Today, coaching for both my optional subjects came to an end. Now, when I recall the situation which prevailed four months ago, a period when debates and discussions for choosing the optional subjects were widespread and prevalent. Overwhelming suggestions and ideas from my friends were mere confusions instead of being any sort of help. I had to contemplate before choosing any of my subjects since it is rightly said half the battle is won the time you choose your optional subjects prudently. After a lot of discourses, I zeroed in to Public administration and Lit of Sanskrit. Though it was easy to choose Public administration, opting for Lit of Sanskrit was equally difficult. Why I chose these subjects, my experiences with these optional subjects, how I performed in them is discussed further:
Public administration
The most liked optional subjects among aspirants owing to
its concise syllabus and being supplement to General Study’s preparation. I
also chose it and plunged into the battle along with others despite few
negative trends and rumours against this optional. A few allege it to be low
scoring, on the other hand, many are opposed of previous view and consider it a
King-maker optional (i.e. Top 100 of the final list). No doubt, scoring good or
bad marks completely depend upon the ability to express your views before the
examiner, therefore, it would be foolish to rely completely on others’
groundless accusations, unfounded suspicions and baseless rumours.
It was
a wonderful and pleasant journey of 3 and half months; I enjoyed the subject to
the extent that though a long time has elapsed it seems as if 31st may was
just a couple of days back. The well constructed coaching notes seem to be
repository of knowledge and a Bible for public administration. It is a
wonderful feeling to get relevant things for each topic at one place which
makes it easy to revise the syllabus under the pressure situation of mains
examination.
At the beginning seemingly boring
and low scoring optional how it gradually became interesting is quite
intriguing. It was apparently due to the support of our renowned faculty, Mr. Mohanty, who
helped us to articulate our discrete ideas and to steer our thoughts according
to the questions asked. His way of explaining things and relating traditional
topics with contemporary situations was, indeed, fascinating. Moreover, a lot
of marks fetching techniques, suggested by him, were of great help which was
apparently evident in the class test results. As far as his teaching style,
academic intelligence and communication skills are concerned, he is undoubtedly
second to none. Covering as many as about 20 chapters within 3.5 months and that
too with impeccable effectiveness and in a student friendly manner was a
commendable task. Probably he has proved before us why he has been a guide to
almost 1500 students in one session for last 10 years.
Lit. Of Sanskrit
As I have discussed earlier, it was the most difficult to
choose Sanskrit as an optional subject. Despite performing well in Sanskrit
during my high school examination, I was little bit cautious of choosing this
subject due partly to absence of any well known faculty and partly to study
material unavailability. Though I chose this subject, the fear of underperforming
was looming over me.
I decided to take coaching at Panini classes. Mr. Kailash
Bihari, The Mentor, Panini classes, made me realise that it was easy to crack
UPSC with Sanskrit. His last batches’ results were also fascinating as people
have scored 400 out of 600 marks too which was almost a reverie with other
optional subjects. My anxiety was allayed to some extent which was almost
diminished as the classes processed. The guidance from the faculty was of
immense help to boost up my confidence. He has great command over Sanskrit
grammar in particular and over Sanskrit in general. Eventually Sanskrit seemed
to be a cake walk to me.
Though
classes for public administration were good in content wise, I enjoyed the
Sanskrit classes more for two reasons: 1. Grammar portion, which spanned
through most part of the classes, was easy to understand and grasp. Unlike
public administration, passing two hours in the class was never difficult.
2. While doing well in the class tests, a few words of
appreciation were always a confidence enhancer which in turn used to enhance my
interest in the classes.
By the end of the syllabus of the optional subjects more or
less I could perform equally well in the both the subjects and I am quite
satisfied with my performance. I did exceptionally well in the Sankrit class
tests (a few times accorded with the topper status as well) whereas Public
administration tests were not very scoring in the beginning but my performance
improved gradually and steadily. Truly speaking, I could not follow the
strategy suggested by the concerned faculty still I hope to do well in this
subject. Since improvement is in the progress, change is evident and success is
imminent.
