An infamous IAS aspirant once quoted "No exam is easy as long as there are 2 people appearing for it".In short you cannot underestimate the level of competition in a country like India with millions (both employed and unemployed fighting for a handful of seats).So here I was... on the 'D' day 26 May 2013..with all essential stationary items..a mineral water bottle..and admit card waiting in front of my exam center at cuttack. Inspite of the vast syllabus and cut throat competition UPSC ensures that exam is conducted in the middle of summer season (may to be precise) to ensure that the torture is complete in all aspects.
On my way to the exam centre I was stopped by a fellow UPSC aspirant waiting with her TVS pep walking anxiously towards me..For a while i had no clue what to do with many questions simultaneously striking my mind..do I know her,does she know me,why is she so much worried,had she come unprepared?..even if it is so what's the point crying now??...then she started speaking in oriya...now 'my' facial expressions started changing as i could not understand much.A few while later I figured out that the future IAS aspirant has locked her Scooty's dickey which is located below vehicle's back seat and kept all her items inside along with the Vehicle keys and her cellphone and all she wanted from me was my cellphone to make a call to her home to get help.I lended my phone to her and about a minute later got my phone back and headed towards my exam centre.
The best thing about growing up is the realization of one's karma which draws upon human beings because on that day I could hardly find anyone indulging in any last minute study for the exam.....Sala saal bhar jo nahi huya woh ab 10 minute me Ghanta hoga !!But in such tough situation I temporarily forgot the Karma theory... took out my test series papers and started revising the questions to leave no chances.Yaar ek question phas gaya toh :)
At 9:10 a.m I entered the exam hall located my exam hall and took my seat and as per my old habit checked out the girls in the room ,offered my prayers and started the anxious wait for the question paper.As soon as i got the question booklet...I filled in the details in my answer sheet and went directly to the last page.Bingo!!The last 10 questions were based on indian Economy :) in all and that too testing the basics..no current affairs crap..My eyes brightened up...I realized 3-4 questions were directly from the test series I revised minutes ago...The test went on smoothly..History was tricky..so was polity,science surprisingly easy..Geography I found tough...I just wished had i got a week's leave before exam i could have revised geography better..Nevertheless I ticked 65 out of 100 and marked 6 for last moment..The invigilator came to me and started verifying my particulars at such an agonizing pace...that he ended up eating up my 5 minutes in spite of my best efforts to help him out.In the lat 15 minutes i scanned the entire paper and attempted 6 marked questions.so i attempted 71 in all.
I came out confidently out of the exam hall.Looked at the fellow expressionless candidates and realized there is no point in gauging one's performance since paper 2 was still remaining in the afternoon session.I went out ..had my lunch..revised some aptitude topics..time-speed,average ,percentage etc.The second paper started at 2:30 pm.the Invigilator I guess had learnt his lesson and felt pity on us candidates and this time completed the formalities well before the start of exam like verifying roll number,signing on my answer sheet etc.I got the paper..started with compulsory english questions..I could solve 3 passages correctly..My confidence grew with time...i was solving at a good speed I completed half of the questions in litlle more than an hour i had still 50 minutes with me to solve remaining 40 questions....and then it happened...lightning followed by thunder and the power of exam centre went off...In east India sun sets early so there was limited sunlight...I looked at the examiner..he gave me a sorry look...i realized there was no point in asking about the Generator..Goverment school me kaha se aayega Generator !!I moved my seat immediately near the door where there was a little sunlight coming in and continued with the paper just like the other candidates...In the end we got extra 10 minutes to complete the paper 2.I managed to go through all the questions although struggled with reasoning questions...
I came out of the exam hall with mixed emotions.Made call to home and friends and headed to the railway station to catch the train..
.
On my way to the exam centre I was stopped by a fellow UPSC aspirant waiting with her TVS pep walking anxiously towards me..For a while i had no clue what to do with many questions simultaneously striking my mind..do I know her,does she know me,why is she so much worried,had she come unprepared?..even if it is so what's the point crying now??...then she started speaking in oriya...now 'my' facial expressions started changing as i could not understand much.A few while later I figured out that the future IAS aspirant has locked her Scooty's dickey which is located below vehicle's back seat and kept all her items inside along with the Vehicle keys and her cellphone and all she wanted from me was my cellphone to make a call to her home to get help.I lended my phone to her and about a minute later got my phone back and headed towards my exam centre.
The best thing about growing up is the realization of one's karma which draws upon human beings because on that day I could hardly find anyone indulging in any last minute study for the exam.....Sala saal bhar jo nahi huya woh ab 10 minute me Ghanta hoga !!But in such tough situation I temporarily forgot the Karma theory... took out my test series papers and started revising the questions to leave no chances.Yaar ek question phas gaya toh :)
At 9:10 a.m I entered the exam hall located my exam hall and took my seat and as per my old habit checked out the girls in the room ,offered my prayers and started the anxious wait for the question paper.As soon as i got the question booklet...I filled in the details in my answer sheet and went directly to the last page.Bingo!!The last 10 questions were based on indian Economy :) in all and that too testing the basics..no current affairs crap..My eyes brightened up...I realized 3-4 questions were directly from the test series I revised minutes ago...The test went on smoothly..History was tricky..so was polity,science surprisingly easy..Geography I found tough...I just wished had i got a week's leave before exam i could have revised geography better..Nevertheless I ticked 65 out of 100 and marked 6 for last moment..The invigilator came to me and started verifying my particulars at such an agonizing pace...that he ended up eating up my 5 minutes in spite of my best efforts to help him out.In the lat 15 minutes i scanned the entire paper and attempted 6 marked questions.so i attempted 71 in all.
I came out confidently out of the exam hall.Looked at the fellow expressionless candidates and realized there is no point in gauging one's performance since paper 2 was still remaining in the afternoon session.I went out ..had my lunch..revised some aptitude topics..time-speed,average ,percentage etc.The second paper started at 2:30 pm.the Invigilator I guess had learnt his lesson and felt pity on us candidates and this time completed the formalities well before the start of exam like verifying roll number,signing on my answer sheet etc.I got the paper..started with compulsory english questions..I could solve 3 passages correctly..My confidence grew with time...i was solving at a good speed I completed half of the questions in litlle more than an hour i had still 50 minutes with me to solve remaining 40 questions....and then it happened...lightning followed by thunder and the power of exam centre went off...In east India sun sets early so there was limited sunlight...I looked at the examiner..he gave me a sorry look...i realized there was no point in asking about the Generator..Goverment school me kaha se aayega Generator !!I moved my seat immediately near the door where there was a little sunlight coming in and continued with the paper just like the other candidates...In the end we got extra 10 minutes to complete the paper 2.I managed to go through all the questions although struggled with reasoning questions...
I came out of the exam hall with mixed emotions.Made call to home and friends and headed to the railway station to catch the train..
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