Now a days there is a trend in the Bollywood to make sequels
like Dabang 2, Gangs of Wasseypur 2 etc. so, in the same manner here is part 2
of my UPSC interview (officially called Personality Test).
Date: May 14, 2015
Session: Morning
Venue: UPSC Dholpur House New Delhi
Board: Smt. Alka Sirohi
My reporting time was 8:30 in the morning and I reached
there by 8. After the initial formalities of documentation etc., PT started
around 9:30 in the morning. I was allotted the board of Smt. Alka Sirohi
along-with 7 other candidates (Ahsraf Zaidi, Venkatesh Ayyar, Samridhi Roy, Sulochana
Reddy, Nirali Sinha, Raghav Gautam and Mayuri Rastogi)
First Raghav was called then Sulochana, then Ashraf, then
Samridhi and at the fifth term it was my turn, the time was around 11:20 am
when I entered the board room and the later story was unfolded in the following manner:-
Me: may I come in (while I noticed there were five members
three males and two females including the chairman)
Chairman: come in
me: Good morning mam, good morning sirs and mam
Chairman: take your seat
Me: thank you mam
Chairman: your summary sheet says that you appeared for the
Personality Test earlier also, so do you remember who was the chairman at that
time of the board?
Me: Yes mam, Mr. I.M.G. Khan was the chairman of the board
at that time
Chairman: you might be aware that he is retired as a member
now
Me: yes mam, I am aware about this
Chairman: How do you know that?
Me: I read about his retirement in Chronicle magazine
Chairman: which type of magazine is this?
Me: I am sorry mam but I couldn't get what do you mean
Chairman: is it an entertainment, political, economical
...etc magazine?
Me: mam. it is a competition monthly especially for the
Civil Service Examination
Chairman: are you a regular reader of this magazine?
Me: yes mam
Chairman: who is the present editor of the magazine?
Me: I am sorry mam, but I am not aware about his name
Chairman: what is the main topic of the magazine for this
month?
Me: it is Geography, mam
Chairman: what are the current happenings related with
geography?
Me: mam, the most recent happening is the earthquake in
Nepal and the surrounding areas
Chairman: any other happening besides the earthquake
Me: (I took a pause for a while then said...) mam, the
coming year is suspected to be an el-nino year
Chairman: but meteorological department hasn't confirmed it
yet, any other happening besides this el-nino
Me: (now I was fathoming my brain and again it was a pause
then I got to the issue of damaged crops due to unseasonal rain but was unable
to recollect the actual word then I decided to go with a raw explanation...)
mam, it is related with the farmer's plight due to uneven rain
Chairman: isn't it due to western disturbance?...(I
exclaimed silently ...shit!!!! yaar it
was just in my mouth)
Chairman: which countries are prone to the western
disturbance ?
Me: mam, it mostly affects the areas in the Indian
subcontinent like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh etc.
Chairman: it doesn't affect the China?
Me: Mam, I am not sure about it
Chairman: which type of storm is it?
Me: I am sorry mam, I don't know about this
Chairman: o.k., basically how many types of storms are
there?
Me: I am not sure mam, but right now I can remember only two
types
Chairman: what two types?
Me: tropical and extra-tropical
Chairman: what is the difference between the two?
Me: tropical storms circulate in lower atmospheres while
extra-tropical storms circulate in the upper atmospheres
Chairman: o.k., do you have any solution to recede the
farmer's plight due to this western disturbance?
Me: mam. it requires a governance related solution rather
than a technical solution because we can't stop geographical happenings like
this western disturbance etc. to occur as it comes every year with less,
moderate to severe frequencies and affects mostly the rabi crops. What we can
do is to make better arrangements for the damaged crops of the farmers like
allowing agricultural insurance for individual farmers and enhancing the direct
purchasing capacity of the govt.
Chairman: o.k., but there are technical solutions too like
developing better seeds which can withstand the storm, warning systems, soil
profiling and many more ...being a science scholar you can't get away only with
general solutions (then she looked at member 1 for asking questions)
M1: what do you understand by the word "smart"?
Me: sir, in context of a person it implies his efficiency to
execute quality work in lesser time than the others and in context of a thing
it refers to its number of utility features.
M1: and what about a place?
Me: a place can also be smart when it provides quality and
dynamic public services with greater ease like the present govt. is propounding
the concept of "Smart City".
M1: can you elaborate the features of a smart city?
Me: yes sir, a smart city has efficient transportation
facility, it provides health and educational facilities to the proximity of
residential communities, maximum functioning of the state/city through
e-governance, adequate water availability to all, proper waste management etc.
M1: what are cyberville?
Me: I am sorry sir, I don't know about that
M1: what do you mean by flexicity?
Me: again, I don't know about this sir!
M1: both are the synonyms for smart city, o.k., is it
possible to make every city smart in our country and if yes then how?
Me: yes sir, it is possible. In-fact most cities have
started to move on the path of smart-city by installing newer modes of
governance like utilizing solar-energy to lit street lights etc, adopting
electronic modes of service deliveries for example online procedures in getting
passports and other such documents. What we need further is to employ smart
managers to execute the concept of smart city. There is immense potential in
our cities to grow as smart ones and it is achievable by strengthening our
infrastructure.
M1: can you name any such cities?
Me: sir, Barcelona, Seol, Mexico City...
M1: stop, stop......I mean in India
Me: I am sorry sir, in India we have New Delhi, Chandigarh,
New Raipur, Lavassa, Navi Mumbai etc.
which can be considered as smart cities
M1: Have you heard the name of Dholera port city?
Me: No sir
M1: it is in Gujarat and is one of the first ICT-enabled
smart city in the world. o.k., do you consider yourself smart?
Me: (I took a long pause.....then he intervened and said
don't bother about that and smiled sarcastically and looked at member 2 for
asking questions)
M2: you look very thin, is it hereditary or you eat less and
study more?
Me: Sir I use to eat adequately and it may be due to my high
rate of BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate)
M2: what is this BMR?
Me: sir, it is the metabolic rate which varies person to
person and when someone has higher metabolic rate then there are lesser chances
of deposition of fats which results in a thin stature of the body as in my case
and when a person has lower metabolic rate then chances of obesity is more.
M2: isn't there any intermediate level of this BMR?
Me: yes sir it is there and those persons are generally
neither too thin nor too thick as in your case.
(everybody laughed at this)
M2: thanks for the compliment, but isn't it possible that
you become like me, I mean your BMR matches to my BMR so that you no more
remain thin?
Me: I don't have any idea about this sir!
M2: you should eat at-least three boiled eggs in the
breakfast and it will definitely bring improvements
Me: I am sorry sir, but I don't eat eggs
M2: why?
Me: sir, I am a vegetarian and in-fact my entire family is
vegetarian, so, I have never eaten eggs in my life
M2: do you mean that you haven't eaten egg since your childhood?
Me: no sir, since my birth
M2: to aap pandit ji hain
Me: I am sorry sir, but I am not eating eggs or any other non-veg
items not because of being a member of Hindu or pandit cult but because of the
fact as I earlier mentioned that my entire family is vegetarian so I couldn't
get the exposure of eating such things
M2: it means if you get the exposure then you will feel free
to consume these
Me: sir it will be possible only in some extreme cases like
when it will come to be an issue of my survival, unless it will be quite
difficult for me
M2: (he smiled sarcastically ....then he looked at lady
member to ask questions)
(note: I don't know why every smile seems to me as
sarcastic)
Lady Member: besides civil services what are the other
avenues to serve the society in equivalent?
Me: mam, a medical entrepreneur like Doctor, a social worker
Lady Member: stop, stop......I said in equivalent to an IAS,
IPS etc.
Me: (I took a pause) mam, a teacher can fall in that
category
Lady Member: any other?
Me: (again took a pause..this time a long one)
Lady Member: what about cinema and journalism?
Me: yes, definitely mam, these are important ones
Lady Member: (then she gave a long lecture over the
significance of cinema and journalism in the society) o.k., recently there was
a contradiction between film-makers and the government, what was that?
Me: mam, I am not sure but it may be related with the
statutory warnings regarding the tobacco products
Lady Member: no, this is an old one, I have asked for the
recent contradiction
Me: I am sorry mam, but I am not able to figure out that
Lady Member: isn't it regarding the Censor-Board and the
film-makers? (then explained in detail .....and again the shit!!! moment for me)
o.k., you talked about statutory warning row, what was that?
Me: mam, govt. wants film-makers to avoid smoking or
drinking scenes in their films and if they have to show such scenes then it
asks them to flash warning along-with that scene and this is what film-makers
are quoting as an infringement in their art
Lady Member: what is your take over the issue, who is at
wrong side govt. or the film fraternity?
Me: mam, I favour the film-makers opinion because cinema is
an art which reflects the episodes of the real world through entertainment and
people go to watch films only for entertainment so it will be wrong for govt.
to intervene in the things which are of purely artistic in nature
Lady Member: isn't it good for health sake?
Me: yes mam, it is good but there is censor board which can
give the appropriate certification for a particular film and can decide which
category of society is eligible to watch a particular movie
Lady Member: why Indian movies fail at the Academy Awards?
Me: mam, there are two main things, first is the lack of
creativity as compared to the Hollywood and other foreign national movies and
the second is the dominant lobby of the Hollywood movies at the Oscars because
of which even some deserving Bollywood
movies lag behind in the race of awards
Lady Member: what is this lobby?
Me: (I regretted why I used that but I was trapped now and had
to give some answer and then I gave another silly one...) mam, it is somewhat
similar to political manipulations where some dominant forces crush the future
of some deserving candidates in the elections
Lady Member: but our motto is "truth only
prevails" (then she looked at member 4 to ask questions)
M4: what is communalism?
Me: sir, communalism arises when the community of one
religion starts dominating over the other religion in their norms and values
M4: why after so many researches and experiments in
sociology over this issue, we haven't able to conquer it?
Me: sir, religion has become a tool to win elections and
corrupt practices in the political arena is the main reason that we have failed
to solve this problem
M4: do you have any specific solution for this problem other
than good practices in the politics?
Me: (I took a moderate pause) yes sir, good-quality and
secular education is that tool with the help of which we can overcome this
problem
M4: what do you mean by secular education?
Me: sir, by secular education I mean a religion-neutral
syllabus in our education where no particular religion is given weightage over
the others
M4: besides education any other specific solution?
Me: (again took a long pause......)
M4: o.k., leave that, what for Bezbaruah Commission was
formed?
Me: I am sorry sir, but I am not aware of this
M4: o.k., have you heard about Lolita fashion?
Me: no sir
M4: it is a prevailing attire in Japan mostly followed by
the girls.....o.k, who is your favourite scientist in sociology?
Me: sir, my favourite is Herbert Spencer
M4: why?
Me: sir, because he emphasized total view of sociology and
because of that it has been possible to address various social issues more
easily than earlier when sociological views were in parts
M4: who followed Herbert Spencer more, the functionalists or
the fundamentalists?
Me: Sir, I am not able to figure out this
M4: you are from Chandigarh so how much point will you give
out of 10 to Chandigarh in terms of women's safety and why?
Me: sir, I will give 6 out of 10 as the city has taken some
working steps towards the women's safety like separate busses for women,
increase in the numbers of lady police personnel
Chairman: is it a good solution to make provision of
separate busses for women?
Me: no mam, it is not an appropriate solution but it is a
short-term solution required at the moment and that is why I have given 6 and
not more points because there is a need for mental reformation in the society
for the long-term solution of this problem but that is not achievable in one
single move rather it is a slow process which will take its course if proper
measures are taken
Chairman: thank you....you may go
Me: thank you mam, thank you sirs and mam
Now it was 11:55 am when I came out of the Board Room.
