Last two weeks

Two weeks back, I mentioned my GS Paper III preparation plan. But I am very sorry to say that I have not followed the very plan that I made. Well, I couldn't complete the syllabus in two days. Then I had to revise some older topics. Then, I had to get away on some personal business. And things got delayed. Anyway, what I want to say, I will be more practical and less ambitious in planning my study schedule from next time.

Then international break is over and club football is back. But today we don't get to see Real Madird's match because the entire ESPN Star network's slots are blocked telecasting some other live matches. India vs Australia 3rd ODI in two channels, one telecast in English and the other one in Hindi, then ManU, Arsenal and Chelsea matches on three more channels. If everything works out, I will try to watch the match online. It is a very important week for Madrid because any drop in points will make it very difficult to win the league. Unlike BPL, where top teams can drop points now and then, here in La Liga, Real and Barca can not afford to drop points cheaply. Over the whole season, these both teams only loose two or three matches and the last two seasons saw Real and Barca get 100 points out of possible 114, dropping just 14 points. And in this season, while Barcelona haven't dropped a single point, we are already 5 points behind them. So, no place for complacency.


Then, I read the novel 'Dancing with Maharaja', written by Sundar, an IRS officer. The novel is funny and it shows what all struggles us aspirants have to go through. But for our protagonist, who isn't smart and took 5 years to complete his engineering and wasted most of his initial months of preparation in boozing, wandering here and there, it is very unrealistic to show him clearing the exam in his first attempt*. I mean he does nothing till December 1999 when he visits Odhisha to help and find his friend Mohit from devastation caused by floods. His actual preparation starts only after he comes back from Odisha, which is just 5 months from Prelims. He clears Prelims and then Mains. He doesn't even prepare for interview till the Mains results are out. He doesn't believe in himself and he wouldn't even apply for next year prelims and resigned to the thought of managing his father's business. But the results are out and he gets top rank. So much for his thinking that this exam would be very tough. In the end, I guess it was all easy for him. But, one thing is for sure, you get to know about preparation for IAS, the aspirants struggles, life of aspirants in Rajinder nagar, Delhi where most of the coaching classes are located. And this novel is not boring any where. I could read it just two days. Then, I also read 'Freakonomics'. The author used economics to analyse few myths that we hear daily. It is a decent book, but I found it a little boring some times. And now I am planning to read 'India Unbound'.

first attempt* - The novel doesn't explicitly say that he cleared in the first attempt, but I assumed so. After giving interview, our hero waits for the results and this chapter of the novel ends there. In the next chapter which is ten years later, we were shown our hero as IAS officer of some district in Andhra Pradesh. The one thing I didn't like about the author is he ends chapters abruptly. This is one thing that runs throughout the book. You seriously miss continuity in this novel, the story develops, our hero is doing something and then suddenly that part is over. The next part is set some where else and some thing else entirely. Sometimes, I feel like some chapters are missing or they made a small book out of a very large book with some chapters hand picked from here and there. Hence, I thought that the announcement of results in our hero's first attempt weren't shown and this was perfectly in line with the way the novel shaped till now as at other instances too author didn't complete the part of the story before jumping on to the next one.

So, that's it for now. I hope Madrid plays well and wins today. Later...