by personal references and anecdotes. However, it is not "The biography" of Modi. It leaves a lot more to be desired. Nag is very frugal in his description and biopsy of Modi's persona. It is more like a book on the evolution of RSS and BJP. Most of the details and accounts he has mentioned are openly available on the internet.

The book covers Modi in a sparse fashion. It gives very little detail of his childhood struggle. Further, it does not cover the Modi 4.0 i.e. Modi's transformation after becoming PM. However, his description of certain incidents helps the reader in capturing the personality of Modi.

Modi, as I understood from this book and from observation of his actions and speeches is a master player of "Chankya Niti". A hardcore Nationalist and hindutva ideologue who understands the political utility of the concept has evolved gradually in his thoughts and actions. He is very practical in his approach. He possesses focus, intent, and grand ambitions of making it big in his life. In some way, I find him as a "karma yogi" who plays the game by rules of Chanakya-Niti. He is hard working and extremely political person. As his party men describe him, Modi is constantly thinking about possible moves of his friends and opponents and thus always outsmart them by making right moves at the right time.

In the process, He does not refrain from hitting under the belt and using cheap tactics. For example, He called Shashi Tharoor's wife as 50 crore's wife. Similarly, he called the author and asked him if he is facing any threat because he is writing so much negative about Modi. Indirectly he was threatening him. His statement of "every action has some reaction" during Godhra also marks the political dark side of his personality.

His talks and actions are moderated by the political expediency of the situation. Modi's supporter justifies his action on the ground of pragmatism and shrewd politics.However, it also runs the risk of turning the country's institutions into monolithic undemocratic structures which run the risk of sudden collapse. But given the politically hostile neighborhood and grand developmental challenges which we face, maybe this is what India needs today. Moreover, Modi as RSS Pracharak was way different than Modi as Gujrat CM. Same looks like a case in Modi as PM. He has infused new energy, efficiency, and leadership in the administration. Time will tell when he will have to make hard choices which may put his vote bank in peril. Till then, I consider him as a good prime minister but probably not the best human being or the best prime minister.

Book review: 50 Psychology Classics by Tom Butler- Bowdon

It is one of the very interesting reads. The book covers 4 to 6 page summary of 50 best psychology's classic books. It covered almost all the top 50 thinkers and researchers in Psychology. Thus the book gives a bird-eye view of Psychology's insightful findings. It informs about the richness of the subject which covers everything including Brain, Happiness, Personality behaviour, Intelligence, Social behaviour, Pathologies, Sexual instinct and male-female differences.

However, It is more suited for a person who has some background in psychology. No summary can do justice with the classic works of all time. At times, the paucity of words robs the subject of its beauty. The text seems abstract and devoid of example and interesting observation. Therefore a prior knowledge of subject helps in feeling the gaps and allows us to interlink various concepts.

Despite the complexity of the task, Tom Butler has tried his best to compile interesting quotes, observations, one liner and provided a background of subjects under discussion. Here, I am compiling some of the interesting one-liners and amazing facts from the book.

De becker writes in "Gift of Fear", "Never let someone talk you out of refusal because then they know they are incharge". He adds that trust your intuition, rather than technology, to protect you from violence. He is an expert in threat assessment and prediction and management of violence. He describes the tendency of violent people like "forced teaming" and "loan sharking" in the book.

Alfred Adler writes in "Understanding Human Nature" that "What we think we lack determines what we will become in life". So true is this quote in our Indian life. Every parent who could not become doctor or IAS wants their progenies to take up the challenge and scale the wall of competition to become doctor or IAS. He gave the concept of "Inferiority Complex". Napolean, a small man making a big impact on the world was a classic case of inferiority complex.

Eric Berne in "Games people play" shows the dark view of human nature in his own witty humorous style. He identifies various situations in our daily lives and put them in a frame of the game which helps us in protecting our ego states. For example, our statements like spouse game "if it weren't for you....." or marital game "Look how hard I've tried... " and so on. Using these phrases, we avoid responsibilities and deflect anxieties.

Robert Bolton in "People Skills" talks about listening and assertiveness skills. He says nearly 85% of the communication is nonverbal in nature and we miss or ignore 75% of the oral communication. He describes listening as a psychological interaction instead of physical process.

De Bono in "Lateral Thinking" describe the techniques of creative thinkers. For example generating alternatives, brainstorming, finding the dominant idea, challenging assumptions, quotas, suspended judgement etc.


Similarly, there are many other interesting observation in each summary. I'll write about each book in coming days. Till then good bye.

Poem 8

This one I wrote on democracy..

I am democracy
I empower common man,
not just hitler or a clan,
due to me,
today ladies also wear pant.

Rule by people for the people,
I bring inclusive development,
due to me,
a beggar enjoys the rights of rich man.

I hear the voices,
be it an elite or downtrodden man,
due to me,
A chaiwallah can also become PM.

I love discussion I love dialogue,
voice of masses is my ken,
due to me,
freedom of masses is maintained.

But I am not free,
I might be lost or banned
conscious votes, full participation
keep the administration and rulers sane.

Poem 7

This one I wrote on one of those exhausting days when I did not feel like studying and did not find any thing exciting... This one is my favorite...

Life has become sore
no reason to live, no reason to die
nothing excites

Void in head, numbing in the heart
shattered dream, faithless dart
giving up midway, torn apart
trying to getup, falling short
nothing excites

Others were good or I was bad
spinning in head, makes me mad
door is closed or ajar
need to push and work hard
Belief, conviction, material world
ethereal dreams, hellish hurt
melting eyes, boiling head
feeling happy, feeling sad
nothing excites

Earn money or earn fame
each day is not same
is he there or a myth
wish he was a locksmith
open the door flat apart
joy could flow in my heart
you can jump and you can fly
swim in the water and fly in sky
in the end
nothing excites

It's a talisman in the mind
unlock yourself, don't be blind
money, name, fame go like flash
he is watching every clash
inside you, he resides
he is supreme, enemy cries
faith, conviction drive the might
good to others, purpose of life
be it closed or ajar
he is there, you fly by
It's the beginning of your dream
head determined, heart screams
one more try, one more try
this excites, this excites

Poem 3

Someone advised me to "eat something nice" so I wrote this one.

Eat something nice
May be a fulka or some rice
If it does not suffice
gulp royal stag with ice
Why do we eat?
Don't you hear the bleat
Homeless kids on the roadside
craving and begging for a bite
life is melodrama
everyone cries
no one is happy
everyone has a plight
A lovely dream fructify
When I succeed in what I try
Even then I cry
because now I want to fly
One dream comes and one dream goes
I feel like a greedy whore
Drink some wine and watch some porn
Sex eat sleep like a crow
This has become our life
Not able to feel societal demise
Get up and act, bring some change
Then only you would feel nice

How does it feel like failing in prelims?

Well for past 4 attempts I never worried about prelims. Selection in prelims was a taken. The amount of effort that I put in, I was always confident that "if not me then who?". But this time the tables were turned. I missed a basic principle. UPSC is like monsoon. It is unpredictable and uncertain and the only hedge against unpredictability and uncertainty is a conscious focused effort
on the target. As Mains had been my bottleneck point so my focus became mains and in the process I compromised on my effort on prelims. This coupled with my job and other factors proved fatal. And first time in last six years I failed in prelims.And hence comes this blog on how does it feel like failing in prelims?

Hmm As humans it is always difficult to describe self-emotions in objective manner. Our emotions tend to contaminate our perception of ourselves, of how we feel and how we act. Therefore, an objective description of inner feelings require a very sane and experienced mind. Thankfully, I have managed to keep my mind sane in the process.

A usual feeling when we fail in our aspirations is "why me?". A feeling of randomness, gross nature of life, disbelief, shock, numbness, sleeplessness, fatigue, tiredness generally shrouds our mind. The organic self is pushed in the state of convulsion. We look at the peak, over the horizon and speak to god "why me?". We enter into comparison mode and start blaming god or destiny or ourselves about what little the god has given to me.

Recently, I went on Kailash Mansarovar trek. An Indo-Tibetan border police force officer was accompanying me. The trek was difficult as we had to climb a significant height is short time frame and each day we were covering 15 to 20 kilometer on hills. Thus acclimatization was a challenge. Moreover, there were no roads. The path was mostly stony, hilly and at some places slippery and very narrow. Our liasoning officer gave us a very good advice. When in mountains, never look at the peaks you have to cover. Instead look at the peaks you have covered.

Life runs on the same principle. When you fail, never look at those who have succeeded. Instead the best remedy to get rid of "why me syndrome" is to think how fortunate we are that at least we have the opportunity to appear in the exam and follow our heart.

For me feeling is more of "How long? What next? What else?". Rather than the normal emotional outburst, it is more a feeling of void and emptiness. When we fail in Mains, we always have a sight of prelims hovering over our head. But when we fail in prelims, the next prelims is quite far and we suddenly loose all the motivation which we had for mains. So a routine busy schedule is broken and it feels very lonely.

The mind is filled with new thoughts and new questions. Some which are existential in nature are more difficult to tackle. For example, If not civil services then what is that one thing in life which you wish to pursue for rest of your life? Or What to do next? For how long this series of failure will continue? When will I see the light which is said to come at the end of tunnel? How long is the tunnel? For a workaholic like me, it is more a feeling of emptiness. It feels little tiring to continuously loose the face every year whereas there are others who seamlessly jump over the exam.

Well every crisis is an opportunity. Moreover, UPSC failure becomes easy to handle with a job in hand. You know that your career is not stagnant. I have made my plans for next few months. They look exciting. The opportunity is excellent. Everything is just in place to make it happen.

But there is one thing which is missing. And that is my motivation.

So in the end, how does it feel like failing in prelims: the synthesized one word answer is demotivated. Every other question is solved through self talk, thoughtful observation and surreal look of my surroundings. But what about this one? This lies within me. Not outside.

In situations like these, I wish I had someone who could have motivated me, pushed me, forced me to get back on track as quickly as possible.

The 10X factor between India and China

China's forex reserve is nearly 10 times of India.
China's share in world export is nearly 8 times of that of India
China's illiteracy is nearly 10 times less than India
China's IMR and MMR is nearly 10 times less than India
Chinese GDP is nearly 5 times of India.
Chinese per capita income is also near 5 times of India.

Need to go a long way to reach near Chinese level of development.

How To: Write a good essay

How to score good marks in Essay?
With the change in the civil services exam pattern, paper of essay has become a make or break deal. For the past few years, cut off in the mains exam is trending near 35% to 40%. In such a scenario, the essay paper has become a decisive factor in whether one would land in IAS hit zone or not. Thus a candidate can ignore essay paper at their own peril.

Earlier UPSC used to ask one topic but now it asks us to write on multiple topics. This has positive as well negative aspect. On the positive side, it will help in reducing uncertainty in the essay. One of my friends had scored 120 out of 200 in a year but slumped to 21 in the very next year. Similarly, another friend who score 46 out of 200 in year 2012 and score 140 out of 250 in year 2013. With two essays, hopefully this uncertainty in the scoring pattern will reduce. On the negative side, this will put more pressure on the students. I know many people who had not practiced enough to deal with multiple essays, ended up screwing both the essay. For some of them, essay writing became same as subject answer writing. Some ended up making wrong selection in the heat of things. Many of them could not write the conclusion part properly.

Thus morale of the story is that a candidate should understand that weight of essay paper is same as subject paper 1. Thus essay paper should not be meted with any step motherly treatment. Thought essay paper does not demand any dedicated preparation. The content for essay writing develops gradually from the regular newspaper reading and subject learning. But one has to practice the answer writing on a consistent basis. It requires a perfect mix of speed, expression, knowledge and creativity to score real good marks in essay paper.

I have background of engineering thus essay writing was something unnatural and alien to me. In fact, it was the essay paper which killed my chances in cracking the exam in the very first attempt. Over the years, I practiced and practiced and practiced hard. I prepared myself mentally and informational in such a manner that I could write essay on any topic in any situation. I will attach six essays which I had written over the years. I have picked one essay each from my first attempt and second attempt. Two essays each from third attempt and fourth attempt are selected for this purpose. This will help you in understanding the gradual improvement in my approach of essay writing. The book also discusses the reasons behind my low marks in year 1, average marks in years 2, less than average marks in year 3 and good marks in year 4. It will help in clearing many doubts which irk the candidates who pick the pen to write their first essay in the life time after they clear prelims.

Over the years, I have met number of students selected or preparing. All of them have some common set of questions. I will discuss the issues related to essay writing in a Q&A form. This will help in easy understanding and clear presentation of thoughts.

Q. What does general coaching walah says about the Essay?
A. Most of the coachings treat essay writing as a mechanical exercise. It fulfills their purpose of attracting engineering graduates who find it easier to write essay in a defined structured manner. Even I started on the same line. The only key to come out of this structured mechanical approach is to “read, read, and read with write, write and write”.
This is what most of the coachings has to offer: An essay is divided into three segments. Introduction, Body and Conclusion. The Introduction is generally 10% of the essay. It contains the thesis. The body elaborates the teaching. The conclusion is the summary of the essay containing a bird eye view of your body. It is also nearly 10% of total length of the essay.
In my experience, no coaching walah ever tells the student about what is thesis, how to write a thesis, how to make a beginning. Most of them are limited to the discussion of “what of essay exam rather than how”? Even if some teachers touch upon these aspects, the viewpoint is very theoretical and limited. In my view there are no good coaching available for essay. In fact essay is something which does not require coaching. The content is gathered by regular reading of the newspaper and current affairs. There are various techniques which help in developing good content despite our limited world view. The expression comes from reading and writing practice. The context arises from the topic and multi-dimensionality of our viewpoint.

Critical thinking to generate more points: Suppose you are happen to choose a topic like “Social Media: boon or bane” or let say a philosophical topic like “Be the change you want to be”. Most of us start energetically. We list down all the relevant point that we could generate on the issue but ten minutes into the topic and we realize that our knowledge base is exhausted. Immediately we start sweating out of nervousness. In a three hour examination where one has to write on the multiple topics, we end up wasting precious initial ten minutes. This has risk of becoming our break moment. How to deal with this scenario?

In such situation, a technique of critical thinking helps in generating more points.
Step 1: Uninhibited Listing of Topics Whenever you see any topic, list all the words which come to your mind by looking at the topics without thinking deeper about the topic.
For example the topic of “Social Media: boon or bane” let us list the possible things that come to mind:

Step 2: Cross connection to generate detailed thoughts
Take any word from generated word list. Let us say we pick a word “game”. We can develop
some thoughts on this. This will make one good paragraph of our essay.
“Games like Candy Crush or Farmville has become a source of entertainment for a large number of people.” Games lead to internet addiction. Games waste time.

Now take the word “Game” and club it with other words. Clubbing Game with Money can help in another point that “Making online games can help in generating money”. Game and Knowledge can lead to another point that “Quiz games help in improving knowledge base”.

For some cross couplings, there are no points that come to our mind. We can simply drop them.
For example, for Games and messages nothing is coming to my mind.
Repeat this exercise for all the word you had gathered in the list. You may realize that

Step 3: Grouping of words
Once you are done with step 2, you’ll see that you have large number of positive and negative points with you. So now is the time to discard irrelevant point, and group together the relevant points.

Step 4: Thematic categorization of thoughts to give more streamlined outlook to the topic
Now you can capture big themes. For example, Democracy has themes like Social capital, Democracy, Knowledge awareness, Terrorism, Games, Privacy issues etc. These can be clubbed under the supra heading of boon and bane. While themes of social capital, democracy, knowledge can be grouped under the heading of boon, the issues of terrorism, privacy and internet addiction can be clubbed under bane.

Step 5: Some visionary lines or thoughts on the topic
Think of the way the particular issue has affected our life. For example some simple yet insightful lines on social media could be:
“Social media has made World Wide Web from mere repository of raw knowledge to a platform of Information Exchange.”
“Face book has become the new staple diet of internet age generation.”

Step 6: Chart preparation
Prepare a mental map like this.

Q. Importance of quotes in the Essay?
Quotes are a powerful one-liner. They are sum total of some one’s life experience.
Candidates are often in dilemma whether to put quotes in the essay or not. The answer is simple.
As with the other things in the UPSC, here also balance and originality is the key. Putting quote is good provided it strengthen your argument.
A quote without elaboration is not considered good. It gives examiner a impression that person has just mugged the quote without understanding its real application.
Using too many quotes is also not appreciated as it takes the originality away from your essay.
The essay is your view on the issue. Thus, quotes should only come to support your argument.

Many of my friends have scored good marks without putting a single quote in their essay. Thus, another wise strategy could be to use the words of the quote without putting it as a quote. Put it as if it is your own idea and explain it in detail with numerous common life examples.


Q. How to make a good beginning of an essay?
Story: Hypothetical or Real
Quote
Case scenario development
Figures and facts
Importance of the issue
Historical evolution
Spatial evolution

The first impression is said to be the last impression. The examiner makes an initial judgment of person’s intellect, thought process, and knowledge base from the first few lines of the essay. Thus, many times I see that people write their whole introduction in rough so that not even a word goes wrong.
Many quasi-engineer (a term to describe engineering graduate with social sciences subject) end up wasting quite some time in finding a right opening to their essay. During my evolution from a poor essay writer to an average essay writer, I discovered general lines along which one can open the essay. Some of these threads are discussed below:

India's GDP

An interesting observation!
India can achieve the magic mark of double-digit growth rate with some simple effort. All it requires is a four-pronged strategy. Here you go:

First, A ten percent increase in digital penetration will boost our GDP by 1.4%.
Secondly, A five percent increase in FDI 2% increase in GDP. Possibly this is the reason why Modi Ji is always out of the country.
Thirdly, The passage of GST bill will add another 1.5 to 2% in the GDP. This will substantially reduce the tax parity and would help in attracting greater FDI by improving India's rank on "ease of doing business" index.
Fourth, The use of Direct benefit transfer policy for transferring subsidies directly to UID-linked Jan Dhan account will boost the economy by another 1.2%.

The sum total is 6.1%. Even if we normalize these figures then we can conservatively hope for five percent increase. This will push India beyond the magical figure of ten percent. See so simple.

And if we wish to breach the 15% mark then we should focus on Transport sector, most specifically road sector. This will add another 4% to GDP.

Art of speaking

Why do we speak so fast? I have noticed the tendency of speaking fast among many people. The biggest culprit is me myself. Trying to speak really fast, saying maximum possible things in minimum possible time. It makes me wonder about what part of my personality drives me to become so rash? Does it remain restricted to speaking or would it spill over to my other attitudes and behaviors? What kind of general impression does it convey impatience, or rashness or anxiety or dominance or restlessness or fear or need for approval? What should be done to curb such behavioral practices?

A little bit of introspection reveals that most often it is an attempt to win an argument. Or putting my viewpoint on the matter as quickly as possible in a bid to avoid any possible misinterpretation. Why do I want to avoid misinterpretation? It is because I care about my impression. And why so? It may be due to high need for approval and recognition.

I was reading on Quora about this. It is also related to the length of breath and inability of the person to control the air in the vocal cord. As the air fills the vocal cord and we find it difficult to release it slowly and gradually, We often end up speaking super fast.

Further, sometimes it is due to our reluctance to hold a viewpoint in our mind for some longer duration. Somewhere, We fear that we may forget to mention this later and this point may become obsolete in few minutes because topic might be changed. Therefore, We tend to stuff that one extra point in our limited conversation time which makes the entire sentence look cluttered and fast.

Another source of this type of speaking style emerges from the way we learn English. In the early days, there was a lot of fumbling, stammering, and interruption in the speech. Most of the time, it was due to lack of correct vocabulary and sometimes it was due to inability to form a correct sentence. Therefore, a general counter-strategy was to speak fast. This helps in keeping tongue's pace with the mind. We are able to suppress that Ummm sound. Over the years, it became a habit.

When it spills over to other behavior, it shows up in our eating, reading and almost every other walk of life. Ultimately, we are a integrated whole so habits of one domain have contagious effect on other domains as well. Most specifically it shows up in my writing where I ignore articles, correctness of grammar and spellings in order to write more and more in less and less time. Sometimes, it takes away the elaborative aspect of writing and make it look abstract and baseless.

But the real issue is how do I fix this? Swami Vivekanand once famously remarked that once you know the problem then you have solved it for 80%. Rest 20% is only implementation. For me, the fix is to observe myself very closely. Notice my breath and take longer breath whenever possible. Don't mind loosing a argument once in a while. and Keep maun. Try to understand that other person also have a need for approval. He also wants to prove his point so keep listening.

In this regard, I love Modi's style. Whenever a delegation goes to meet Modi, he puts a finger on his lips and do not speak untill the other group has finished their point. This way he ensures that when he speaks, no one interfere. Thus he use all the time to collate his thoughts and express them articulatively.

Anyway, Enough for the day. Will write the rest later.

How To: What should I do for hobby development?

Hobby on your DAF is the best fodder for the examiner to ask you some unstructured and unexpected questions. Moreover, in the pursuit of civil services, most often the pursuit of the hobby is sidelined. Therefore, this is one area where the candidates lack conviction and confidence.

A big question thus arise is what should be done for choosing a hobby and developing it. Over the years, I had following observations.

Firstly, candidates who even leave the hobby section empty and are able to justify this in the interview board, manage to score good marks. So putting hobby is not essential.

Secondly, The best way to answer a hobby question is to pursue it. It is not you who answer in the board. It is your confidence which speaks. So either you must be an artist who can lie to the board without being caught or better pursue it in reality. Now, the first choice is too risky so better go for the Second. And the best practice is to make it part of your weekly or monthly routine. So that, you do not have to engage vigorously just after mains to gather some insights into it.

Third, Devote your time immediately after Mains for hobby related activities. So for example, if you have filled book reading then better read few books about which you can speak. Keep in mind the kind of question which board may ask, in case you happen to appear for the Interview. If you have filled meditation then better meditate to practically experience it. and if travelling then better go on some tour.

Fourth, Do not give unnecessary importance to the hobby. And do not really pursue just for the sake of exam. Rather, give an intense thought to the question, "What are the activities which I really like to pursue?" I am sure you'll have an answer. Everybody has some or other activity which they like to pursue apart from studies or their routine things.
For those who are still not able to find a credible answer and who are not daring enough to leave the section empty Meditation, Net surfing, Solving puzzles, Debating, Watching movies are some safe hobbies. One can gather the titbits of these in a short time.

Fifth, Prepare the answer to the question "How would you use your hobby in the administration?"

Another noticeable thing is there is a difference between hobby and activity. Though one does not need to put too much energy on this subtle difference because for most of the candidates, it is one and the same thing. We use them interchangeably. However, Interviewer may raise a flag on this. So be prepared.

That's it. Nothing much on this. There are lots of other scattered things like find like-minded people who pursue a similar hobby, find questionnaire on the Internet, watch youtube infotainment videos on the subject, and read any one book on the subject for your own feel good thing. But a smart candidate can always manage without this superfluous effort.

How To: What are various sources which I should refer while preparing for General Studies?

This is such a subjective question. The content of civil services changes almost every year. New portals, audio, video resources are appearing each day so the relevance of this question itself is under question. Despite this, I had compiled a document which listed various sources for those who feel confused. The document was compiled after taking inputs from some 5 to 10 selected candidates.

I am not attaching the document here. Instead, I'll directly put it on the doc file which I should prepare for my book.

How To: Psyche of student – Illusion of Knowledge/Learning Outcome/Learning Strategy

Some random moorings of my life

Recently I had one absolutely gratifying experience. It added a lot to my confusion. The confusion of whether rejecting every non-scientific thing of our life in a common envelope of superstition is our naivety or highhandedness over our little success in the field of Science.

Another thing I witnessed is an abysmal state of affairs in the field of Education. A aam aadmi may shiver at the very thought of educating his child for the professional education course. For medical course, the donation is nearly 50 to 60 lakh. For engineering course, a donation is nearly 7 to 10 lakh. The Fee is separate from this. It makes me wonder about why a middle-class government employee won't involve in corrupt practices? It's a vicious cycle in which our society has got trapped. Very sad. The first step in breaking the corruption is to ensure enough amount of seats in quality colleges and end of the undercover parallel economy of donation. How it happens is another interesting story but will write about that some other time.

Nowadays, a lot of my time goes into counselling, mentoring, guiding my nephew, niece, younger brothers, and sisters. One or other secondary work engulfs my time. Somewhere the rudeness is missing. I want to devote my infinite time to their welfare but not at the expense of my own target. Sadly, I have stopped running and exercising also. But the hasn't got any better. I wish some course correction happen in next few days. Almost every weekend gets consumed somewhere or other.Somewhere the calm of past few months is missing somewhere. Maybe because of certain anxiety or some frustration.

Have lot more to write but the clock is always ticking. This blogging is also going to stop in coming few days. Somewhere I need to take extraordinary measures to put things back on track.

WatsApp, Phone, blog, running, exercise, reading... the real thing gets lost somewhere. But I won't let that happen. Come what may. Will write later.

How To: What are general tips on reading tactics/techniques?

Read Newspaper
Read magazine
Read textbook
read Internet resource

Read for prelims
Read for Mains
Read for Interview

Modi Ji ke joomle

Dumping a part of it here... Will put them properly when I prepare the first draft for the book.

Japan FDI in India: Red Tape to Red Carpet
3D: Democracy/ Demography/Demand
Ladakh: 3P's Parytan/Paryavaran/
India-Bhutan: B2B [Bharat to Bhutan]
Hindu female pantheon:
Education: Saraswati
Finance: Lakshmi
Security: Mahakali
Food security: Annapurna

India-China: Inch towards Miles (Millenium of exceptional synergy)
Governance: India- Country is forward but government is backward

Idea of gobar bank
Village Birth Day

Politics is democracy's second nature. They can't be separated.
Society-driven approach over government-driven approach

Deen Dayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate scheme
"Shram Yogi should become Rashtra yogi and hence Rashtra Nirmata"

There should be an atmosphere of corporate government responsibility on the lines of corporate social responsibility.

FDI (First develop India) is responsibility of citizen and opportunity for outsiders
On East Asia: Act east/Link west

Scam India to Skill India
4C's of Nepal: Cooperation/ Culture/ Connectivity/ Constitution

On Swachh Bharat: Waste to Wealth

Sukhasya moolam Dharma
Dharmasya moolam Artha
Arthasya moolam Rajyam

India-China: INCH towards MILES (Millenium of exceptional synergy)
FDI: First Develop India
P2G2: Pro-people Good Governance
Idea of G-all
3D: Democracy, Demography, Demand
5Ts: Talent, Tradition, Tourism, Trade and Technology
ABCD and RSVP: Adarsh, Bofors, Coal and Damaad" or son-in-law, as well as “Rahul, Sonia, Vadra and Priyanka
HIT: Highways, i-ways (for information technology) and trans-ways (for electricity transmission)
B2B: Bharat to Bhutan
Look East and Link West
Red tape to Red carpet
SMART:
S for strict but sensitive
M for modern and mobile
A for alert and accountable
R for reliable and responsive
T for techno-savvy and trained

USTTAD — Upgrading Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development
NMET — National Mineral Exploration Trust
AMRUT — Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation
HRIDAY — Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana
PaHaL — Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh
PRAGATI — Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation
NITI — National Institution for Transforming India
ROAD — Responsibility, Ownership, Accountability, Discipline
5Cs — Collect River Water, Connect rivers, Channelize water, Control local water, Community participation
4 Ps: People, Private, Public Partnership

3 AKs– “Admired in Pakistan”: AK-47, AK Antony, and “AK-49
3 Ss: Skill, Scale, Speed
Chaal,chehra,chintan,charitra & suchita, suraksha, swaraj, swadeshi
3P's: Prakash, Paryavaran, Paryatan
4C's: Cooperation, Connectivity, Culture, Constitution

A lot more is there in the hard notes. But do not worry. Always remember, don't let the best become enemy of good. And do it even if it is the ugliest thing. Why? Because you want to do it. No if, No but, sirf jat.

How To: finish new reports/12th Five year plan/IYB/Survey/Budget

The best way to finish these reports is to have a group of four people with similar expertise and high level of commitment. Divide the chapter among yourselves and make a schedule.

Each person will be responsible for preparation of notes for his share of chapters. He will drive the discussion and ensure that he explain tit bits of that chapter to other.

It is beneficial for him as the best way to absorb some novel content is to teach it to others. It is beneficial for others because they won't be devoting unnecessary time in reading everything on his own. However one major caveat is that the person who is teaching or driving the discussion should have a complete understanding and should possess teaching prowess. Not to mention, such exercise is beneficial from interview preparation point of view as well.

However, those who are not able to find the like minded guys can choose to do one of the following four things.
First is find a quick summary from the market. Skim through it twice. Then pick the main book and read the main points given in the summary in greater detail.
Second is go for Mrunal or Insights or Iasbaba summary notes.
Third is to find any power point on the specific topics if available on the internet. Go through that and then pick the main book.
Fourth is to find some video lecture on internet and watch it. It is engaging but it takes more time.

Moreover, there is no need to do a PHD on these reports. Just finishing selected topics as told in coaching classes are sufficient.

For 12th plan: The full document is insightful.
For IYB: Just selected topics with a 200 question test paper of any coaching would suffice.
For survey: Summary + detail of selected topics with notes preparation is gud
For reports: Just capture salient points from newspaper or online articles. No need to pursue PHD in this.
For ARC: A very very quick read of some 2 or 3 reports is OK. You will not find anything new. Largely every one know about these things.
For Budget: follow 5 point approach for each sector and remember some figures.

Two more things:

For interview, I forgot to mention visualization technique.
For Emotional Intelligence: I forgot to mention that it keeps increasing and decreasing from time to time. An expert can fail in some situation depending on the mood, time and environmental factor.

How To: Prepare for Interview?

Interview preparation is three part process. First is to practice the behavioral etiquette. Second is preparation with DAF which include your hobby, personal profile, state or city and other related information. Every word of your DAF can generate a question for you. Be it your sir name or day of birth or school name. Third is preparation of current affairs. Here the rule is simple. Watch RSTV, Listen to AIR, read editorials with forming your own opinion in the end and discuss, discuss and discuss.

The intention of this post is not to list the ubiquitously available tips and tricks on the other forums. Here, I intend to summarize 5 things which I practiced and believed to have worked for me three out of four times.

First, Once you are prepared with your DAF, Current affairs and state/city related information, keep aside everything. Just sit idle for three days and talk to yourself. Raise questions and counter questions and find answers to them. Enter into monologue. I'll post such sample monologue in future.

Second is to watch comedy videos before interview days. This would help in relieving stress and enable some sense of humor.

Third is remain natural during the Interview. Don't show unnecessary modesty or humility. But if you are an arrogant bloke then better contain that. The idea is don't be subservient to the board. They are just like you. They also eat similar food and sleep naked in the bed.

Fourth is don't fear saying a No. Learn to say no with a smile. In fact notice your facial nerves and length of breath on a day to day basis. Specially in situations when you have to say No or you feel angry.Stand in front of mirror and notice yourself when you speak. Learn to look into other persons eyes. If eyes threaten you then focus on forehead or nose and lips area of face. But keep making eye contacts from time to time. And don't look at boobs or penis of respected members.

Fifth is practice to bring the civil attitude from today itself. Your personality won't change overnight. If you were anxious, stressed, arrogant, or poor at articulation a week before interview then don't expect some magic to happen on the day of Interview. So fix your thought process from today itself. Personality development is a long term process.
Remember, our thoughts become our action. Our actions become our habits. Our habits become our character. And our character becomes our destiny.

People have written whole lot of books on interview preparation so I do no wish to repeat
the same information. However there are some more points which could be added here. Will add them later.

Pillar of my strength

Few poems which have had defining influence on my life. Listing them here:

लहरों से डर कर नौका पार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।

नन्हीं चींटी जब दाना लेकर चलती है,
चढ़ती दीवारों पर, सौ बार फिसलती है।
मन का विश्वास रगों में साहस भरता है,
चढ़कर गिरना, गिरकर चढ़ना न अखरता है।
आख़िर उसकी मेहनत बेकार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।

डुबकियां सिंधु में गोताखोर लगाता है,
जा जा कर खाली हाथ लौटकर आता है।
मिलते नहीं सहज ही मोती गहरे पानी में,
बढ़ता दुगना उत्साह इसी हैरानी में।
मुट्ठी उसकी खाली हर बार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।

असफलता एक चुनौती है, इसे स्वीकार करो,
क्या कमी रह गई, देखो और सुधार करो।
जब तक न सफल हो, नींद चैन को त्यागो तुम,
संघर्ष का मैदान छोड़ कर मत भागो तुम।
कुछ किये बिना ही जय जय कार नहीं होती,
कोशिश करने वालों की कभी हार नहीं होती।


This one from Atal Bihari Bajpai....

Kya Haar Mein, Kya Jeet Mein,

Kinchit Nahin Bhaybheet Main,

Kratavya Path Par Jo Bhi Mila

Yah Bhi Sahi, Woh Bhi Sahi,

Vardan Nahin Mangooga…

Ho Kuchh Par Haar Nahin Maanuga!

~ Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Coming back to life.

How To: Maintaining concentration while studying

Civil Services preparation is a long process. Most of the students invest their exciting youthhood closeting themselves behind four walls and focus on their studies.

The most common problem which most of the students face is their thoughts start wandering while they are studying and trying to focus on the subject. Most of the aspirants face problem in concentrating on their studies due to various familial, relationship distraction, hormonal temptations and work related anxiety. Controlling the hormonal arousal is not always under aspirants control. Some satiate themselves by finding the right partner. Some others manage with porn. Some other with a high degree of super ego composition in their personality become the victim of guilt feelings and do not know how to channelize their energies. Many of them could be seen queued up outside Ravindran sir's cabin seeking advice on how to better concentrate on their studies? I do not know how many of them find a satisfying answer.

The remedy to the problem of concentration lies in the root-cause analysis of the problem. One must thoroughly understand the problem in order to devise a game plan to convert this problem into a productive push towards the goal.
Some general recurrent thoughts are:
1. Whether I would be able to clear the exam or not? What if I fail?
2. Imagining the sexual encounters with known and unknowns beautiful
3. General unnecessary thoughts of aggression, frustration and violence
4. Worry over familial responsibilities
5. Feelings of jealousy and competition against some friend
6. Guilt over wasting time in unproductive fashion
7. Sadness over getting poor ranks in the test series
8. Shame over failing in the exam
9. Doubt over one's abilities
10. Anger against roommates or friends for not doing their work or disturbing your studies
11. Despair over not being able to perform as per demand of the examination
12. Constant worry about future
13. Frustration over making a wrong decision or difficulty in accepting the change in life

There might be some other emotions or feelings which may dominate individual's mind. Sometimes a combination of these thoughts intrudes in our mental sphere taking our concentration and attention away. This has serious repercussions on our preparation process.

Firstly, It pushes us towards winner's mentality to loser's mentality. Instead of preparing for success, we start preparing for failure. For example, those who came with a dream of becoming IAS, now aim for SSC or Bank PO examinations.
Secondly, We are not able to capture the full content with such recurrent thoughts running in the background. We are not able to reflect on the text and our critical thinking takes a beating.
Thirdly, We take more time to study the same text thus we lose our pace. This further results in squeezing time from our share of rejuvenating activities. Thus setting a vicious cycle which transports us to the world of depression, despair, and other negative emotions.

Therefore, it is essential to identify these thoughts and nip them in the bud before they take over your persona and become part of your personality. But now comes the big question, "how"? Overall, these set of strategies could be divided into various heads.

Most of the intrusive thoughts are of sexual nature. To deal with this situation, One can follow a multi-pronged strategy. Firstly, accept the fact that given your age and natural process of hormone formation, such kind of thoughts is very normal. Everyone be it rank 1 or rank 100, have similar kind of thoughts in their mind. We are all humans. Secondly, release your energies in whatever way you can. Watch porn, masturbate, have sex or whatever. But do not unnecessarily repress your energies. If you can control, then that is the best. But don't repress it. If we repress it beyond a limit then it resurfaces in other forms of personality. For example, we start avoiding opposite sex. We loose our aesthetic sense. Instead of looking in the eyes, we start looking at female boobs and exhibit many other similar pervert behaviour.
Secondly, change your reading style. Feel the subject. Just ask yourself a question. Do you have these thoughts when you are watching a movie or talking to someone? Usually no except when the movie is some nonsense Bollywood masala. The reason being, all your senses are so engaged in watching the movie. The same should happen with your subject. Feel it. get immersed into it. Animate it. Talk it out. Write it down.
Thirdly, Meditate. This is something practical in the long term. There are no magic wands. No change is going to happen over night. But it is tried and tested method. All the high rankers are people with immense mental concentration. This way we can channelize our sexual energies into a more productive sphere. I have written a separate blog on meditation also. In short, it is about convincing your self and reading your mind-body coordination.

Second common distraction or worry while studying is anxiety about the future. For this,
Firstly, "believe in yourself". Create a magnetic field around yourself with the belief that you are going to crack this exam come what may. Believe that god is on your side and he has asked only one thing from you i.e. smart work. and believe in miracles.
Secondly, supplement this belief with other processes like introspection, schedule management, disciplined behavior and other things.
Thirdly, If one is so concerned about the future then he can settle in his plan b and prepare for the exam along with the job. I have written about plan B actions in other blogs.

Third common distraction is the problem with roommates or environmental setting.
For this, be assertive. Say upfront. It has following benefits.
Firstly, we learn to deal with such tricky situations and become more balanced over time.
Secondly, You would be better able to focus on the subject.
Thirdly, You can easily distinguish between your wellwisher and unconcerned.

Fourth, for the jealousy feeling one should accept the fact that while we all work hard, the ultimate selection is driven by destiny. So "Jiska hona hai, uska hona hai". No one can stop an idea whose time has come. So share your knowledge. Learn from others. Draw inspiration from your colleagues. No need to feel insecure.

This exam is like Tapasya. It is also an opportunity of self-purification. So for all other negative thoughts, one-word answer is "Be positive and kill the negative emotions". Feel like a monk. Be like a monk.

How To: How is this series different from other civil prep series?

a. Examples
b. Pragmatic approach over theoretical concepts
c. Purely from experience and nothing text bookish
d. No common day thing. list practical stuff and uncommon things.
e. appendix
case studies
observations
anecdotes
quotes
facts
acronyms

How To: Frame of mind on the eve of prelims/mains/interview

The competitive exams are not merely a test of your skills or knowledge. It also tests your confidence, attitude, ability to handle unpredictable situations and dealing with novel unforseen situation. This is more true in case of UPSC examination where the examiner wants to emulate the real life work challenges in your test paper by way of creating novel situations. This could be in form of novel questions or changing the examination pattern every two years or ensuring a surprise and shock element in the paper. For example, the year 2012 had all variety of GS questions. Year 2013 saw the beginning of uniform 10 marks question pattern. The year 2014 had two essay instead of one. Year Similarly, year 2011 had 65 marks of Science questions. But year 2012 had almost no question on science and technology. Precisely for these reasons, the component of environment and culture and ancient history has increased in the prelims paper as well. These were the major two portion which were left untouched in the subject dominated era of civil services. Thus, a candidate should not merely focus on his skills and nowledge. He should also invest some energy into preparing the right frame of mind so that he can deal with such unpredictable, novel situation with greater aplomb.

A right frame of mind is a must for following resons:
1. It helps in choosing the right questions. When you have only 30 to 40 seconds to choose which question you wish to address, such positive frame of mind comes to your rescue and helps in making the right decision.
2. It helps in overcoming the insecurity and anxiety factor. As a result we don't get confused while making guestimates in prelims.
3. It helps us in maintaining the right structure and keep us focussed on the demand of the question.
4. If helps us in better recall and overcome nervousness in interviews.

But a relevant question remains. What is this "right frame of mind"? I have seen many of my friend spoliing their prelims or mains due to excessive anxiety on the eve of the exam. One such friend could not sleep for the entire night before prelims and ended up screwing his CSAT paper on the next day. Another friend slogged for the entire night before mains and took one redbull shot before entering the examination but ended up vomiting. No wonder, he also lost crucial time in the paper and could not do well. Similarly, a friend in the interview board faced high level of anxiety and could not even recall his roll number when asked by the board chairman. Sometimes, we become so upset on small issues that it takes our peace of mind on the eve of examination and all the hardwork just slips into dustbin. So such things are commonday affair and possibly add one more level of barrier in your final selection.

A right frame of mind could be characterised by following:
1. Having a good night sleep before the eve of examination. Do not compromise on this in any condition. If you are not able to sleep and meditate. Find the cues which helps you in sleeping. Just a reassurance that you are going to do well in the exam will help you in finding decent sleep.
2. Deep understanding of the fact that selection in this exam is not in your hand. You put in effort. He decides the result.
3. A strong realisation of the nature of exam helps you in preparing beforehand.
4. A clear reognition of the fact that everyone faces the similar anxiety on the eve of exam.
5. Faith, faith and faith in yourself and your god. Whatever happen, will happen for a cause.
6. Choosing the first couple of questions which boost your result.
7. Ability to laugh and smile after looking at the paper. Just think of it as some kind of dildo which UPSC has put in your ass. Now enjoy it.
8. Do not count the topics you have left. Instead look at the topics which you have covered well and you are confident of hitting marks in them.
9. Understanding of the fact that it is not just in your hand. You had full year before you and now is not the time to worry. Just chill

However, all this preaching is easier said than done. A big question is "How do we get this right frame of mind". Can I simply let this anxiety go away for that part of the day? Can my personality be changed overnight? The answer is big NO. One can not change his personality overnight. Personality change is a long process. But at the very least, one can try certain behavioral tactics which can help him in controlling his mind and maintain focus. Following are some "to-do things" which can help the individual on the eve of the exam.
Common points:
1. Don't run. Laugh unnecessarily. Talk to yourself. Feel happy for no reason. Smile unnecessarily. Keep calm.
2. If possible keep silence. If you are not silence type person then gossip with your friends.
3. Spend time with friends who exhibit this positive state of mind.
4. Sing. If possible keep humming in your mind.
5. Chant OM.
6. Take long deep breaths. It opens up neurons in your brain.
7. Notice your bodily actions as a third person.
8. Ignore negative comment or negative people around you. Just be forgiving. Imagine yourself as some demi-god.
9. Be engrossed with yourself.

Prelims:
1. Watch some videos on youtube as per your taste. Violent or comedy or infotainment or porn. Videos help in engaging all our senses.
2. Prepare your strategy of attacking the paper. Whether you are going to fill bubble simultaneously or you wish to keep aside time at the end for this exercise.

Mains:
1. Here I may suggest, stop studying. Rather discuss.
2. Look for the structure in your thought.
3. Know it beforehand that you are not going to know all the questions. Four to Five questions are bound to be new.
4. Sleep as much as you can.

Interview:
1. No study at all.
2. Forget any current affair or newspaper which you may not have covered.
3. Notice your face muscles for the whole day before interview. How does yor breath changes and how does your facial nerves stretch in sutuations.

In the end, this all can be dwarfed and put below one point i.e. "believe in yourself". Conviction conviction conviction. This will happen for me. I am going to succeed. Today is myday. Chant like this. Talk like this. And it will happen for you.