tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14357253684899824172024-03-08T12:24:28.126+05:30There is always a Source. There is always a Purpose. And there are humans.And so, mistakesKaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comBlogger151125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-71081818193211097642020-06-03T14:50:00.000+05:302020-06-03T14:50:08.622+05:30A Positive Covid Story<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If this is the first time I'm blogging since Jayalalithaa's death, surely something has to have happened. A few months ago, a friend shared a video of an ex-dean of Christian Medical College, Vellore, an expert in epidemiology, saying that he expected that almost 80-90% of the population would be infected in due course of time.<br />
Now the thing with humans/Indians (as you would like it) is that even if we have something staring us in the face, if it's something inconvenient, we normally try our best to ignore it or live in denial.<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Geography of the Incident</b></h4>
Now if the above prediction by an expert epidemiologist wasn't enough, one would've thought that someone living in the epicentre of the outbreak would at least have tried to be prepared to be infected. But that's how we are no? Precautions or not, we just aren't ready.<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>History of the Accident</b></h4>
Which brings me to what <i>probably</i> happened. After years of bare minimum physical activity, the normal excuse for which was always "just not enough time", I thought I owed at least myself a proof of the justification I had been doling out - that if I did get some time, I would at least use it to work out. So then March 27 happened, and I started running. Not quite like Forrest Gump, but you know, something at least. When I got fever, at first I thought it was because of carelessness - I used to run and immediately sit under the fan, all sweating. Little did I know that the bug had bit me.<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Love is in the air...so is Covid-dude</b></h4>
My best guess is simply that I contracted Covid through community spread. Though I was working a few days a week during the period preceding my fever, there were sufficient precautionary measures at work. I did go to the market occasionally, but with all the protection. To my knowledge, I did not come into contact with any Covid-positive person, heck, I literally didn't come in "contact" with anyone during the entire lockdown period. So suffice to say, Covid is in the air and it is just a matter of time before it gets to you. I had no exposure to any known Covid-patient. Heck, I took all the necessary precautions right from social distancing to limiting my venturing out to as few instances as possible to face-masks to gloves. But that's how bad Central Mumbai is now.<br />
<br />
There are two critical things one must understand about Covid-19 -<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>We have not understood it completely. Which means the virus manifests itself differently in different people, wherever it does end up appearing on the surface. It is inevitable that most people will end up getting infected without being affected.</li>
<li>This whole thing is a crazy mind-game. Covid impacts your thinking and attitude as much as it does your respiratory system and your lungs. So it's absolutely imperative that whether you are completely fine or infected with Covid or infected with something else, <b><u>you must remain positive and cheerful</u></b>.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Manifestation of the Pest</b></h4>
</div>
<div>
I'll cut straight to the chase, considering how much I've doodled enough. Here goes -</div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The only symptom I had was fever. I usually get fever once every few years and in my case, it's always on the higher side, 102+.</li>
<li>There was not a single other symptom - no cough (wet or dry), no breathing issues, no chest congestion. It was almost like the virus had targeted its entire attack on my fever.</li>
<li>The fever hung around for 2-3 days and then <i>appeared</i> to subside. Though the temperature reduced to sub-100'ish, I still felt the discomfort of a sick patient and there was a gnawing feverish feeling inside me.</li>
<li>After the 4th day, the fever returned with a vengeance and shot up to 104-105 continuously for 3-4 days, which is when I pressed the panic button.</li>
<li>The high fever literally rendered me immobile because of immense body pain and severe tiredness. I was barely able to walk and couldn't even sit in a place for more than a few minutes. By then, I was beginning to wonder if I should re-establish contact with my grandparents just to, you know...be on the safe side.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>My Next Course of Action</b></h4>
Once I hit such high fever, I was advised to get myself tested for the normal fevers, since there was no known Covid-symptom. I tested negative for Typhoid, Malaria and Dengue. Which is when the inevitable dawned on me. But I was still so confident it wouldn't be Covid, simply because of the lack of symptoms, that I went ahead with the test just to <i>rule myself out</i>.<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Getting myself tested</b></h4>
Once I had decided to get myself tested, the actual process of getting myself tested was complicated. Since I had consulted multiple doctors, nobody was willing to give the prescription to test, finally I was able to get hold of a doctor who gave the prescription to test. Bear in mind that this was almost a month ago and since then, BMC has changed the rules multiple times. Last I heard, it is harder now to get a prescription from a private doctor (since apparently they have to give an undertaking that if the patient is wrongly prescribed for a test, the doctor would be stripped of his/her licence to practise).<br />
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>C.O.V.I.D P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E</b></h4>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>I got to know that I had finally got the bug a good 11 days after I first had fever - a critical delay which, thankfully, did not cause any complications. Needless to say, it took me a few hours to digest the reality - more from the perspective of logistical issues and practical challenges of having to get myself admitted, what my wife would do, etc.</li>
<li>Thankfully, my fever had started subsiding a couple of days before I was diagnosed with Covid-19. I was in a much better frame of mind then, despite a fever of around 100-101 hovering around me.</li>
<li>The first thing I did was to inform my society, since it had been a Covid-negative society till then.</li>
<li>The day after my positive diagnosis came, folks from BMC visited me in my apartment to check on me. They then said I would have to be admitted, though I was in a better position to stand/talk/walk, etc. and there were no other symptoms.</li>
<li>Thankfully, I was able to convince the authorities to remain in home isolation and my Apartment society was kind enough to agree to this.</li>
</ul>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Medication I used</b></h4>
There is actually no separate treatment for Covid-19.<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>For my fever, I was prescribed a 5-day dosage of 500 mg of Azithromycin and 3 Dolo-650 per day. This was the only medicine I had which started a a few days before my diagnosis and ended a couple of days after it. Despite the Covid diagnosis, my doctor advised me to not restart the dosage unless I had a relapse of fever.</li>
<li>Post my diagnosis, I was advised some homeopathic medicines by a close friend who practices Homeopathy. Just listing them out here in case it helps.<br /><b><i>Homeopathic Medicines which could be useful in prevention and cure of corona</i> - </b></li>
<ul>
<li>Justicia adhatoda 30 and Antim tart 30. Both the medicines to be taken three times daily. <i>Prescription of Justicia and Antim tart would depend upon the symptoms. It is quite likely that they may not be the appropriate medicines for the symptoms which the person is having. But there is no harm in taking these medicines as the Covid pandemic is prevalent and there is every likelihood that later on the person turns out to be Covid +ve. The doses of these two medicines need to be monitored by a knowledgeable person.</i></li>
<li>Ocimum sanctum Q. Tinospora cordifolia Q and Withania somnifera Q - 10 drops each two times daily. <i>These can be given to any person whether healthy or with mild fever/cough or who is Covid +ve because these are immunity boosting medicines.</i></li>
<li>Gentiana chirata (Swertia chirata) Q - 5 drops two times daily</li>
</ul>
<li>In addition, I was doing the following - <ul>
<li>Gargle with hot salt water last thing before sleeping and first thing after waking up.</li>
<li>Drink an Ayurvedic concoction of ginger, turmeric, black pepper, lemon and honey twice a day.</li>
<li>Keep drinking hot water at regular intervals throughout the day.</li>
<li>Practice Pranayama (any kind would do, there are enough youtube videos for this).</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>What were the issues I faced?</b></h4>
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The scariest thing today is to get sick of anything except Covid. You have no clue where to go and what to do if things escalate. Which was exactly what happened to me in the initial 5-6 days.</li>
<li>Can't blame BMC for this, but it's a pain getting the test done. Rules keep changing depending on the circumstances. Truth be told, I think unless things escalate and the patient has comorbidities, it is better to avoid taking the test. Because you are not gaining anything by getting to know you are positive. In fact, getting confirmed Covid-positive creates a whole lot of logistical and practical issues that tend to divert your attention from the main task of recovering.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>What (probably) helped me recover</b></h4>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Something I initially felt and which was confirmed by many people after I recovered also - the best decision I took was to remain on home isolation and do the treatment at home instead of getting admitted. In these times, for cases where there aren't any breathing problems or other complications (such as Blood Pressure, Sugar, etc.), the best course of action would be to treat oneself at home because -</li>
<ul>
<li>The treatment for Covid is pretty much the same as that of a common fever.</li>
<li>In these torrid times, hospitals are in bad shape and someone who gets admitted is just going to see misery all around and worse patients there. It has a huge psychological impact.</li>
<li>Hospital staff are so stressed, it is just not possible to give personal attention to patients. Someone I knew who was admitted in a good private hospital had to ask 4 times before he could get a glass of hot water.</li>
<li>Your family will feel safer having you around, even if it increases the risk of their infection.</li>
</ul>
<li>A huge dose of positivity and confidence - I cant stress enough how importance these are.</li>
<li>My caregiver obviously, who took such good and dedicated care of me.</li>
<li>And of course - prayers and good wishes of family, friends and the Almighty.</li>
</ul>
<div>
So if you did end up coming this far, either you're Covid positive or you're a great friend. If you're the former, wish you a speedy recovery and if you're the latter, well, sorry that's an ailment for which there's no cure. (-:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><u>PS</u></b>: Usual disclaimers about medicines/treatment apply. I have recounted my personal experience with Covid-19 and listed out the medication and treatment I followed. It is always better to consult a licensed medical practitioner, even if only telephonically, to ascertain if it is okay for you to follow this. I am not a medical professional by any stretch of imagination and suggestions/advice offered here is based on personal and anecdotal evidence.</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-78558164861826240892016-12-09T01:26:00.001+05:302016-12-09T01:26:38.866+05:30A State weeps for its Amma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">Much much before I learnt of Planck's constant, I knew of 2 political constants in Tamil Nadu - 2 constants which couldn't be more dissimilar but which periodically, meticulously exchanged places once every 5 years. And now, with one of those constants gone, it feels surreal, unbelievable almost.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">Amma was always...just...there...lu</span><wbr style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;"></wbr><span class="word_break" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline-block; font-size: 14px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px;">rking in the shadows when her bête noire was the Chief Minister and</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-size: 14px;"> at all other times, she loomed large - the quintessential administrative head of her State. There are so many layers to her that one wonders if there is anyone who has been able to peel through all of them. Yet, it feels so inadequate and wrong to see many from outside Tamil Nadu oversimplifying her simply based on 2 data points - her disproportionate assets case and her stentorian control over her party.</span></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />I wonder how many know what she had to face that dark day in March 1989 when her modesty was outraged, in the Assembly of the State, no less!<br />I wonder how many know what a staggeringly well-read person she was and the depth of knowledge she brought to the table for any conversation.<br />I wonder how many know how she had complete grasp of administration in its truest sense - how well-prepared she would be for every meeting with bureaucrats.<br />I wonder how many know the insecurities she faced - from being a fair-skinned Brahmin woman not born in Tamil Nadu, in a patriarchal, caste-crazed, social milieu at a time when women were, forget being politicians, not even a side story in the political set-up.<br />I wonder how many know the dire poverty she was born into that pushed her to take up acting, to make ends meet for her family.<br />I wonder how many know her indefatigable love for reading and her regret at not being able to pursue academics.<br /><br />It is a pity that all that most of the non-South/non-Tamil media, both national and international, can refer to her schemes is as "populist" - an adjective that does gross injustice to her larger administrative acumen. Yes, there were the mixies and grinders and laptops that no doubt proliferated the freebie culture, but to identify her administration by this alone is patently unfair.<br /><br />Jayalalithaa did more for feminism than most west-educated liberals demanding freedom for women to go to pubs and wear whatever they wanted, ever conceived.<br />Her achievement in increasing higher education in Tamil Nadu, her tuition assistance to first-generation learners, her cradle baby scheme for kids abandoned by their biological parents (that single-handedly did more to eradicating female infanticide than most other schemes put together), her conceiving all-women police stations - all have done immeasurable good to the emancipation of women in the State. She leaves behind a State with India's highest rate of industrial employment and lowest rate of crimes against women. Though it would be unfair to rubbish the contribution of the grand old patriarch who kept the administration & development of the State running after he took over, credit for much of the social sector schemes ought to go to Jayalalithaa.<br /><br />And what to say about the confidence in the government when(ever) she is in power! As <a data-hovercard-prefer-more-content-show="1" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100001597287927&extragetparams=%7B%22directed_target_id%22%3A0%7D" href="https://www.facebook.com/jey.dee.58" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Jey Dee</a> eloquently says, the aam junta simply *knew* that under her, power cuts would be less, PDS would be better and the big daddy of them all - that Law & Order would be impeccable.<br /><br />An aspect of L&O that we easily tend to overlook - for all talk of administration, we are selfish in the sense that we generally only talk about how we, the recipients, feel about it. But how does it feel from the other side - the enforcers. It's no secret that under her, the cops of the State felt truly empowered - which goes a long way in ensuring proper L&O.<br /><br />What is incredible is not that she had no godfather (MGR was, by all means, her political godfather), but the way she built the party after she was sidelined in the immediate aftermath of his death. It is also said that MGR had begun to shun her towards the last few years of his rule when he began to perceive her as becoming more ambitious.<br /><br />The immense sense of personal loss that people from all walks of life feel now - cutting across social and economic divides, is to be seen to be believed. These are absolutely apolitical people from totally middle class backgrounds who feel deeply aggrieved.<br />As a friend put it simply, never again will Tamil Nadu elect someone of her class, fortitude, intelligence, sophistication and charisma.<br /><br />In a way though, the manner of her passing is a befitting tribute to the iron lady that she was - going at the peak of her powers. She passed away not as a powerless bystander but as a lady very much in control of her State & her people, having just won a historic re-election.<br /><br />Rest well, Amma, much it is that you have done to the State and its people.<br />This is a void that will take some time to fill, if at all.</span></span></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-41768490251657968692016-07-23T18:24:00.001+05:302016-07-23T18:24:32.338+05:30Thalavali da!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="dv78j" data-offset-key="bg7aa-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bg7aa-0-0" style="direction: ltr; position: relative;">
<span data-offset-key="bg7aa-0-0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The trailer was awesome. The Neruppu da track was yet another high point. 21st July was probably the highest point. And then, it was all downhill. I thought, at its worst, Kabali would be a Mankatha - an average storyline that would ride on the hero's star-power & charisma to deliver a winner.
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The premise was grand - an ageing don who gets out of jail and is confronted with a hostile environment. We were smacking our lips imagining how this was a story-line tailor-made for someone like Rajni for his age. We were so happy that Rajni wouldn't be doing any of those atrocious running-around-trees with actresses half his age. We thought after the mindless splurging of money on sets by the likes of established directors like Shankar, a new young director would infuse a breath of fresh air and bring out the by-now-lost histrionic capabilities of the Superstar. And how wrong we were! There wasn't even an excuse for a storyline. What was the main theme - Kabali re-establishing his hold in Kuala Lampur or searching for his presumed-dead wife, I'm still wondering. One of the top moments in a Rajni movie is, of course the "intro scene" and that turned out to be a damp squib as well. Whatever charisma he exhibits in the movie was shown in the trailer, with little else left in the movie. Apart from Rajni, there was little else anyway – no matter how talented Radhika Apte might be.
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I hate to admit this, but as much as Baahubali was a symbol of pride for all Telugus, Kabali is an embarrassment for Tamils, especially after all the humongous hype and hoopla that preceded its release. Sorry Thalaiva, but you've let us down. Federer might not win Grand Slams, but at least it's still a joy to watch him play. :-(</span></div>
</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-24287667250045497052016-06-02T23:15:00.001+05:302016-06-04T09:54:06.238+05:30"One" of a Kind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
He was one of the few guys who I took a liking to within a
few instances of having come across, which were mostly TV interviews. But more
importantly, this guy turned out to be all of it and more. He might be my batch
mate but the awe remains. I’m still unsure if it’s his disarming and
super-affable nature or the fact that he comes closest to me as far as
backgrounds go, but there is this genuineness and sincerity about his persona
that struck me that has stuck on. To me, he represents how a civil servant should be. Now I
don’t know him personally and I sure as hell hope I’m not wrong in what I say
of him, but based on what I’ve got to hear of him, both from his IAS
batch-mates and elsewhere, turns out he’s every bit the gem I think of him to
be.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4S4gM6vW8S8/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4S4gM6vW8S8?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His almost 35-minute speech in this video will attest to
what I say here. And the deepest connect I share with him is the passion & emotion with which he spoke about impacting the lives of the poor and
delivering justice to the common man, and I was moved to the point of tears – both
by how sincerely he conveyed the point and the fact that <i><u><b>that</b></u></i> was what I set
out for but will not be able to do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Irrespective of all the <i>practical</i>/<i>honest</i> answers that people
will give you these days (and you get them a lot once you’re inside the service),
for the sincere guy, this impacting the life of the rural poor and causing
positive societal change – irrespective of how clichéd it might sound, is among the primary things civil service is all about. Now being in the Revenue Services, I’ve seen enough
to know there is much I can contribute and cause positive change, but this
connect with the poorest of the poor, this delivery of justice to the Kamla
Devis & Kishan Lals of India – far away from the humdrum of an airport or a
Central Excise office – is something I will never get. And though I do have an
attempt left, you know when you’ve moved on, leaving a tiny bit of you behind.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But to Gaurav Agarwal – that tiny bit of me that prompted me
to leave the financial by-lanes of Chicago and return to India, not very unlike
you, will remain with the likes you. The calm demeanour, the earnestness of
approach and sincerity of purpose – I hope these remain with you all through
your 30-year-career, Gaurav, as I hope they do with me, and hope the winds of
destiny blow us onto the same path sometime in the future, as we build a better
India.</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-75224417611301104892015-12-13T18:35:00.002+05:302015-12-13T18:36:17.703+05:30Ranbir Kapoor Urban Employment Generation Scheme<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The star-power of the Gandhi family. An unending supply of funds courtesy the national exchequer. The glamour of economists like Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen. A proven intellectual like Dr.Manmohan Singh.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All of these contributed to create the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, replace . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Gandhi family with Kapoor family<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><br />2. National Exchequer with Sajid Nadiadwala<br />3. Jean Dreze & Amartya Sen with Deepika Padukone<br />4. Dr Manmohan Singh with Imtiaz Ali</span></span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
What you get is Tamasha. A movie that makes you question the very purpose of film-making. The movie was very thought-provoking in the sense that there were umpteen moments throughout when I would sit and wonder - why did they have to make this movie? And every single time, I came up with the same answer - MNREGS.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Imtiaz Ali, by now, has a reputation as a good director. The incumbent Kapoor is Ranbir. Glamour-flavour of the season, of course Deepika. And of course, Sajid Nadiadwala for money. So now they hunted for a plot. Of course, boy-accidentally-meets-girl-in-exotic-foreign-location. That is ok, but hasn't it been done to death? Ummm, ok. So let's make it intellectuaaal (Banno tera swagger lage saaaxy). We'll try to intellectualize emotions. You know, both will be common folks. But they'll meet at this god-awesome exotic locale and be completely filmy characters. Then they'll come back to India and become normal again. Then there'll be emotional turmoil. Oh yes and plenty of scope for "acting", at least for Ranbir.<br />
I understand split personality, I understand multiple personality disorder, I also know of special children. But Ranbir's acting transcended all this. In that he tried to exhibit one or more of all this and ended up portraying himself much beyond any of this. And ends up irritating you to nails-scratching-blackboard levels.<br />
Deepika has had the same steady level of acting since her first movie. When the camera's not focussing on either her superbly-toned legs (there's this hilarious moment when she wakes up from bed fully clothed - a kurti on top and leggings upto her ankle. Then she sees Ranbir playing football with a couple of kids. She goes down to get coffee after changing...into hot shorts :D) or her dimples, she's trying to emote in that perennially half-choked voice of hers.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
The thing with <a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/page.php?id=1004862039563816" href="https://www.facebook.com/PRDP/" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Prem Ratan Dhan Payo</a> was that it didn't take itself seriously. It was a dumb movie from end to end and made no pretense about being otherwise. It didn't take itself seriously which contributed to some hilarity from time to time. Tamasha, while attempting to be fun, is not. It's a movie which (apparently) seeks to explore the finer nuances of human emotions blah blah.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Tamasha could very well be renamed RKUEGS.</div>
</span></div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-86799169119511906252015-12-08T00:13:00.001+05:302015-12-08T00:14:39.617+05:30On How Our Hidden Insecurities as a Society Surfaced thanks to #ChennaiFloods<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Pardon me for being cynical but this whole business of "all communities rose as one", "Muslims serving Hindus meals", "Hindus staying inside mosques", "Muslims, Christians & Hindus together fight the floods" is getting a tad too exasperating. Are we such a failed state that we have to seek not only solace but joy at such things?</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I know Chennai is among the more communally peaceful places in the country, and I am every bit proud to be a Chennaite, but do you mean to say Muslims & Hindus in Mumbai would have fought with each other when faced with a disaster of such mammoth proportions? I'm amazed at our level of insecurity as a nation. It is understandable if our media does this job of hyping up trivialities (for want of a better word), but it's plain sad to see the common people hype up what is *expected* in a mature democracy, or at least in any state that aspires to be and sees itself as a major world power.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The common man on the streets might not match your level of intellectualism in drawing room debates but he is definitely high above the incredibly low standards you set for him - that he would indulge in petty faith-based fights & not help when the very question of humanity and survival has arisen. I'm saddened that you thought so lowly of him. I didn't. And I'm glad he didn't prove me wrong.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.32px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another thing - all of you saw what all Chennai is - all these weeks. Now here's an example of what Chennai is *NOT*.</span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.32px;">Chennai is not the stereotype <a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/salaam-chennai/article7958541.ece?homepage=true" target="_blank"><i>this article</i></a> portrays us to be. I've faced my fair share of stereotyping by my North-Indian friends but even the most ignorant among them did not paint such a picture of us.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.32px;">I can understand that you want to flood people's homes with positivity but this article is really scraping the barrel.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 19.32px;">And the saddest part - the last paragraph. One of Mudhalvan's most classic dialogues was "Kadaiseela yennaiyum arasiyalvaadhiya aakkittaangaley!" (In the end, they have made me also a politician). How sad that after all the stories of heroism, valour, determination & courage transcending caste, creed, religion, sex, Rasheeda Bhagat had to make this to be yet another story of Muslims Vs the Rest!</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-52916391782280177592015-08-17T23:26:00.002+05:302015-08-17T23:36:45.442+05:30A Primer on life as a Probationer – for all first-timers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">First of all,
congratulations for having cleared one of the most prestigious examinations in
the country. You are in one of those confounding situations where your life
will both dramatically change as well as remain the same in a matter of months.
How you react to both the change as well as the sameness will determine
w̶h̶o̶ what you are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That said, the
next 1-1.5 years of your life will be one of the most interesting and will lay
the foundation for the rest of your career (and in some cases, your life as
well). Given below is a compendium of things I wish I’d known before joining. I
wouldn’t call them “do’s and don’t’s” in the strict sense of the word, rather a
breezy peek-in into how life will be as a probationer. I hope you find this
useful. Here goes!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="1" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><b>Training is a whole lot
of fun and more</b>! Assuming you’re coming here after some work experience,
this is college all over again and a bonus fun period. Make good use of
it. This is where you will (hopefully) build bonds that will (possibly)
last a lifetime.</span><span style="color: #141823;"><br /></span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><i>Spend time in the
academy</i>. Localites tend to go home at the drop of a hat, I’d suggest spend
time at the academy getting to know people or better still, plan weekend
outings.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><b><u>Never be preachy</u></b>. Folks,
especially in the Service and that too, during probation, tend to stay
away from preachy people, particularly from batch-mates. You are not here
to correct others. Correct yourself if you can.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><b><u>Keep your rules to
yourself</u></b>. More specifically adherence to rules. Don’t be overly loud about
your adherence to rules. People are, in general, allergic to
rule-adherence. Just like how justice should not only be done, but seen to
be done, likewise, you being a strict follower of rules is one thing, but</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>to be seen</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext;">to be a
strict follower of rules is quite something else.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">You will constantly be
judged whether you like it or not. Funnily, it is not only your actions
but your inactions as well that will be judged. Also, people will, within
a few interactions, sub-consciously stereotype you. It is an inherent
trait. Why, even you will see yourself doing it. People are more
comfortable bracketing you into groups/cliques.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">Try to get a conceptual
understanding of whatever law is taught. Theory can always wait, be as
hands-on as possible, especially when interacting with seniors.
Field-experience always helps.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><b>Regionalism exists</b>. Deal
with it.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">There will be ample
opportunities to travel. Use this to go to new places, not to go back to
your home town (unless you have pressing reasons). You will never get the
opportunity to travel free with no pressure in your mind and deadlines to
meet.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em><u>Love-Life</u></em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext;">– Ahem. It’s
great if you manage to find your soul-mate here, but ideally, get
committed once both you AND your girl/guy are both settled in a service
(whether same or different). Umpteen stories abound of couples forming in
FC/training only for them to go down the drain a year later because one of
them got a different service. Muchly avoidable heartbreak.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">At all times, be
cognizant of the fact that you are being paid. Try to do at least</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>a little </em><span style="color: windowtext;">justice
to the salary the government pays you.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em>Take
initiative</em><span style="color: windowtext;">. There is much you
can do here. Do not worry about how small or insignificant your initiative
might be. Every initiative is welcomed here. And if it is useful to your
batchmates, nothing like it!</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>Stay
away from negativity</strong><span style="color: windowtext;">. There
will be no dearth of people cribbing about stuff – whether it be the
salary, the service, Sarkar, whatnot. Negativity is contagious, positivity
isn’t quite. Be positive – That is the only thing that will keep you
going.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">Identify problems, but
constantly</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="fbunderline"><i><u>keep looking for solutions</u></i></span><span style="color: windowtext;">. People with solutions are always wanted,
especially in Sarkar. And this is the kind of people we need, if we want
to take the nation forward.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="fbunderline">Don’t have sky-high expectations from your
batch-mates</span><span style="color: windowtext;">. Your batch is,
after all, a microcosm of the nation at large. Elitest, intelligent'est,
etc. you all might be, but there will be generous doses of hypocrisy,
biases, groupism, revulsion towards rules, jealousy, pettiness,
narrow-mindedness etc. This is important because it helps you prepare for
what you’re going to face for the next 25-30 years.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em>Be
receptive to change</em><span style="color: windowtext;">. Food,
clothing, habits – if it helps you improve and be a better individual,
government servant or citizen. Or simply if it is more convenient to you.
:)</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">There will be periods
during training when you’ll feel bored, pointless, etc. Always be involved
in some kind of activity or the other – whether with the academy or among
your group of friends. There is too much to be learnt, understood and done
for you to be bored. And mind you, I’m not talking about class or studies!</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;">All said and done, your
batch will comprise of probably the most diverse set of people you would
have ever come across in your life. The diversity is so staggering that it
might sometimes overwhelm you. This is diversity in its most comprehensive
sense – geography, caste, religion, region, social standing, etc. You’ll
meet people with incredible stories, crazy profiles and awesome
personalities. Each person is a source of wisdom, intelligence and
knowledge – in most cases how to be (and in a few, how not to be too :D).</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="fbunderline">Treat everyone with respect</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext;">–
irrespective of their designation. It is quite natural that our newly
acquired designation, fancy as it sounds, along with the power it entails,
might disorient us and make our heads heavy, however treat even your
subordinates with respect.</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="fbunderline"><b><u>Leave a legacy</u></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="color: windowtext;">– to your
institution, your service and your juniors. One of the fundamental
problems in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>
is how bad we are at knowledge-transfer, thus causing your juniors to
repeat the same mistakes you did. Committing the same mistakes is a crime.
There should always be novelty, even in mistakes. :D</span><o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #141823; line-height: 15.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><b>Have loads of fun</b>. Make
the best use of your training. You have a challenging 2-3 decades ahead of
you. Make good friends in your batch. When the chips are down or when
drinks are on the house, there should always be a batchmate just a
phone-call away.</span></span></li>
</ol>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All
the very best! Bharat Sarkar welcomes you!</span><span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-83914069593019225302015-08-01T18:57:00.002+05:302015-08-01T19:15:28.145+05:30From Books & Book-Worms to Conservatives & Liberals<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
Contrary to popular perception, I am not a particularly well-read guy. I am very nitpicky about books and don't have the patience to devote a chunk of time on any one cause at any point of time. Now this has been a source of much embarrassment for me, because for some reason (probably because I talk a lot or because I somehow successfully portray that I'm knowledgeable-because-I'm-well-read or both) people tend to assume I've read many books. On many occasions, I've not even heard of the book or the author. Enough of narcissism, onto the actual topic - despite being badly-read, I've always held books in high regard and well-read people in higher regard (don’t ask me why. Is that a bad premise to start off with – Probably. But indulge me for a bit). Sadly though, though I still swear by books and continue to <em>try to</em> have “reading books” in my “must-do” list, I can’t say the same about the latter. Now generalization is something we Indians love to do (for example . . . :D). But in the recent past, I’ve come across a lot of well-read people who have deeply disappointed me. As an individual, I place a lot of premium on attitude and behaviour – and I guess I can even go on to say that building both these constitute one of the essential goals of life. Which is probably why my attitude towards reading is – though reading in itself is a pleasurable and a quite praise-worthy activity, if your reading doesn’t help enhance your attitude and/or behaviour, it’s really a shame. Over the past many months, I’ve come across many well-read folks/book-worms who have exhibited one or more of the following –</div>
<ul style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; list-style-type: square; margin: 10px 0px 10px 5px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;">
<li>Air of superiority – I don’t know how this comes about - whether it is because of the <em>knowledge acquired by reading books</em> or <em>the conscious feeling of having read many books</em>, but it is there.</li>
<li>Utter Conviction about their point of view – They are so convinced about the opinion they hold that there will not even be any seeds of doubt that will make them entertain or even consider a contrary point of view.</li>
<li>Contempt for people who are not well-read but who venture to voice their opinion on issues they might otherwise have knowledge on/exposure to.</li>
<li>Mad Obsession – I’m by-and-large a moderate in most spheres of life (*<em>wink wink</em>*) and a strong believer in balance and not being overly taken in or consumed by any one particular person, cause or event. So I find it a little disconcerting when I see folks reading their books with complete disregard for other potentially important things. For instance, I’ve seen folks immersed in books on deep philosophical/existential issues when there’s a poor Commissioner who’s travelled hundreds of kilometers just to handle a class on how to issue show-cause notices, how to stay honest, etc.</li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
Initially I thought these were just outliers, but pretty much every well-read person I have come across unfailingly exhibited one or more of the afore-mentioned characteristics (Ok the sample-size is so small I won’t disclose it, but take my word for it, will you? :D).</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
*bias alert* Another interesting observation/hypothesis I have is that these well-read folks invariably tend to be <em>liberal</em>. Now I’m not sure if this liberal streak is a conscious or sub-conscious development. While it is a pretty agreeable generalization that conservatives are usually not well-read (Internet Trolls for example) and liberals are well-read, it’s also a shame because there is so much literature conservatives can lay their hands on, without fear of having their political orientation changed (this fear, I am told, is one of the many factors hindering conservatives from reading up). This also probably explains how/why though the “senior” conservatives are comparably (to “senior” liberals) well-read, your average-Joe conservative isn’t anywhere as well-read as your average-Joe lib.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
[On a side-note, this is also probably why I tend to lean on the conservative side <em>slightly</em> more often than not. ;-)]</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
Now we get to another interesting observation – that of how the number of articles/blogs/social media posts by average-Joe liberals on contemporary issues is more than those by average-Joe conservatives (who are more comfortable sharing the few articles written supporting their point of view. Oh how convenient!) – Yakub Memon’s hanging being a case in point. What’s interesting about this is that online social activism costs but a few pennies and a few books/articles. A software engineer-by-day becomes an expert on Yakub Memon’s hanging by night because he’s read a few articles by “investigative” journalists about how Yakub bhai turned himself in voluntarily, RAW had a deal with him, etc. The only time you spend is on reading books/articles. You don’t need to spend valuable time doing research, collecting data or learning the nuances of law. Classic example for this being Shashi Tharoor’s fantastic conclusion that – <em>given that from 1990-2000 there were more hangings as well as a higher incidence of murder while from 2000-2010, there was just one hanging and the murder rate had substantially reduced – hence capital punishment is *not* a deterrent for murder</em>. QED.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
I realize I have digressed. To an alarming extent at that. But let that not take away my fundamental grouse with the “well-read”, which is what I had wanted my post to be about when I started. :D</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
<span class="fbUnderline" style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Confession</em></span>: For a change, I’ll de-generalize and say that this attitude towards books I have talked about here is purely personal – that a direct outcome of reading books should be to improve one’s attitude/behaviour towards the world/people. I completely agree that people’s motivations to read voraciously might range from “<em>acquiring knowledge for the heck of it</em>” to “<em>getting a high for no specific reason</em>” to “<em>acquiring knowledge to acquire an air of superiority</em>” to “<em>personality development</em>”. Given this, each person is completely justified in being arrogant, supercilious, condescending, etc.</div>
<div style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; padding: 0px;">
But UPSC clear kiya hoon yaar, well-read or not, opinion to rahega na!</div>
</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-33480945758032231192015-07-21T01:23:00.000+05:302015-07-21T01:23:20.430+05:30Jai Bajrang Bali!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It is probably an indicator of the sorry state of Indian cinema (as a whole) that you're left wondering in amazement if you've really seen two back-to-back Indian movies that not only *didn't* make you cringe, but actually left you with a contented feel when you exited the cinema theatre.<br />
<br />
Stripped to its bare essentials and bereft of all intellectual over-complications, a movie can be judged by how it left you feeling when you take those few steps from your seat in the movie hall till you exit the building. Unless you are one of a handful of people in this world, the probability of you reviewing the movie in those precious few minutes tends to one. And this is quite a definitive opinion to hold.<br />
And by this method, both Baahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan are resounding successes.<br />
<br />
Since reviews/opinions of Baahubali are dime a dozen and the fact that I agree, by and large, with most positive reviews, I'll dedicate this post only to #BajrangiBhaijaan.<br />
<br />
Shortly after the movie starts, your first impressions of the movie (after, of course, noticing how cute the girl is) are -<br />
1. Bhai's dance steps reminded me of Rajinikanth's dance moves ever since he turned 50. And what's with the constipated look? Was he trying to be funny, cute or both?<br />
2. How Kareena Klux Klan is still eye-poppingly attractive in those chudidhars so many years after Jab We Met.<br />
3. How it must be such a hard time to be a left-liberal these days - if Baahubali's not-only-unabashed but also in-your-face Hinduism wasn't enough, we now have Bhai playing a Hanuman-bhakt who keeps chanting "Jai Shri Ram", even to Pakistani Rangers. #BurreDin indeed. :D<br />
4. Sallu bhai, however your subtle point about the RSS being a political body was not missed. Like at all. ;)<br />
<br />
And then Harshaali Malhotra takes over. And HOW! Her initial cuteness is merely a smokescreen to unprepare you for how she would later tug at your heartstrings. We all know how humans have this inherent *inability* to *not* fall for cuteness in children (notwithstanding the "all children are cute" epithet). Now add generous doses of innocence to that cuteness (it may be personal, but innocence has always ranked high on my list of attractiveness). Top that with mind-blowing expressions for every situation. What you get is the simply irresistible visage of Shahida.<br />
At some point in the 2nd half of the movie, you reach a stage where every time she appears on screen, you either go "Awww" or there's a few droplets lurking in the corner of your eyes (monsoon has officially set in, no? :) ). It doesn't help that the cuteness gets compounded by actions such as her piggybacking on Bhai, her head-shake, her hand-shake, her holding the corn, her dropping the corn on the road, her curled up next to Bhai, her recording him on the video camera - so that's basically most of the scenes she appears on screen - you get the drift right? The girl carries the entire film on her fragile shoulders. Politically incorrect though it might be, but the movie wouldn't have been half as effective had the girl even been half as cute. However, credit where due - simply being cute would hardly have sufficed. And that's where all that I've said above comes into the picture.<br />
<br />
Sallu bhai has played very well. No not his role, but the overall scheme of things - a role which doesn't require much histrionics (KKK fell in love with him in approximately 4.5 minutes and 3 scenes) but allows him to express essential emotions at strategic locations - a fight, an intro dance - just about enough to establish his mass'ness.<br />
<br />
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is officially my favouritest character artiste today. I have begun to adore him as much as I felt Irrfan Khan was overrated. The screen lights up every time he appears. Life's unfairness hits you when you see him and Salman Khan share screen-space and you realize how famous each person is.<br />
<br />
And the rest - well Harshaali is simply awesome to take over. But credit again to Sallu bhai for choosing such a script. By the end of the movie, there would probably have been 3 people in the movie hall who didn't shed a tear - all 3 being the security personnel waiting to show directions.<br />
<br />
A movie has won if the audience know what's going to happen in the climax but are waiting for that exact same thing to happen with the eagerness of a child - which is exactly what happens here.<br />
<br />
With all the essential ingredients taken care of (Harshaali, her looks, her expressions, her actions), the director just needed to ensure he didn't mess up the other aspects. And he doesn't.<br />
A movie with an excuse for a story, a superstar for a hero and an angel for everything else - #BajrangiBhaijaan is a tear-jerker alright but a tearing succcess all the way!</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-46317104402561777152015-07-04T21:01:00.025+05:302022-02-25T18:06:28.197+05:30To two Gentlemen Officers With Respect<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Officer-Like Qualities" or "OLQ" are one of the first things one hears of after entering the Services. Though there exists no textbook definition for the same, by popular perception, it is identified and understood. If you are one for discipline, sincerity and a stickler for rules, you are in for a rude surprise when you enter the Services. As much as it requires passion, dedication and consistent effort to get in, sadly, once inside, very little of that translates to behaviour *towards* the Service. It isn't about implicit acceptance of the System (however 'flawed' it may be) as it is about respecting the rules of an institution.<br />
<br />
These days, it appears as if the default "setting" in many individuals is "unacceptance" of established rules (as opposed to norms, convention, etc.). While not wearing sunglasses when receiving the Prime Minister might be a norm, attending classes regularly, avoiding usage of phones during classes, attending PT's in the morning, etc. are closer to "rules". Besides, incorrect thought it may be, there is this tendency to think that obedience to these rules, especially in a severely lax environment, reflects the sense of idealism and commitment an officer has (to have) - towards the service, society and nation.<br />
<br />
Swapnil Tembe and Prianceu Pandey are two of those rare officers with full possession of such "Officer-Like Qualities". I am not sure if his ITBP background (in Swapnil's case) contributed to his officer-like persona or if he has always been this way, but both were among the few who you could look up to - a constant in the morning PT sessions notorious for mass bunking, two guys who stood by the very principles you came to the Service expecting to see - be it in attending classes or not using unfair means during the exams or back-biting about other batch-mates. They were two of the few who shared my sense of idealism - towards the Service, Department and the Nation, despite a bleak outlook for especially the first 2. Barely 2 days ago, we were talking about how it'd be great if this "idealism"-based group (of 5-6 of us) could be together in whichever service we got/remained and promote/propagate it. Fortunately or unfortunately, Swapnil was the only one to get into the IAS, while Prianceu got into the IPS. But fate has its way of binding people and both these chaps ended up with the same cadre.</div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
In a batch notorious for its delinquent behaviour and studious violation of rules, principles and general sense of idealism, Swapnil and Prianceu gave hope as fellow comrades - someone whose thoughts you could echo, someone with whom you could share your disillusionment without fear of being ostracized as an "inconvenient idealist", "pro-establishment guy", etc.<br /><br />
Farewell Swapnil and Prianceu, both of you were people I had (and will continue to have) tremendous respect for - the two of you were right on top of the list of people I wanted to get through to the next stage - be it IAS or IPS. I am sure you two will make fabulous officers. Have that sense of idealism running high and remember our motley group of "idealists". Would love to exchange notes with you two from time to time and look forward to working with you guys some time in the future!</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-78273531323840663182015-07-04T11:37:00.002+05:302015-07-04T11:38:11.850+05:30One Final Time . . .<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">5 hours. 300 minutes. Or thereabouts. The tension. The anticipation. The exhilaration. One final time. There are moments in your life when it all boils down to one specific incident. At the risk of over-hyping UPSC (technically, it's "just another part of life", "exam", etc. Yeah right. Try telling it to the 3000-odd folks who gave the interview :D), one has to admit that these moments do impart that extra zing to life. You know...adrenalin rush and all that.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">30 is a lot of things to a lot of people. To me, it signals coming out of experimenting with life (that's how I'm thinking of it right now at least ;)). I know there will definitely be more exams. I know there will be more moments of tension. Hell, there might (or definitely will) even be a life-altering event or two. But few that will come announced-yet-unannounced. Few that would have had your prepare for years. Few that would have 3000 others waiting with bated breath, with you. And to add to the intrigue, UPSC announces, probably for the first time, the exact date the result would be out.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Which brings me back to these twenty hours.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Truly one of a kind. Irrespective of what happens at the end of these 20 hours, and I know I'm repeating myself, What a pulsating journey it has been.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">May the best man (ok woman too)! </span><i class="_4-k1 img sp_fM-mz8spZ1b sx_5371b4" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yx/r/pimRBh7B6ER.png); background-position: 0px -340px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; color: #141823; display: inline-block; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 16px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">smile emoticon</u></i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">*tick tock* *tick tock* *tick tock*</span></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-50997044741810157922015-06-23T21:29:00.001+05:302015-06-23T21:29:49.895+05:30Adieu NACEN!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2zqGegVfzo/VYfF6UilqdI/AAAAAAAAL-o/f6E5228Wd9A/s1600/IMG_20150620_145542215_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-b2zqGegVfzo/VYfF6UilqdI/AAAAAAAAL-o/f6E5228Wd9A/s320/IMG_20150620_145542215_HDR.jpg" width="180" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9rP7yeCE9cA/VYfF5IJSzFI/AAAAAAAAL-g/x0PKXdpdBco/s1600/IMG_20150620_181218092_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9rP7yeCE9cA/VYfF5IJSzFI/AAAAAAAAL-g/x0PKXdpdBco/s320/IMG_20150620_181218092_HDR.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; text-align: left;">I wonder if it is the inherently sentimental nature of us Indians that even 5-odd months are enough for us to get attached to a place. Or it might be the kind of people you meet and/or the kind of involvement you had in the activities of the place. For many of us folks who joined the Academy with a passion to be part of </span><a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/bharatsarkar?source=feed_text&story_id=10156379018255377" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span aria-label="hashtag" class="_58cl" style="color: #627aad;">#</span><span class="_58cm">BharatSarkar</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; text-align: left;">, the National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics, Faridabad was our first brush with bureaucracy. And it was disappointing, exciting, motivating, fun - all at once. But of all the things Academy was, the sense of warmth it induced in us - it gave us the feeling of belonging and ownership only a family member can.</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZaY3SRylX-Q/VYfF-UM_YdI/AAAAAAAAL-w/-ptelMDdXl8/s1600/IMG_20150620_185046370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZaY3SRylX-Q/VYfF-UM_YdI/AAAAAAAAL-w/-ptelMDdXl8/s320/IMG_20150620_185046370.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">What friends we made! What fun we had! What (all) stuff we did! But yes, I must admit that though I did make a few *good* friends, I could never quite get those one or two *inseparable* friends - (you know, the kind whose company you can't live without *and* [more importantly :D], the kind who love your company just as much!), whether for good or bad, I don't know, leading me to occasionally wonder if I should've spent more time on people around me than the plethora of activities I was involved in. Khair, being in Bangladesh, I did try my best (or at least that's what I would like to think </span><i class="_4-k1 img sp_KzR5XM7-sC1 sx_db5374" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/ye/r/pDlbZpaIRLH.png); background-position: 0px -8160px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; color: #141823; display: inline-block; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 16px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">wink emoticon</u></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">. Plus anyhow, I did have tons of other wonderful company - be it the guard-dogs which barked me all the way back to my room at night from Alaknanda or the beautiful little squirrels chasing one another across the road or the mynaahs that kept chirping away to glory.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Starting with early-morning PT's in the freezing cold at the tennis court, then shifting to neighbouring Police Lines, frantic rush to get attendance (and in some cases, put proxy...sshhhh!), finally dwindling to just 2 or 3</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">. :D)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">No post on NACEN, Faridabad is complete without mention of the stupendous Mess food we had, so ably managed by our wonderful Mess Committee (shortly to be elected unopposed in Hyderabad) - such delicious food that any PT we did would be immediately compensated for!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Well, I guess that's enough nostalgia and emotion for 5 months. I know we're going to be coming back for our refresher in another 6 months (or not! </span><i class="_4-k1 img sp_KzR5XM7-sC1 sx_db5374" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/ye/r/pDlbZpaIRLH.png); background-position: 0px -8160px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; color: #141823; display: inline-block; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 16px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">wink emoticon</u></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">, but our first love will always remain our deepest, truest and most heart-rending love. And for all of us from the current batch for whom NACEN, Faridabad was our first destination in #BharatSarkar, it will be our first love.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Adieu, NACEN! You will be missed, if only for a while, but loved . . . always!</span></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-64943586159102142432015-06-14T02:01:00.000+05:302015-06-14T02:01:05.761+05:30Buying my peace<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Assuming the journey began in August 2011 when I officially started preparing (June 2010 if you consider my return to India for the Services), it is with a sense of relief, fondness and of course, the inevitable regret that I reach closure. Exactly a year ago, I got selected into the Services and just short of 1 day to the year, I have had my final tryst with UPSC. Though I started off aspiring for the Foreign Services (which has hence been overshadowed by the Administrative <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">Services <i class="_4-k1 img sp_XIzaAI1BWsY sx_ba55cb" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/y8/r/n15SdJAJaKB.png); background-position: 0px -8033px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">smile emoticon</u></i> ), I have realized that there is much constructive work that I can do in the Revenue Services as well. The constant sense of negativity and dissing of the Service by a few "blessed" souls notwithstanding <i class="_4-k1 img sp_XIzaAI1BWsY sx_a2bb46" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/y8/r/n15SdJAJaKB.png); background-position: 0px -8135px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">wink emoticon</u></i> , I am confident that as long as one is resourceful, motivated and initiative-driven even in our blessed service, there is much we can achieve, both at a personal as well as professional level. I would definitely have liked to sign off on a high, but what with yesterday's semi-disaster of an interview, I realize fairy tales like Ivanisevic's Wimbledon are, but rare. Besides, in the words of a friend, in the pursuit of a "better" service, we overlook the basic point of "public" service that we are here for.</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Farewell UPSC, it has been a memorable journey with you! Though I did feel shortchanged on both the occasions I was privileged enough to enter your hallowed portals, and despite a few complaints about your process, I have nothing but respect for you.</div>
</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-90356155027563666432015-06-12T03:36:00.000+05:302015-06-14T01:07:59.526+05:30My 2nd (and Final) UPSC Interview<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
Date: 11th June, 2015</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Session: Afternoon</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Board: Vice Admiral D.K.Dewan</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chairman – Can you tell me your roll number?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me - ******</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
C – So K*****k, are you working currently? Let me see, ah so
you are in the Trade Services?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Me – Sir, I was allotted the Trade Service, but I have since
been upgraded to IRS (Customs)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">C – 1.
Can you explain the issues with drones?<br />
</span><span style="color: red;"> [Vague
answer. Mentioned privacy concerns, regulatory issues. Thought security<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">concerns
were applied, mentioned in passing. He seemed interested in Security &<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">Regulation]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">2. In the
Arab Spring, which are the biggest and smallest countries?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Answered <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Tunisia</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Apparently smallest nation
was <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bahrain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">3. Are you
sure? What about <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bahrain</st1:place></st1:country-region>?
What is the name of the square in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bahrain</st1:country-region></st1:place>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Had no
idea about the Square in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bahrain</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
He compared it to a more famous<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">square
where a massacre happened. I answered <st1:place w:st="on">Tiananmen Square</st1:place>.
One of the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">members
asked the square in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
I answered <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Tahrir Square</st1:address></st1:street>]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">4. Ok,
which are the countries in the Arab Spring which were ruled by monarchs<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">and which
by dictators?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Started
off with Hosni Mobarak, answered Monarch, then changed to Military<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">Ruler.
Somehow didn’t go farther.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">5. Do you
know about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>’s
strategic oil reserves? How much quantity of oil<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">reserves
do we have?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[I didn’t
really understand reserve. Answered <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Bombay</st1:placename>
<st1:placename w:st="on">High & KG</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Basin</st1:placetype></st1:place>.
Turns<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">out he was
specifically expecting “reserves”. And location of our strategic<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">reserves
are in Vizag, my birthplace.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">M1 – 1. You have read the Customs Act. Can you tell me which are all
the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">organizations
that are empowered under the Customs Act to use its laws?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[I could
think of only NCB. I asked him a few more questions about NDPS Act,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">arrest
provisions, etc. but organizations none other.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">2. You are
from Vizag. In recent times, there have been extremes of floods along<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">the
AP/Orissa coast. Why do you think this is happening?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Global
Warming, Climate Change, El Nino.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">3. While
the loss of life has been minimal, there has been significant loss of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">resources,
amounting to many thousands of crores. Why do you think this is<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">happening?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Regulations
are in place, but not followed. Gave example of Uttarakhand floods<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">where many
homes/buildings built close to the river bank were washed away. He<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">asked if we
didn’t have regulations. I said we do, but they are not followed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">Implementation
and regulation was an issue.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">M3 (Lady) – 1. You have worked at **** as a Software Developer. What kind of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">software did you develop there? (then repeats the question
for my 2nd<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">company)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Trading Software to enable proprietary traders to trade in
the market]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">2. How will you use this experience in your Customs
Department?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Gave example of NIDB, prediction of potential smuggling
cases]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">3. Can you give specific examples?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Gave a small example wrt shady importers importing small
amounts of a<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">commodity frequently.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">4. Who was awarded the Bharat Ratna recently? What was his<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">contribution? He has a major contribution.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Of all the people, I remembered only Malviya and totally
forgot<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">Vajpayee. Told Malviya was a great educationist. Didn’t tell
he founded<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">BHU. When the member prodded me and told he founded
something, I<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">finally blurted out BHU.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">5. Your department is notorious for having a large number of
cases getting<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">quashed by the higher judiciary. Why does this happen?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Answered that 2 reasons – 1. Our officials do not follow the
procedure<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">meticulously leading to many good cases being washed out on<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">technicalities. She asked if problem with law. Specifically
told her that<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">law is fine, just that people are not careful enough to
follow procedure<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">meticulously. 2. Superiors do not strike down frivolous cases
for fear of<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">vigilance action, hence many bad cases reach higher courts
and get struck<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">down there.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">M2 – 1. You have been in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> for 4 years. You also have
Public Administration. Can<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">you give
my out-of-the-box (repeats this to stress on it) solutions for public<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">service
delivery?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Explained
that main problem in service delivery is presence of middlemen. Gave<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">a
convoluted solution of having an efficient e-Governance system where<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">consumer
can file requests online, where it is processed without human<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">intervention.
Also, a token number is generated for each customer which reaches<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">the head
(say Commissioner, Collector, etc) who checks on a periodic basis, how<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">many
pending, why a certain case wasn’t completed on promised time.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">2. Your
suggestion is already implemented in some places but hasn’t seen any<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">major
success. There are many states currently legislating on public service<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">delivery.
Can you explain how effective they are in some states?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[This was
too detailed and vague, flatly said I hadn’t seen any such schemes at<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">ground
level to comment.]</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">3. Recently, an American broke a World Record. Do you know what it is?</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">[I had no idea. Asked him if it would be Michael Phelps. He said it was in Athletics. Then I thought maybe he wrongly thought Usain Bolt was an American. Wasn't Bolt either. Then asked me if I knew where the 2008 Olympics was in. I said Beijing.]</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">C - Do you know a recent news about Michael Phelps?</span><br />
<span style="color: red;">[I said I didn't. Apparently, Phelps is participating in the 2016 Olympics after 8 years.]</span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: blue;">M4 – 1. You were a “Student Orientation Leader” at Illinois Institute
of Technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">Can you
elaborate what you did there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Helping
new students get used to surroundings, help them complete paper-work,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">explain <st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region> culture, enable them to acclimatize, show
them around <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Chicago</st1:city></st1:place>,
etc.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">But that
is not the definition of a “leader”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Just
smiled.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">2. You
have studied Computer Science. Can you tell me what are some of the<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: blue;">recent
developments in Server Technology?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">[Crazy
random. Had no idea about servers. Just blurted out that latest technology<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">in servers
was servers that let out much lesser heat and didn’t need AC’s. He went<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">on to PC’s
that heated up. I explained about processors and heat sinks. Basically<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">meandered
there.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;">C – 1.
Tell me who wrote the US Constitution and when.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;"> [Could
only remember Benjamin Franklin. Date was towards end of 1700’s.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: blue;"> 2.
Do you know how far is <st1:country-region w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region>
from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place>?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: red;">[I said <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Cuba</st1:country-region></st1:place>
was very close to US, but I wasn’t sure of exact distance. He was<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">surprised
and asked me if I had not visited southern part of US. I told I’d been to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">the East
& West coasts, but not to the southern coast. Interview ended abruptly<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="color: red;">there. He
said “you can go”.]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Take –</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Very average at best and borderline disaster at worst. Though
most of the questions pertained to my background, somehow they were never close
to my strengths or were so vague that I couldn’t come up with a convincing
answer (or at least one that I was satisfied with). Plus a whole lot of factual
questions that I either messed up or didn’t know much about. Halfway through, I
was visualizing IAS & IFS slipping away from my hands. Will be a miracle if
I cross 170. Personally, I’d be happy if I got last year’s score.<br />
<br />
[For the transcript of my interview last year (ironically with the same board), <u><i><a href="http://cowmaaa.blogspot.com/2014/06/my-civil-services-interview.html" target="_blank">click here</a></i></u>.]</div>
</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-53739541341027507002015-05-10T00:28:00.000+05:302015-05-10T00:28:22.670+05:30UPSC and My Best Friend<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">UPSC preparation is never a solo-effort. There are so many people who have contributed to your preparation, directly or indirectly, one way or the other. Arguably the one guy who both backed me to the hilt in my (potentially crazy) decision to return to India to prepare for the Services *and* helped me in much of my preparation is <a href="http://twitter.com/keshyperion">@keshyperion</a></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Particularly in the one year when I spent working as a Probationary Officer in a govt bank in a remote village in Tamil Nadu with a population of som</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, 'lucida grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">e 800 people with 8 hours of power cuts everyday and hardly any net access around, my one link to the outside world (apart from my phone) was my bank email. In the bank, only the intranet would work, apart from official email. What @keshyperion used to do (rather, I made him do :P) was to meticulously copy-paste all <a href="http://mrunal.com/">mrunal</a> articles (the daily email digest contained only a snippet of the full article) by email, apart from other UPSC-related links I used to send him (almost on a daily basis).<br />Why am I reminiscing this now? I had an epiphany when, over the past few days, during the course of interview preparation, I've been asking him to email/DM me the many links shared on whatsapp in the groups so I can read the articles properly (for the uninitiated, my phone is such a collector's item that apart from whatsapp & fb, using any other app would eat into its memory and cause it to stop working. When today's smart phone-sizes are in terms of GB's and screen-sizes are in terms of 5-7 inches, my vintage item has a grand total of 15 MB for internal memory and a screen size of 2.4 inches, respectively. For whatever reason, I'm obstinately sticking on to it. :D).<br />And then I realized that I'd never officially ever thanked him. As they say, better late than never, no? But then again, with best friends, thanks are hardly needed, are they? <i class="_4-k1 img sp_pOLfGO3jfnZ sx_dcd1a7" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yP/r/udGFHoXFdsP.png); background-position: -126px -465px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">smile emoticon</u></i></span></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-80636459269614107602015-03-23T18:44:00.001+05:302015-03-23T18:44:19.508+05:30Bitten by the Bombay Bug!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
In a memorable coincidence, on our way back from Shirdi/Nashik early Sunday morning, on the last day of our attachment, just as we had paid the last toll and were entering Mumbai, the MP3 player started playing “Bombay Bombay- Tararararumpum”. Little would anyone have thought that in a matter of just 2 weeks, we would be overcome by so much nostalgia and emotion – the city does this to you – and *that*, coming from a die-hard Chennai’ite, is quite something.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BiJKC2BB7iA/VRARPaeOSUI/AAAAAAAALog/G-0tZ9SOJyg/s1600/Photo0298.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BiJKC2BB7iA/VRARPaeOSUI/AAAAAAAALog/G-0tZ9SOJyg/s1600/Photo0298.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br />Here’s a quick re<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">cap of what I did over the last 2 weeks, apart from hectic work-days, gold seizures, interrogations and snooping that is. <i class="_4-k1 img sp_4m121pBIgs2 sx_4c99e4" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yj/r/3GLukfPA3Ry.png); background-position: 0px -8160px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">wink emoticon</u></i></span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
Day 1 – First Vada Pav<br />Day 2 – Kailash Parbat + Marine Drive<br />Day 3 – Siddhi Vinayak + Bandra_Shopping + Carter Road<br />Day 4 – Bade Miyan + NH10 Premiere<br />Day 5 – Mahalakshmi + Haji Ali + Gulshan-e-Iran<br />Day 6 – Some_ mall_in_Bandra + Service Dinner<br />Day 7 – Daman<br />Day 8 – Juhu Beach + ISKCON + Santa Cruz + Carter Road (again)<br />Day 9 – [Airport Night Shift]<br />Day 10 – CST + Holy Pilgrimage of Mumbai Local at Peak Hours<br />Day 11 – Mumba Devi + Gateway + Leopold Café + Taj + Double-Decker<br />Day 12 – Farewell Call on C’s/ADC’s<br />Day 13 – Shirdi + Nashik + Shani Shingnapur<br />Day 14 – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Maratha Mandir) + Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Rajdhani Express)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XqBZG7g34KQ/VRAROvfWIbI/AAAAAAAALoc/QKOggqUGz_4/s1600/Photo0300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XqBZG7g34KQ/VRAROvfWIbI/AAAAAAAALoc/QKOggqUGz_4/s1600/Photo0300.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">What I find immensely satisfying is that on most days, I returned to the academy much after 12 AM and travelled by the local as much as possible. Though I find it a little embarrassing that having spent 2 weeks in Mumbai, not a single disco/pub finds mention in my “hung out” list, given that I’ve been occupied enough even otherwise, I think I’m excused.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<i class="_4-k1 img sp_4m121pBIgs2 sx_4c097e" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yj/r/3GLukfPA3Ry.png); background-position: 0px -7888px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">grin emoticon</u></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pMm6vmoT-nA/VRARNo9du7I/AAAAAAAALoU/C9JTmLf8N-c/s1600/Photo0301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pMm6vmoT-nA/VRARNo9du7I/AAAAAAAALoU/C9JTmLf8N-c/s1600/Photo0301.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Being part of Zone 3 meant that our default_hangout_group size was reduced to 5, but despite that, I did manage to spend time with many others as well. The only regret I have is that I couldn’t spend more time with more people. Still, I loved the time I spent with whoever I got to.</span><span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"> </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<i class="_4-k1 img sp_4m121pBIgs2 sx_55fc1a" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yj/r/3GLukfPA3Ry.png); background-position: 0px -8058px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">smile emoticon</u></i><br />Wherever there was company, it was wonderful and wherever there wasn’t, I could tolerate myself enough not to feel bored or irritated. <i class="_4-k1 img sp_4m121pBIgs2 sx_4c097e" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yj/r/3GLukfPA3Ry.png); background-position: 0px -7888px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">grin emoticon</u></i></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i class="_4-k1 img sp_4m121pBIgs2 sx_4c097e" style="background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yj/r/3GLukfPA3Ry.png); background-position: 0px -7888px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; height: 16px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aE76EP_fB_o/VRARQIC36FI/AAAAAAAALos/pyguTtsj6tE/s1600/Photo0302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aE76EP_fB_o/VRARQIC36FI/AAAAAAAALos/pyguTtsj6tE/s1600/Photo0302.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></u></i></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aE76EP_fB_o/VRARQIC36FI/AAAAAAAALos/pyguTtsj6tE/s1600/Photo0302.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aE76EP_fB_o/VRARQIC36FI/AAAAAAAALos/pyguTtsj6tE/s1600/Photo0302.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
On the professional front, the Mumbai attachment well-and-truly marks our arrival into the Service – while we had our share of fun, it is the work ethic that we learnt in this city that impressed upon most of us.<br />As the Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani chugs out of Mumbai Central, each of us is sure to have left a small part of us behind and taken a large part of Mumbai with us, hopefully t<span style="line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">hopefully to return some time in the not-so-distant future.</span></div>
</div>
<i class="_4-k1 img sp_4m121pBIgs2 sx_55fc1a" style="background-color: white; background-image: url(https://fbstatic-a.akamaihd.net/rsrc.php/v2/yj/r/3GLukfPA3Ry.png); background-position: 0px -8058px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; color: #141823; display: inline-block; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; height: 16px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; vertical-align: -3px; width: 16px;"><u style="left: -999999px; position: absolute;">smile emoticon</u></i></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-57204412260638692302015-03-07T00:45:00.000+05:302015-03-07T00:45:08.360+05:30A Tale of Two Best Friends<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<i><u>Exhibit 1</u></i></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
It was yet another busy morning for friend and her husband - cooking, packing lunch for work, getting their 1-year-old kid ready for playschool and themselves getting ready. Yet, something was amiss. Li'l S, usually pretty sure-footed, was falling once too often. Once, twice, thrice and R was getting exasperated at this regular tripping of his lovely daughter. He exchanged quizzical looks with B, who, d<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">espite sharing her husband's concern, had little to add to the mystery of S's trippy day. But then, work beckoned and both got going. Though both worked in the same company, they went separately for logistical reasons. B reaches work first and gets a call from hubby R - "You're such a sweetheart and I love you so much." B, despite knowing something was amiss given that such an early-morning-expression-of-love-over-phone was happening, couldn't help but blush 2 shades of red. Then recovers from the assault and "What happened, R?"<br />R - "I just dropped S off at the playschool. And guess what, she tripped a couple of times here as well. That's when Mrs.C (the caretaker) figured out that you, my sweetheart, had interchanged her shoes."<br />.<br />.<br />.<br /><i><u>Exhibit 2</u></i></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">It was a regular evening. K was returning by the air-conditioned public bus after yet another exhausting week. "TGIF", he muttered to himself as he hopped on to the bus, head-phones in place. After settling into his seat and ensuring the Harry Potter audio book started playing, he quickly attained office-commute-moksha. So intense was his sleep that an even more intense dream ensued in double-quick time - where a thief locks his arms (he's in the bus in the dream also) from behind, ensuring he can't move. Our friend, though bulky of build, demonstrated uncharacteristic suppleness and in one swift move, straightened his arms so they slipped out of the thief's lock and once free, acquired a 90-degree shape and whammed into the thief's ear, knocking him out cold.<br />The next thing K knew - he heard his neighbour cry out loud, shattering both his dream and his sleep. K had just delivered a stunning elbow-slam to his co-passenger. Outside of the dream.</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 6px;">
With best friends like these, who needs TV Sitcoms or Movies for entertainment?</div>
</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-73197941744510044882014-09-06T20:58:00.001+05:302014-09-06T20:58:39.721+05:30One Hundred Days of Diplomacy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In what has been one of the most keenly observed governments in many a sub-40 lifetime, one of the standout accomplishments of the Narendra Modi government has been on the diplomatic front. Aided by an efficient Foreign Minister and an ebullient set of babus in South Block, PM Modi has shored up India's profile by some extent internationally. What is particularly noteworthy is the manner in which all diplomatic moves appear to have been thought out - giving each international visitor/host a special honour, as has been his wont.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Here's a quick recap of the hectic diplomatic calendar India's Ministry of External Affairs has followed in the past 100 days, with special mention of how each visit was special.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span><br />
<table border="2" bordercolor="#0033FF" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3" style="background-color: #99ffff; width: 100%px;"><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 2889; mso-width-source: userset; width: 59pt;" width="79"></col></colgroup><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 6436; mso-width-source: userset; width: 132pt;" width="176"></col></colgroup><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 5741; mso-width-source: userset; width: 118pt;" width="157"></col></colgroup><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 31012; mso-width-source: userset; width: 636pt;" width="848"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td class="xl24" height="20" style="height: 15pt; text-align: center; width: 59pt;" width="79"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Country</b></u></span></td>
<td class="xl24" style="border-left: medium none; text-align: center; width: 132pt;" width="176"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Outgoing/Incoming</b></u></span></td>
<td class="xl24" style="border-left: medium none; text-align: center; width: 118pt;" width="157"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Who?</b></u></span></td>
<td class="xl24" style="border-left: medium none; text-align: center; width: 636pt;" width="848"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><u><b>Speciality</b></u></span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="34" style="height: 25.5pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="34" style="border-top: none; height: 25.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">SAARC</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Incoming</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">All SAARC Countries</span></td>
<td class="xl26" style="border-left: none; border-top: none; width: 636pt;" width="848"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First-of-a-kind
invitation to SAARC leaders for a Prime Minister's Swearing-In Ceremony</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Saree Diplomacy with Pakistan</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bhutan</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Prime Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">PM's first foreign
visit after assuming office</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">China</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Vice President</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First visit by an
Indian Vice President to China since 1994</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bangladesh</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister's
first stand-alone foreign visit after assuming office</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nepal</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Prime Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">An Indian PM's visit
to Nepal after 17 years</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Myanmar</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Singapore</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Sri Lanka</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Incoming</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Tamil National
Alliance</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A carefully-planned
visit to show that the PM was his own man despite perceived closeness to
certain Rajapakse-supporters in party</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Vietnam</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Japan</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Prime Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Everything about the
visit</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bahrain</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Foreign Minister's
first visit to the Gulf region</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Australia</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Incoming</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Prime Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First State Guest of
Modi Government</span></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">USA</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Outgoing</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Prime Minister</span></td>
<td class="xl25" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Simply the fact that
the PM has consented to visit Washington DC. </span></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Symbolism is a much abused concept in India. Its importance is either exaggerated or summarily dismissed. What Modi has done here is to treat it with the respect it deserves. What's more - whether by design or by coincidence, more-or-less all of the new government's diplomatic engagements have ensured that the other country feels special in some way at least.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And all this simply analyzing the Modi government's diplomatic activities at a very superficial level.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A map to show the countries which we have engaged with in these 100 days. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1435725368489982417" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vpsm5osdGS0/VAsjFVdNkoI/AAAAAAAALa4/KOsSMZvmNIg/s1600/map2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vpsm5osdGS0/VAsjFVdNkoI/AAAAAAAALa4/KOsSMZvmNIg/s1600/map2.jpg" height="252" width="640" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1435725368489982417" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">What is evident is a clear focus on the neighbourhood - an aspect of diplomacy that we appear to have ignored over the past (lost) decade. Our concerns and engagements over the past decade were all high-ticket commodities - be it the US or Russia or China. This offers another insight into Modi's line of thinking - incrementalism or attention to the smaller items. This is, by no means, meant to belittle the countries (Japan is of course no "small item"), but show our Prime Minister has got his priorities right and is aiming for the long term. We have a Prime Minister who appears to be acting with the confidence of someone who knows he has got a decade to cause significant changes to the nation's policies. This might explain why, contrary to popular expectations, he isn't rushing into big-bang reforms but is taking his time to get all the basics right. To us, systemic change is about creating new sweeping laws. To Modi, it appears to be changing the engagement and approach to administration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyhow, coming back to diplomacy, the beginning has been nothing short of awesome and as they say, well-begun is half-done. Here's hoping the PM builds upon this solid foundation and establishes India's (rightful?) pre-eminence on the global stage.</span></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-12636572114335178962014-07-01T04:16:00.000+05:302014-12-15T23:27:18.248+05:30Predicting Service Allocation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
An idle mind is a devil's workshop they say. An excited mind is a scientist's workshop in that case. Not that scientists aren't devils, but you get the drift, don't you?<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So anyhow, as the 1000 of us 1122 who've cleared this year's Civil Services Examination eagerly await our respective service allocations (the top 122 or so can rest assured they'll get whatever they want), I thought of extending my work to predict this.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Presenting cowmaaa's Predictive Analytics for Service Allocation </div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Approach 1</b></u></span> -<br />This is the raw approach where I simply mapped data from 2009-2012 with the last rank in the General category (without any disabilities) for each respective service. Plotted a Polynomial Regression trendline in Excel and here's the graph -
<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yVDN5ZXoruY/U7HpczdPLPI/AAAAAAAALME/Et84ho0vWbE/s1600/Year+Vs+Last+Rank.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yVDN5ZXoruY/U7HpczdPLPI/AAAAAAAALME/Et84ho0vWbE/s1600/Year+Vs+Last+Rank.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last Rank for Service Vs Year of Service Allocation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><br /><br />
According to this graph, the last ranks in General category for the following Services would be as follows -<br /><ul>
<li>IAS - 138</li>
<li>IFS -92</li>
<li>IPS - 300</li>
<li>IRS (IT) - 510</li>
<li>IRS (C&CE) - 660</li>
</ul>
<br />However, one fundamental, if not obvious, flaw with this approach is that though there are more vacancies this year compared to any of the previous years, the increase is purely from the Group A & Group B Services - with IAS (94 in 2012 to 90 in 2013), IFS (16 to 17) & IPS (75 to 75) pretty much remaining stagnant compared to last year.<br />So then I figured this would not be accurate.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>Approach 2</b></u></span> -<br />This improved approach entails plotting the last rank for each of the Services over the years (i.e. 2009-2012) against the number of General vacancies for that particular service that year. This way, the trendline would indicate last rank strictly based on the number of vacancies only and not the year.<br /><br />Accordingly, this is the graph - <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6V0aqI6PmSA/U7HpsJuUMPI/AAAAAAAALMM/YOqoS4l88gM/s1600/Vacancies+Vs+Last+Rank.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6V0aqI6PmSA/U7HpsJuUMPI/AAAAAAAALMM/YOqoS4l88gM/s1600/Vacancies+Vs+Last+Rank.jpg" height="245" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last Rank for Service Vs No of Vacancies for Service</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This graph gives a much more realistic view of things. Last predicted ranks for IAS, IFS & IPS pretty much remain the same, given the vacancies are also the same, while those for the 2 IRS's can be expected to increase understandably, by a reasonable amount. Here's the predicted list of final ranks for the different services based on Linear Regression from the graph above - </li>
<ul>
<li>IAS - 102</li>
<li>IFS - 140</li>
<li>IPS - 285</li>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li>IRS (IT) - 380</li>
<li>IRS (C&CE) - 580</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Source:<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><i><a href="http://persmin.gov.in/AIS1/WelcomeCSE.asp">Dept of Personnel & Training</a></i> - Service-wise vacancies from 2009-2012</li>
<li><i><a href="http://faltugs.com/2014/02/24/upsc-rti-for-vacancies-in-cse-20132014/">RTI</a></i> filed for Service-wise vacancies in 2013</li>
</ul>
Let's see how close I am to what eventually transpires. :-D</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table 326px="" border="2" bordercolor="#0033FF" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width:=""><colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 2779; mso-width-source: userset; width: 57pt;" width="80"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4973; mso-width-source: userset; width: 102pt;" width="140"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 4169; mso-width-source: userset; width: 86pt;" width="140"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl30" height="17" style="height: 12.75pt; text-align: center; width: 57pt;" width="76"><b>Service</b></td>
<td class="xl31" style="border-left: medium none; text-align: center; width: 102pt;" width="136"><b>Predicted Last
Rank</b></td>
<td class="xl32" style="border-left: medium none; text-align: center; width: 86pt;" width="114"><b>Actual Last Rank</b></td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">IAS</td>
<td align="right" class="xl24" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">102</td>
<td align="right" class="xl26" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">92</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">IFS</td>
<td align="right" class="xl24" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">140</td>
<td align="right" class="xl26" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">141</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">IPS</td>
<td align="right" class="xl24" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">285</td>
<td align="right" class="xl26" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">249</td>
</tr>
<tr height="17" style="height: 12.75pt;">
<td class="xl25" height="17" style="border-top: none; height: 12.75pt;">IRS (IT)</td>
<td align="right" class="xl24" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">380</td>
<td align="right" class="xl26" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">369</td>
</tr>
<tr height="18" style="height: 13.5pt;">
<td class="xl27" height="18" style="border-top: none; height: 13.5pt;">IRS (C&CE)</td>
<td align="right" class="xl28" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">580</td>
<td align="right" class="xl29" style="border-left: none; border-top: none;">541</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-48283799395678402912014-06-12T22:59:00.004+05:302015-06-12T03:34:41.259+05:30My Civil Services Interview<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Date: 17<sup>th</sup>
April, 2014<br />
Session: Afternoon<br />
Time: 2:35 PM – 2:55 PM<br />
Duration: 20 minutes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Chairman of the
Interview Board: Vice Admiral D.K.Dewan</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Questions:<br />
I am ushered into the interview room, so I don’t have to knock. I excuse myself
inside and when I am near the chair, the Chairman asks me to sit down. I was
conscious about looking each member in the eye, wishing them “Good Afternoon”
and sat comfortably, keeping my arms on the arm-rest of the chair and
interlocking my fingers of both my hands in front of me, visible to the board.</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-size: large;">
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><i><span lang="EN-IN" style="font-size: large;">Chairman</span></i></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What is your
name, roll number?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir – **********<br /><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">So what are
you doing/where do you work now?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, I am working in a company called ******* based out of Chennai.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What does
your company do?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir we deal in data analytics. We look at customer data
and advise the company on how to improve their earnings/profits, after
analysing the data.<span style="color: blue;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What is your
responsibility in your company?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, I am a Senior Analyst in the company. I have a
semi-technical, semi-managerial role. On the managerial front, I mentor 2
entry-level analysts and help them do their daily tasks. On the technical
front, I look at the sales data of companies and give them recommendations
about how to improve their business.<span style="color: blue;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Ok, what is
the meaning of “Avadi”? (From the profile since I had interned at DRDO in
Avadi, Chennai. The Chairman pronounced the word as “Avaadi” and was corrected
by the Tamilian-looking board member who, I think, told him that this was the
name of the place, but the Chairman ignored it)<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, I interned in DRDO at Avadi, which is the name of
the place. I am not aware of the meaning.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">You have a
Post-Graduate degree in Computer Science and have travelled all over the world,
why do you want to join the Civil Services?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, can I answer this from the perspective of foreign
services, since IFS is my first option?<span style="color: blue;"><br />
Chairman (and 1-2 other board members too, if I am not wrong): Yes yes, please
do.<br />
</span>Me: Sir, ever since I landed in the US,
I felt like I was a representative of India. I felt a sense of pride and
carried myself off as a representative of India. While doing my Master’s, I
got the opportunity to interact with students from different countries &
cultures and I really enjoyed these interactions. When in the US, I started following international
affairs more closely. I believe these are some of the essential qualities of a
diplomat. Moreover, I started following the development happening in India
and wanted to be part of it. This is why I want to join the Services.<span style="color: blue;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
Up Question 1</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: So is it
because of the development in America
that you want to join the Services in India?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Yes sir. The US
was quite developed when I went there and India had just started on its
growth story. I thought there was great potential for it to grow and hence, I
myself wanted to be part of the India Development Story.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
Up Question 2</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: You can
contribute to the “India Development Story” even by being a Software Engineer,
why do you want to become a Civil Servant for that?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Yes sir, I agree that I can contribute to the India
Growth Story even being a Software Engineer, however, the contribution I will
be able to make to India’s growth will be much more immense if I am a civil servant.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">How many
countries does India
have diplomatic missions in?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, if I am not wrong, we have missions in about 180
countries.<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: blue;">Chairman, in
a surprised tone</span></u></i><span style="color: blue;">: Are you sure? Do you
know how many countries are there?<br />
</span>Sir, I am sorry, I was mistaken. We have about 180 overseas missions
overall, not in all the countries.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
up Question 2</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: What do you
think are the functions of a diplomatic mission abroad?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, our diplomatic mission in any country is our
government’s official representative in that country. Any dealings between the
2 countries are handled through the missions. It is also the duty of our
diplomats posted in these countries to closely analyze developments happening
in the host country and report back to our government on a regular basis. Our
diplomatic offices also play a part in trade relations between the 2 countries.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
up Question 3</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: In this age
of Internet & Google, we can have information about events happening in one
place anywhere else in the world. Still, why do we need to have diplomatic
missions abroad?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, I agree that the internet has made it possible to
access information anywhere; however, ground reality is often different. And
our diplomatic offices keep an ear on the ground to report the actual ground
scenario in the host countries.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-IN">Board Member
1 (Sardarji)</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">You were
born in Vizag. Can you tell me about the causes for the creation of Telengana?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, Telengana<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a> was initially
never a part of what is now Andhra Pradesh. It became a part only around 1960.
The people of Telengana have highly regionalistic feelings about Telengana and
identity themselves more with T than Andhra. Besides, apart from Hyderabad, there has not
been much development in the Telengana region. Owing to all this, Telengana was
created.<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: blue;">Follow up
Question 1</span></u></i><span style="color: blue;">: What is your opinion about this?<br />
</span>Me: Sir, would you like to know about my opinion on the Telengana split
or state splits in general?<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member 1: Please answer about smaller states in
general.<br />
</span>Me: Ok sir. In general, there is a perception that smaller states are
better administered . . .<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member 1 interrupts: No no, tell me *your* opinion.<br />
</span>Me: Ok sir. It is easier to administer smaller states in general.
However, this cannot be the only rationale to go about splitting bigger states.
We need to consider other factors like development level of the state,
sentiments of the local people, demands, etc. before we decide to split states.
Hence, we need to deal with the issue of smaller states on a case-by-case
basis.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What is the
reason of the dispute between North Korea
and South Korea?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN"><momentarily about="" expected="" flustered="" i="" knew="" much="" nor="" since="" something="" t="" this="" wasn="">[<i>Momentarily flustered since this wasn’t something I knew much about nor<br />expected</i>]<br />
Sir, North & South Korea
have been historically antagonistic towards each other. North Korea has
an autocratic government that has been led for many years by a single family.
Sorry, I’m not able to recall the name of the current ruler. South Korea, on
the other hand, is a democracy.<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Board Member: That is fine, but what is the root cause
of their problem?<br />
</span>Me: [<i>I kind of repeat the above answer, but cannot proceed further. Realize this and<br />tell him that I am not sure of the actual historical reason for this</i>]<i above="" actual="" am="" and="" answer="" but="" cannot="" for="" further.="" him="" historical="" i="" kind="" not="" of="" proceed="" realize="" reason="" repeat="" sure="" tell="" that="" the="" this=""><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></i></momentarily></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><i><span lang="EN-IN">Board Member
2 (possibly Tamilian)</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What is the Sahara scam all about? What is the issue with the SC?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, the issue with Sahara
is that they have so far not refunded about Rs.24,000 crores of money to the
investors, as per SC directives. The case itself is that the supposed investors
are fictitious and don’t exist at all. However, till date, Sahara
has not refunded the money.<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: blue;">Follow up
Question 1</span></u></i><span style="color: blue;">: Can you explain SEBI’s role
in the scam?<br />
</span>Sir, the SEBI is involved because of OFCD’s – Optionally Fully Convertible
Debentures. I am not sure beyond this sir.<span style="color: blue;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What was the
recent controversy about the Lok Pal appointment?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, I faintly remember a retired Justice was part of
this controversy.<span style="color: blue;"><br />
Member: Yes yes you are right. It is Justice K.T.Thomas.<br />
</span>Me: Sir, Justice K.T.Thomas was offered the post of Lok Pal but refused.<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member: Is it? Are you sure? I thought it had to do
with the selection committee.<br />
</span>Me: I am sorry sir, I am not sure of this.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Can you
explain about the Green Tribunal?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, the Green Tribunal is a Govt-organization, sorry
Govt-body . . . <br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member: Are you sure?<br />
</span>Me: Yes sir, the Green Tribunal is a govt-organization that looks into
projects and their environmental compliance. It checks to see what kind of
impact projects have on the environment.<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member: But the name “tribunal” suggests that it has
some judicial functions to do as well, right? Like adjudicating on issues
between 2 parties?<br />
</span>Me (smiling): Sir, yes sir. I think that is also one of their
responsibilities.<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member: So what else do they do?<br />
</span>Me: Sir, I’m not aware beyond this.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-IN">Chairman</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Recently,
there is a high-profile court case going on in South Africa about an athlete. What
is it about?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, the name of the athlete is Oscar Pistorius and he
is a double-amputee. He is an athletics champion and runs on prosthetic legs.
The case relates to the murder of his girlfriend, Reena (I don’t know the last
name sir) whom he shot in the bathroom. His contention is that he shot her
mistaking her for an intruder, but the case that has been made out is that he
shot her after an argument between them.<br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: blue;">Follow up
Question 1</span></u></i><span style="color: blue;">: So is the case over?<br />
</span>Sir, no sir, it is still going on.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><i><span lang="EN-IN">Board Member
3</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">You have
mentioned about “Empowerment” in your profile. What is the difference between
Emancipation and Empowerment?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, “Emancipation” refers to us improving the lives of
a set of people and uplifting their condition. “Empowerment” refers to helping
people help themselves and taking care of their own lives.</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
Up Question 1</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: Which is
better?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, in my opinion, Empowerment is better since it
makes them independent and self-reliant.</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
Up Question 2</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: Isn’t
emancipation a part of empowerment?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Yes sir, emancipation is part of empowerment. However,
viewing the 2 separately, I would
say empowerment is better because it makes people independent.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">In the past
6 years, you have been working in so many jobs and have not been in one job for
more than 1 year. What is the reason for this?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Sir, ever since my return to India, I have been
seriously preparing for the Civil services. My first job since I came to India
– I had to satisfy my parents’ concerns for my future and so wanted to
establish a credible backup. So I joined a start-up. I started as a Software
Engineer and became a Project Lead in 2 years. Then I wanted to prepare
full-time for the Services and so joined a public-sector bank as a Probationary
Officer.<br />
<span style="color: blue;">Member: Yes yes, I can see you worked in ***** Bank .
. .<br />
</span>Me: Yes sir, I joined ****** Bank as a PO so I could prepare better for
the services and also wanted good rural exposure. I stayed here for about 10
months after which I thought I had prepared enough and then joined my current
company which will be my backup in case civil services don’t work out. I did
not quit any company out of boredom or lack of interest sir, and all my changes
were to enable me to prepare for the services only.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
Up Question 1</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: So you have
used these companies as a springboard. If you get selected into the services
tomorrow, will you use it as a springboard to achieve something else?</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN">Me (smiling)</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN">: Sir, Civil Services is my lifetime ambition and I will not leave
this if I get into it.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="EN-IN">Board Member
4 (Lady)</span></i></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">With regard
to Indo-Pak relations, do you think diplomats have failed? Why has diplomacy
not been able to take the relationship forward?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Mam, diplomacy can play a part only up to a certain
point. Beyond this, it is up to the concerned governments to take it forward.
In the case of Indo-Pak relations, I would say it is the Pakistan government
which is to be blamed for not cooperating with us and helping take forward the
relationship.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
up Question 1</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: What do you
think is the ideal way to deal with Pakistan?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">(Momentarily flustered since this was a very
broad-based question)<br />
Mam, I think we need to deal with Pakistan using a carrot-and-stick strategy.
On the one hand, we need to increase our engagements with them. But on the
other, in case any adverse events like November 26 happen again, we need to
deal with them with an iron hand, strictly.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
Up Question 2</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: What about
Kashmir is that an issue?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Yes mam, Kashmir is a core issue.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Follow
up Question 3</span></u></i><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">: Do you think
Kashmir should be given away? Should the plebiscite be held?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">No mam, Kashmir should not be given away at all. The
Kashmiri people, in spite of any grievances they may have against India, have
enjoyed democratic privileges all this while. Tomorrow, if Kashmir goes to
Pakistan or becomes independent, we can never be sure that they will continue
to enjoy their democratic rights and privileges. Moreover, from a
security-perspective, we will be in more danger if Kashmir is given away than
what is there now. Hence, I don’t think Kashmir should be given away.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">You have
written in your profile that you advise students wishing to pursue higher
studies in the US. Why is that so? Do you want to encourage students to leave
India and go to US?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Mam, I advise students who have already decided that
they want to go to the US to pursue their higher education. I don’t advise
students to go to the US. My advice to the students is purely because I have
been there and my knowledge about life there, so I just want to make their
journey to the US easier. I do not particularly encourage them to go to the US.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="color: blue;"></span></span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">What is
Silicon Valley?<br />
</span><span lang="EN-IN">Silicon Valley is a region in California which is
considered to be the global home of the Information Technology industry
worldwide.<br />
(I thought of explaining further, but stop short, thinking it would be best to
answer only if she asked further)</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Lady
Member to Chairman: I am done.</span></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span lang="EN-IN" style="color: blue;">Chairman
looks up at me as if to ask me a question, then says “Thank you”. I am unsure
for a moment, but the Chairman I think said “your interview is over”. I thank
all of them and leave.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span lang="EN-IN">My take on the Interview</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN">I think I handled the
first few questions fairly okay – about my company, what I do, etc. Maybe a
little bit more finesse and practice would’ve helped in the answers, but
reasonably okay.</span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Avadi – after my friend
told me, I realized I’d read somewhere that it is actually an acronym for “Armoured
Vehicles & Ammunition Depot of India”, but Wiki says the name precedes the
acronym. Anyhow, this was okay I guess.</span> </li>
<li>Despite the
missions-in-180-countries error, I think I handled the rest of the Chairman’s
questions well, particularly the “Why Civil services” question.<span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Oh and lest I forget - totally missed one of the most important functions of
our missions abroad - handling Indian expats in that country. Not sure how big
a blunder, but a major miss nevertheless.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Telengana – reasonably
done.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">North Vs South Korea – 1<sup>st</sup>
major hiccup. As an IFS-aspirant, should’ve known this. I think he was
expecting “Capitalism Vs Communism” in the answer – a simple point I missed
out.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Sahara scam – Started
well, but lost out at SEBI. I knew where SEBI came in and what OFCD’s are
about, but I guess I panicked there. Didn’t want to be seen beating around the
bush so thought better off to stop with whatever I’d said.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Lok Pal appointment –
Controversy was that K.T.Thomas rejected the post of Lok Pal Appointment
Committee member because he thought their decisions were not binding. One more
hiccup.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Green Tribunal – Biggest
hiccup so far. I described a quasi-judicial body as a government organization.
Again came across as unsure.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Oscar Pistorius –
Full-toss dispatched for six IMO. Only issue might be the possibility that I
over-answered, i.e. spoken more than was expected but given the Chair followed
up with a question on this, guess I did well.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Empowerment Vs
Emancipation – Should’ve included “sustainable” as one of the reasons for
empowerment. Maybe greater clarity in saying emancipation part of empowerment,
but again, overall okay I guess.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Job-switching –
well-handled IMO. Basically it was the plain truth. Hopefully, honesty works.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Indo-Pak Diplomacy –
Can’t think of how I could’ve answered something better for an interview.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Kashmir – I particularly
thought the “democracy” bit was a great point. Hopefully the board will concur.</span><span lang="EN-IN"> </span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-IN">Higher Studies/Silicon
Valley – reasonably okay.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN">But for the 3-4 factual
questions about Lok Pal, Green Tribunal, etc. I think the rest of the interview
was quite smooth. There wasn’t a single question to which I had *no* idea
about. On the other hand, the board could think I had superficial knowledge –
considering I couldn’t go deep on those 4 questions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN">Over and above, I was
brutally honest all through the interview. I spoke with conviction and (I’d
like to think) calmness. I sincerely hope my conviction and honesty gets me
across the board.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN"><u><i>About the Board</i></u>: The
board was cordial – neither friendly nor rude. Except the Chairman, nobody
smiled. Even the Chairman’s smile – I am not sure if it was this warmth-giving
smile or one of those condescending smiles, specifically because I think he
smiled when asking me about my post-graduate degree and joining the services.
The lady member could very well be a psychologist, given she kept looking away
when I was answering her. I smiled from time to time during the interview, and
halfway through the interview, I realized I was using my hands. Tried reigning
them in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-IN">Prediction: Assuming I
never miscommunicated any arrogance or over-confidence during the interview (I
can never be sure of this), I don’t think I’ll go below 160. My sir and some of
my friends have said 190-200 and I’d be thrilled at anything in the region of
200, but will just close my eyes and pray for it to happen.</span><br />
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<u><i><span lang="EN-IN">POSTSCRIPT</span></i></u></h2>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i><span lang="EN-IN">As it turns out, my interview was a washout going by the marks. I got
151/275 in the Interview which effectively killed my hopes of a sub-150
rank. A lot of people I know have got in the region of 170-200. Had I got even 40 more in the interview, I would've most likely ended up in the top 100/top 150. Anyway, no regrets. Let's see what the future holds. :-) </span></i></div>
</div>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156">
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="//img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" />
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style>
<![endif]--></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-48738018125109011942014-05-29T13:53:00.000+05:302014-05-29T13:53:04.663+05:30When Twitter became Suffocating<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Not a week has passed since Narendra Modi assumed office and the level of scrutiny over his decisions in this brief period almost borders on the insane.<br />
Consider the few decisions he has taken -<br />
<br />
1. Portfolio allocation - Smriti Irani's educational qualifications, Arun Shourie's non-inclusion in the Cabinet to name two.<br />
2. Ordinance to bring in Nripendra Mishra - one suggestion goes so bizarre as to make Nripendra Mishra a minister in the PMO to circumvent the TRAI Act hitch. Another says the govt could've waited till Parliament convened & given their numbers, that this Amendment could be passed comfortably and that, till then, Principal Sec to PM not required!<br />
3. Initiation of discussion on Article 370<br />
<br />
I'm already gasping for breath after these 3. And it's now what - 3 days since Modi took the oath? I'm all for informed citizenry, opinions, constructive criticism and all that, but the sheer volume of rhetoric involved is mind-boggling. I'm not even going to compare this with the amount of scrutiny any prior government had to face (no, I'm not going to say UPA). It's great to see people reading up stuff (me included), but what's happening is that folks are running around like headless chickens.<br />
Issue 1 raised by X (usually a "neutral" person and/or disgruntled BJP supporter and/or "liberal" and/or well-wishing/highly-informed/rules-talking armchair intellectuals), 2-3 articles linked. Then the inevitable archive-digging (this is the in-vogue timepass these days - dig up people's tweets that seemingly contradict/are not entirely in line with their current position - then thumb your nose and laugh). This is then used to insinuate that the current government is no different & that they too go back on their own words.<br />
<br />
What's most saddening is how hard core supporters who waited for many years to see Modi become PM haven't been able to wait for a few months, nay days, to see what he does. What's left is a virtual deluge on one's timeline. These aren't even people like priyankac19 or gsurya, but supporters (at least those who claim to be) that are onto Modi's decisions within minutes.<br />
<br />
I, for one, hope Modi & his team aren't spending too much time reading tweets and instead, using it only to disseminate information. He needs at least a solid 6 months to get the basics on track. I'm sure there isn't too much "citizen-outreach", "feedback mechanism", etc needed to get the basics right. Constructive noise might be constructive, but it is still noise. And right now, it is becoming unbearable.</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-81311364539596519982014-02-23T15:21:00.000+05:302014-11-20T22:20:08.369+05:30The BJP's Telengana Strategy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If there is one thing that exceeds die-hard BJP supporters' passion for the BJP, it is their expectations from the party. There is very little allowance for sub-optimal moves and at the hint of even a minor slip, they become disgruntled and start criticizing the party, even before the AAP or Congress (note the order) starts.<br />
BJP's handling of Telengana is the latest in a long list of moves that have left BJP-supporters unenthused and disappointed. I did not see either the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha debate on the Telengana bill but broad consensus from my twitter timeline (as well as newspapers) is -<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>BJP's Lok Sabha performance was an unmitigated disaster. The party meekly capitulated to the bill. </li>
<li>Sushma Swaraj (as usual) screwed up. Some even ventured to hint at her long-standing (purported) closeness with Sonia Gandhi as the reason for her actions in the Lok Sabha.</li>
<li>By comparison, the Rajya Sabha was much better for the BJP. They moved some good amendments.</li>
<li>Venkaiah Naidu earned some respect for himself from his speech in the Rajya Sabha.</li>
</ul>
Overall: the BJP's performance in the parliament with reference to the Telengana bill appears to have been a failure, at least in the eyes of supporters.<br />
Be that as it may, it is probably time to take a bird's eye view of the whole issue. Agreed - the parliament debate, which is the final step in the whole process (nail in the coffin? :), remains at the centre even from a bird's eye view, still, the bigger picture is worth looking at.<br />
The Big Picture<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The BJP has had a minimal presence at best, in Andhra Pradesh.</li>
<li>Jagan Reddy has become the leading contender by far in appropriating the "United Andhra" faction. Chandrababu Naidu, for all his abilities & accomplishments, continues to languish at a distant 2nd in Seemandhra.</li>
<li>It's KCR all the way in Telengana. No two ways about it.</li>
<li>All around, I am told, Congress-decimation looms in both Seemandhra & Telengana. The thing with Machiavellian tactics is that it takes time for even a half-decently-informed observer to figure out where and how such a tactic will reap dividends. Congress, which, on the face of it, appears to be the loser, will find its own ways of bouncing back. Or not.</li>
</ul>
So where does that leave the BJP?<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Riding on the "United Andhra" bandwagon - Taken.<br />Led by Jagan. 2nd spot taken by CBN. Even the Congress has its presence here in the form of Kiran Kumar Reddy (mutiny or no mutiny). So little or no sense in joining this bandwagon as a 4th player.</li>
<li>Pure Telengana-play - KCR all the way, sure. But BJP has no locus standi as far as the history of this claim is concerned. So they could never use a "we have always stood for Telengana" in the sense KCR used it. Though one must add that ever since BJP ventured to express its opinion on this issue, it has been *for* Telengana. In that sense, yes, they have remained steadfast. Appreciable.</li>
</ul>
Given these circumstances, they chose the best possible alternative -
stand for Telengana, but ramp up the unity factor & assuage concerns
of Seemandhra. Now this is a seemingly obvious option, but
surprisingly, very few apart from the BJP have espoused this, at least
vocally.<br />
When Narendra Modi thundered "<a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/narendra-modi-in-hyderabad-support-telangana-but-not-at-cost-of-seemandhra/1/299051.html"><u><i>Jai Telengana, Jai Seemandhra</i></u></a>" in Hyderabad in August 2013, he was, quite noticeably, the first (and till date, possibly only) national leader who made an attempt (however meek) at establishing unity between the 2 regions. What the BJP has by its pro-Telengana stance is show its commitment to the Telengana cause. At the same time, the BJP has espoused the cause of Seemandhra admirably in a way even Jagan hasn't. While Jagan & CBN's stances have come across more from the pov of "United Andhra" as a Telugu cause, there has been little evidence of them having talked about the practical implications - economic & social aspects of Seemandhra. This is where BJP has really scored, in my opinion.<br />
Obviously, despite having been born in Seemandhra & living next-door in TN, I am, for all practical purposes, an outsider. I am also unaware of the kind of coverage BJP's actions/commitment have got in the local media in Andhra and what the average Telugu thinks of BJP's stance (if he even has BJP in mind, that is). I am also not sure of the kind of electoral dividends the BJP is likely to reap from their Telengana strategy, in the 2014 elections (both Lok Sabha as well as Assembly) however, this is possibly the best they could have done, given the current circumstances.</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-8604429892465130372013-12-28T18:43:00.001+05:302014-04-13T22:47:21.283+05:30Divyadesams<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Number Visited - 12<br />
Number Remaining - 95+2<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><u><span style="font-size: large;">North India/Nepal</span></u><br />1. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahobilam" title="Ahobilam">Ahobilam</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh" title="Andhra Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh</a><br />
2. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muktinath" title="Muktinath">Muktinath</a>, Saligramam <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal" title="Nepal">Nepal</a><br />
3. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naimisaranya" title="Naimisaranya">Naimisaranya</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh" title="Uttar Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</a><br />
4. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesava_Deo_Temple" title="Kesava Deo Temple">Mathura</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh" title="Uttar Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</a><br />
5. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiruvaaippadi" title="Tiruvaaippadi">Gokul</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh" title="Uttar Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</a><br /><strike>
6. Devaprayag - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttarakhand" title="Uttarakhand">Uttarakhand</a></strike><br /><strike>
7. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirupathi" title="Tirupathi">Tirupathi</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andhra_Pradesh" title="Andhra Pradesh">Andhra Pradesh</a></strike><br /><strike>
8. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badrinath_temple" title="Badrinath temple">Badrinath temple</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttarakhand" title="Uttarakhand">Uttarakhand</a></strike><br />
9. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Janmabhoomi" title="Ram Janmabhoomi">Ayodhya</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh" title="Uttar Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</a><br />
10. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarakadheesh_Temple" title="Dwarakadheesh Temple">Dwarka</a> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gujarat" title="Gujarat">Gujarat</a></li>
<br />
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Malai Nadu</u></span><br /><strike>11. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Padmanabhaswamy_temple" title="Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple">Thiruvananthapuram</a></strike><br />
12. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaatkaraiappan_Temple" title="Kaatkaraiappan Temple">Thirukatkarai</a><br />
13. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moozhikkalattappan_Temple" title="Moozhikkalattappan Temple">Moozhikkalam</a><br />
14. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sree_Vallabha_Temple" title="Sree Vallabha Temple">Tiruvalla</a><br />
15. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrikodithanam_Mahavishnu_Temple" title="Thrikodithanam Mahavishnu Temple">Thirukadithanam</a><br />
16. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imayavarappa_Perumal_Temple" title="Imayavarappa Perumal Temple">Sengunroor</a><br />
17. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayapiran_Temple" title="Mayapiran Temple">Thiruppuliyoor</a><br />
18. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranmula_Parthasarathy_Temple" title="Aranmula Parthasarathy Temple">Thiruvaaranvilai</a><br />
19. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pambanaiappan_Temple" title="Pambanaiappan Temple">Thiruvanvandoor</a><br />
20. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirunavaya_Temple" title="Thirunavaya Temple">Thiru naavaay</a><br />
21. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abaya_Pradhan_Temple" title="Abaya Pradhan Temple">Viththuvakkodu</a> </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Madurai</u></span><br />22. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumeyyam" title="Thirumeyyam">Thirumeyyam</a><br /><strike>
23. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukoshtiyur" title="Thirukoshtiyur">Thirukoshtiyur</a></strike><br /><strike>
24. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koodal_Azhagar_Temple" title="Koodal Azhagar Temple">Koodal Azhagar Temple</a></strike><br /><strike>
25. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azhagar_Kovil" title="Azhagar Kovil">Azhagar Kovil</a></strike><br />
26. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirumogoor" title="Tirumogoor">Tirumogoor</a><br />
27. <strike><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srivilliputhur_Andal_Temple" title="Srivilliputhur Andal Temple">Srivilliputhur</a></strike><br />
28. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nindra_Narayana_Perumal_Temple" title="Nindra Narayana Perumal Temple">Tiruththangal</a><br /><strike>
29. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Jagannatha_Perumal_Temple" title="Adi Jagannatha Perumal Temple">Thiruppullani</a></strike> </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Kanchipuram</u></span><br />30. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirumala_Venkateswara_Temple" title="Tirumala Venkateswara Temple">Thiruvengadam</a><br />
31. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varadharaja_Perumal_Temple" title="Varadharaja Perumal Temple">Tirukkacchi</a><br />
32. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtabujakaram" title="Ashtabujakaram">Ashtabujakaram</a><br />
33. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiruvekkaa" title="Tiruvekkaa">Tiruvekkaa</a><br />
34. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiruththanka" title="Tiruththanka">Tiruththanka</a><br />
35. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiruvelukkai" title="Tiruvelukkai">Tiruvelukkai</a><br />
36. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakshi_Amman_Temple" title="Kamakshi Amman Temple">Tirukalvanoor</a><br />
37. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulagalantha_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram" title="Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram">Tiru oorakam</a><br />
38. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulagalantha_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram" title="Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram">Tiru neeragam</a><br />
39. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulagalantha_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram" title="Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram">Tiru kaaragam</a><br />
40. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulagalantha_Perumal_Temple,_Kanchipuram" title="Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram">Tirukaarvaanam</a><br />
41. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiru_parameswara_vinnagaram" title="Tiru parameswara vinnagaram">Tiru parameswara vinnagaram</a><br />
42. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiru_pavla_vannam" title="Tiru pavla vannam">Tiru pavala vannam</a><br />
43. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiru_paadagam" title="Tiru paadagam">Tiru paadagam</a><br />
44. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekambaranatha_Temple" title="Ekambaranatha Temple">Tiru nilaaththingal thundam</a><br />
45. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruputkuzhi" title="Thiruputkuzhi">Thiruputkuzhi</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Chennai</u></span><br /><strike>46. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthasarathy_Kovil" title="Parthasarathy Kovil">Thiruvallikeni</a></strike><br />
47. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranganatha_Temple,_Thiruneermalai" title="Ranganatha Temple, Thiruneermalai">Thiruneermalai</a><br />
48. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvidandai" title="Thiruvidandai">Thiruvidandai</a><br />
49. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukadalmallai" title="Thirukadalmallai">Thirukadalmallai</a><br />
50. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaktavatsala_Perumal_Temple,_Thirunindravur" title="Bhaktavatsala Perumal Temple, Thirunindravur">Thiruninravur</a><br />
51. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruevvul" title="Thiruevvul">Thiruvallur</a><br />
52. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukkadigai" title="Thirukkadigai">Thirukkadigai</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Mayiladuthurai and Sirkazhi </u></span><br />53. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Devaadi_Raja_Perumal_Temple_%28Thiruvazhunthoor%29" title="Sri Devaadi Raja Perumal Temple (Thiruvazhunthoor)">Thiruvazhunthoor</a><br />
54. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parimala_Ranganatha_Perumal_Temple" title="Parimala Ranganatha Perumal Temple">Thiruindaloor</a><br />
55. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazheesirama_Vinnagaram" title="Kazheesirama Vinnagaram">Kazheesirama Vinnagaram</a><br />
56. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukkavalampadi" title="Thirukkavalampadi">Thirukkavalampadi</a><br />
57. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruchsemponsey" title="Thiruchsemponsey">Thiruchsemponsey</a><br />
58. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruarimeya_Vinnagaram" title="Thiruarimeya Vinnagaram">Thiruarimeya Vinnagaram</a><br />
59. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiru_Vanpurushothamam" title="Thiru Vanpurushothamam">Thiru Vanpurushothamam</a><br />
60. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvaikunda_vinnagaram" title="Thiruvaikunda vinnagaram">Thiruvaikunda vinnagaram</a><br />
61. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumanimadam" title="Thirumanimadam">Thirumanimadam</a><br />
62. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruthevanartthogai" title="Thiruthevanartthogai">Thiruthevanartthogai</a><br />
63. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruthetriyambalam" title="Thiruthetriyambalam">Thiruthetriyambalam</a><br />
64. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumanikkoodam" title="Thirumanikkoodam">Thirumanikkoodam</a><br />
65. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvellakkulam" title="Thiruvellakkulam">Thiruvellakkulam</a><br />
66. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruppaarththanpalli" title="Thiruppaarththanpalli">Thiruppaarththanpalli</a><br />
67. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalai_Sanga_Nanmathiyam" title="Thalai Sanga Nanmathiyam">Thalai Sanga Nanmathiyam</a><br />
68. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruchsirupuliyoor" title="Thiruchsirupuliyoor">Thiruchsirupuliyoor</a><br />
69. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvali-Thirunagari" title="Thiruvali-Thirunagari">Thiruvali-Thirunagari</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Thanjavur</u></span><br />70. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Govindaraja_Perumal_Temple" title="Govindaraja Perumal Temple">Thiruccithra kootam</a><br />
71. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loganatha_Perumal_Temple" title="Loganatha Perumal Temple">Thirukkannangudi</a><br />
72. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundararajaperumal_Temple,_Nagapattinam" title="Soundararajaperumal Temple, Nagapattinam">Thirunagai</a><br />
73. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanjai_Mamanikoil" title="Thanjai Mamanikoil">Thiru Thanjai</a><br />
74. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulagalantha_Perumal_Temple,_Tirukoyilur" title="Ulagalantha Perumal Temple, Tirukoyilur">Tirukkoilur</a><br />
75. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukkoodaloor" title="Thirukkoodaloor">Thirukkoodaloor</a><br />
76. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gajendra_Varadha_Temple" title="Gajendra Varadha Temple">Thiru Kavith Thalam</a><br />
77. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiru_Aadanoor_Temple" title="Thiru Aadanoor Temple">Thiru Adhanoor</a><br />
78. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirupullabhoothangudi_Temple" title="Thirupullabhoothangudi Temple">Thirupullabhoothangudi</a><br />
79. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarangapani_Temple" title="Sarangapani Temple">Thirukkudandhai</a><br />
80. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirucherai_Saranathan_Temple" title="Tirucherai Saranathan Temple">Thiruccherai</a><br />
81. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirunandipura_Vinnagaram" title="Thirunandipura Vinnagaram">Thirunandipura Vinnagaram</a><br />
82. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachiyar_Koil" title="Nachiyar Koil">ThiruNaraiyoor</a><br />
83. <strike><a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uppiliappan_temple" title="Uppiliappan temple">Thiruvinnagar</a></strike><br />
84. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kola_Valvill_Ramar_Temple,_Tiruvelliyangudi" title="Kola Valvill Ramar Temple, Tiruvelliyangudi">Thiruvelliyangudi</a><br />
85. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaktavatsala_Perumal_Temple,_Tirukannamangai" title="Bhaktavatsala Perumal Temple, Tirukannamangai">Thirukkanamangai</a><br />
86. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelamegha_Perumal_Temple" title="Neelamegha Perumal Temple">Thirukkkannapuram</a><br />
87. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_Saabha_Vimocchana_Perumal_Temple" title="Hara Saabha Vimocchana Perumal Temple">Thirukkandiyur</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Trichy</u></span><br /><strike>88. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Ranganathaswamy_Temple_%28Srirangam%29" title="Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (Srirangam)">Sri Rangam</a></strike><br />
89. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azhagiya_Manavala_Perumal_Temple" title="Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple">Thirukkozhi</a><br />
90. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uthamar_Kovil" title="Uthamar Kovil">Thirukkarambanoor</a><br />
91. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pundarikashan_Perumal_Temple" title="Pundarikashan Perumal Temple">Thiruvellarai</a><br />
92. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vadivazhagiya_Nambi_Perumal_Temple" title="Vadivazhagiya Nambi Perumal Temple">Thiru Anbil</a><br />
93. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appakkudathaan_Perumal_Temple" title="Appakkudathaan Perumal Temple">Thirupper Nagar</a><br />
94. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvanthipuram_temple" title="Thiruvanthipuram temple">Thiruvanthipuram</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Tirunelveli</u></span><br />95. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanamamalai_Perumal_Temple" title="Vanamamalai Perumal Temple">Thiruvaramangai</a><br />
96. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirukkurungudi" title="Thirukkurungudi">Thirukkurungudi</a><br />
97. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srivaikuntanathan_Permual_Temple" title="Srivaikuntanathan Permual Temple">Srivaikundam</a><br />
98. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThiruVaragunamangai_Perumal_Temple" title="ThiruVaragunamangai Perumal Temple">Thiruvaragunamangai</a><br />
99. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThiruPulingudi_Perumal_Temple" title="ThiruPulingudi Perumal Temple">Thiruppulingudi</a><br />
100. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlwarThirunagari_Temple" title="AlwarThirunagari Temple">Thirukkurugoor</a><br />
101. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irattai_Thiruppathy" title="Irattai Thiruppathy">Thirutthulaivillimangalam</a><br />
102. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaithamanidhi_Perumal_Temple" title="Vaithamanidhi Perumal Temple">Thirukkoloor</a><br />
103. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Perumal_Temple,_Tirukulandhai" title="Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Tirukulandhai">Thirukkulandhai</a><br />
104. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makara_Nedunkuzhai_Kannan_Temple" title="Makara Nedunkuzhai Kannan Temple">Thentirupperai</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Kanyakumari</u></span><br />105. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adikesava_Perumal_Temple,_Kanyakumari" title="Adikesava Perumal Temple, Kanyakumari">Thiruvattaru</a><br />
106. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruppathisaram" title="Thiruppathisaram">Thiruvanparisaram</a></li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Vinnulagam</u><span style="font-size: small;"> (<i>Outside the Earthly realm</i>)</span></span><br />107. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_of_Milk" title="Ocean of Milk">Thirupaarkadal</a><br />
108. <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaikunta" title="Vaikunta">Thiruparamapadham</a> </li>
</ul>
</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-45940832588736193352013-12-25T23:34:00.001+05:302013-12-26T11:07:27.447+05:30The Attack of Temporal Locality<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_locality"><u><i>Temporal Locality</i></u></a> is an extremely interesting topic in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Architecture-Quantitative-Approach-Edition/dp/0123704901"><u><i>Computer Architecture</i></u></a> - something that has fascinated me enough to make me recollect it repeatedly in different contexts, despite not being a great Computer Science Engineer per se.<br />
According to temporal locality,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>If at one point in time a particular memory location is referenced, then
it is likely that the same location will be referenced again in the
near future.</i></blockquote>
The actual context is memory access in computers - where the objective is to increase data access speed (or reduce time taken to access data, to put it another way) by trying to "predict" where the next data-to-be-accessed would reside. There are 2 broad approaches to do this -<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><u><i>Spatial Locality</i></u>, i.e. locality of reference based on "location" - or <span style="color: red;"><b><i>where</i></b></span> a particular data is stored. Suppose you are going to Usman Road Pothys to do some shopping. Seeing you're near Duraiswamy subway, you figure you might as well pay a visit to Venkataramana Boli Stall (which lies just on the other side of the subway) and get some Thengaa Poli which you haven't had for a long time. So if your computer were to control the world, once you were at Pothys, it would automatically activate places within, say a 1-2 km radius, with the expectation that you would go there next (Like how Venkataramana Boli Stall is supposed to produce an extra bunch of Thengaa Polis every time the SuperStar makes a visit to Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam). This, in a gist, is what Spatial Locality is all about.</li>
<li><u><i>Temporal Locality</i></u> is however more intriguing. It is based on "time" or <span style="color: red;"><b><i>when</i></b></span> a particular data was accessed. So going back to our example, according to this concept, if you visited Pothys on 25th December 2013, chances are that you'll visit Pothys or that area within the next couple of days. Now this is both intuitive as well as intriguing. Intuitive because if you go to a particular place, chances are that you might go to that place again. Pothys might be a bad example for an irregular customer, but if you consider your local kirana store or your workplace for that matter, temporal locality works like a charm. Intriguing because of its irrelevance to our example. Why would you keep going to a place, especially if it is far-off, when you can get done things in one go.</li>
</ol>
Despite its intriguing and possibly questionable efficacy, I am seeing increasing instances of temporal locality in real life. <br />
This past week has been an overdose of temporal locality for me, culminating in a grand finale today.<br />
First was when I'd been to watch the torrid Endrendum Punnagai at Fame Cinemas in Vadapalani on Saturday. The very next day, for a totally different reason, I passed by that place, in a matter of 12 hours, when I live at least 13 km away. Then, to continue the game, temporal locality happened again - the same day, with a different memory location. Sunday I already had plans for the night show of Dhoom-3 at Devi Cinemas. By a queer twist of fate, I ended up going to Tarapore Towers at noon itself, for a different purpose.<br />
Now both these could be dismissed as coincidences, considering I was in an epic break-free mood that weekend anyhow.<br />
But what was most intriguing is what happened today. Just this Saturday (yes, immediately prior to my Endrendum Punnagai experience), I had gone to pick up my vehicle from service - what was noteworthy is that this was the first time I was using my insurance after close to 3 years of owning the vehicle. Though the claim was for reasonably minor repairs, it anyhow wiped out my NCB (No-Claim Bonus). Barely 5 days after my first insurance claim, I met with a minor-but-by-no-means-small accident about 40 km away from the place of my first claim - the first major one for my vehicle. I could almost see temporal locality cocking a snook at spatial locality. The insurance advisor at the service centre who was, by now, familiar with me, could barely suppress a chuckle when I took my vehicle back to him within a week.<br />
<br />
Now coming to the actual accident, without ambling along in paragraphs, I'll list a few key points here -<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The actual moments of impact flew by in slow-motion, almost like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYFFVxcRDbQ&feature=youtu.be&t=2m15s"><u><i>this Spiderman scene</i></u></a>. In fact, today I could distinctly feel the crunching sound of the glass and there were almost multiple events playing out in front of me in a collision that probably lasted for 2-3 seconds. I've felt it before and I've also had others tell me their accidents to be similarly slo-mo-experiences. If only life in general flew by at such a pace, we'd have so much time to do things. Sigh. This incident anyhow seeked to increase my faith in the belief that during the last few moments of your life, your entire life will be replayed.</li>
<li>On the positive front : the immediate moment of impact & some minutes after - there were no thoughts of tweeting/blogging, something I have begun to fear over the past few years. However, after 10 min or so, once reality had sunk in, twitter came to the mind's forefront. Thankfully, live-tweeting didn't happen because of the absence of a data plan.</li>
<li>At the police station, this was the picture that greeted me from the Inspector's desk. Enough said. Female simply refuses to refrain from <strike>stalking</strike> trailing me wherever I go.</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tIEQ4UbnfWA/UrsVtyiwZ0I/AAAAAAAALGY/E4WE2pR0Nzs/s1600/trish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tIEQ4UbnfWA/UrsVtyiwZ0I/AAAAAAAALGY/E4WE2pR0Nzs/s320/trish.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Needless to say, this was my 1st proper case-based visit to a police station. And any visit to a police station, I assume, is bound to have several stories. Out of the many stories that I was witness to, today, this one took the cake -<br />There was this rather pretty girl (ostensibly from the lower middle class) who'd come all alone, to file a case against a guy. What unraveled over the next half-an-hour or so was straight out of a movie. The girl, originally from Karnataka, was settled in TN and was all of 22 years old. She had already been married once (when barely out of college, in her own words) and had exited it in a jiffy. Her divorce papers are apparently due in January. In the meanwhile, she appears to have moved on to the next relationship and going by her own candid admission, had consummated it. The 2nd guy, however, appears to have been in the dark about her 1st marriage and when he came to know of it, promptly backed out of the relationship, despite having <i>done</i> <u>it</u>. Girl then files a rape case against him. Guy attempts suicide. Girl 1.has no father. 2.has come to the station alone, without any relatives, 3.without the knowledge of her mother. Icing on the cake: she is in a relationship with a 3rd guy now, details of which were uncovered by the Police in course of their investigations. Girl asks the Inspector without batting an eyelid "<u><i>Adhellam ungalukku epdi theriyum sir? Seri, epdiyo therinju pochu, adha vidunga ippo</i></u>." Me and my parents watched with our mouths agape.</li>
<li>Coming back to my story, collision happened with a vegetable-delivery-to-vegetable-shops truck. Most such truck drivers/owners are likely to be associated with some Vanigar Sangam or some such, which, in turn, is likely to be affiliated with some political party. No surprises there. But in Dravidan land, what are the odds that such a driver is affiliated not with any of the Munnetra Kazhagams, not with the Congress, not even with the Communists, but the BJP! My eyes obviously lit up when I got to know of this, but immediately realized that apart from hobnobbing with a few powers-that-be and some wannabes associated with the BJP, on tyutter, there was little (if at all) "influence" I could use, if confronted with the BJP card from the other party.</li>
<li>Mistake was on the truck driver's side and damages to my vehicle were reasonably high, while almost zilch for the truck. I didnt realize then that claiming insurance for *my* vehicle using the *truck's insurance* would be such a lengthy, uncertain, difficult procedure, so was content with getting the insurance details from the truck driver. The police, after ascertaining the mistake to be on the truck driver's side, said that even if I did manage to claim damages from the other party's insurance, I'd still have to shell out money from my pocket for depreciation and other charges. Accordingly, they said I should get something from the other party for the expenses I'd have to pay from my pocket. However, kind-old-me was very reluctant to do that, seeing that the other party was not-so-well-off and all that. After much telling-off by the parents and the police, I had to accept the meagre compensation that the other party gave.</li>
<li>Fast-forward to the showroom - reality hits me like a ton of bricks.</li>
</ul>
<ol style="text-align: left;"><ol>
<li>Claiming insurance from another party's insurance for your vehicle's damages is an inordinately lengthy process that has no guarantee of getting you just compensation, even if you are in the right, even if the police has issued a certificate stating the same. It involves multiple trips to the court by you as well as the other party, and the process has an average completion time of anywhere between 6 months to a year.</li>
<li>I have to go with claiming damages from my own insurance company. Turns out I'll have to shell out at least double the compensation given by the driver, outside of what the insurance covers. After returning home, could distinctly overhear parents discussing "Minimal replacements vechunde ivlo aagardhu, Indha azhai'la indha uttama-putran'ukku kaasu vera vaanga vendaamaam. Unga pulla indha maadhiri paavam ellam paathaan'na velangiduvaan."</li>
</ol>
</ol>
There went my rather eventful 2013 Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!<br />
<br /></div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1435725368489982417.post-29031720025013114172013-12-19T11:49:00.000+05:302013-12-19T15:53:57.235+05:30The Quota system in the LokPal Bill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Thanks to the relentless tweeting of <a href="http://twitter.com/realitycheckind">@realitycheckind</a>, I got to know that the Lok Pal Bill that was recently passed in the Parliament has a Quota System of its own.<br />
According to the Bill (<a href="http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=101963">http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=101963</a>),<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>The Lokpal will consist of a Chairperson and a maximum of eight Members, of which fifty percent shall be judicial members.</li>
<li>Fifty per cent of members of Lokpal shall be from amongst SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities and Women.</li>
</ul>
<br />
So now we have reservation even in the Lok Pal that mandates that 50% of the Lok Pal shall be judicial members while 50% shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women. Note that the 2 50%'s arent mutually exclusive, which means there can be an overlap - which means that the same 50% can be both judicial members as well as from SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women.<br />
<br />
Important point here is that there is no stipulation that there should be ONLY 50%. So we now have the following possibilities -<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>All of the Lokpal consists of SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women (out of which at least 50% are judicial members).</li>
<li>All of the Lokpal consists of judicial members (out of which at least 50% are SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities & Women).</li>
</ol>
<br />
If my understanding is right, both scenarios above are possible.<br />
Here's the question - if the assumption is right that it requires the presence of SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities, Women members to ensure fair treatment in case the accused government servant happens to be from one of those groups, doesn't that imply that you don't have confidence in the impartiality of the other 50% (assuming the other 50% isn't from this list)<br />
Doesn't it logically imply that members from this group need not be expected to be impartial to someone from outside this group?<br />
Or do you mean to say that non-category members can't be trusted when the accused is from one of the categories, while category members can be, when the accused is from a general category?<br />
<br />
The Minority Question -<br />
We are back to square one here. What is the definition of "minority" that will be used? If the Lokpal has this composition, is the Lokayukta expected to follow something similar (I am assuming there is no compulsion, but it's anyone's guess whether the states WONT follow suit). In that case, how about states where, simply going by religious parameters, Hindus are a minority or all religions are of relatively similar population where it wouldn't be accurate to categorize one as Majority and the others are Minorities.<br />
For eg:<br />
Nagaland: 90% Christian, 8% Hindu & 2% Muslim<br />
Meghalaya: 70% Christian, 13% Hindu<br />
J&K:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> 67% Muslim, 30% Hindu<br />
<br />
Oh, but this is the Communal Violence Bill all over again!<br />
<br />
What specifically is the purpose of this quota here? Surely, we're not trying to uplift and provide opportunities to the historically suppressed communities?<br />
How long are we going to have this quota thing going on? Isn't there some kind of closure that we can expect at some point of time in the future?<br />
Will this quota system henceforth be templatized? What are the chances that we'll now start having agitations from communities demanding for reservation in other constitutional/statutory bodies as well?<br />
Where are we going? Is this the right idea to communicate to our people?</div>
Kaushikhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08571480761937778118noreply@blogger.com