Highlights of Civil Services Examinations!!!

While going through some websites, I found some very interesting material of the pattern and course structure of UPSC exams. For all those who wish to serve the country in some way, UPSC is a brilliant platform. Although an extremely hard nut to crack, with proper dedication, focus and continuous hard work for a span of one year...it can reap very sweet benefits and prove fruitful results.
UPSC is an exam which provides a platform for people to have the power and respect in the society along with an opportunity to serve the country. However, I would suggest people with an ambition to only fulfill personal needs to not indulge in this course as we have enough people up there trying to do that. India now needs people with the right attitude for its well being.

1) The List of services one can provide through UPSC is IAS, IPS, IRS and many others.

2) With a simple to fill application form, the candidate is eligible to appear for the exams. The exams are conducted in three stages:
a) Preliminary Exams
b) Mains Exams ( only those who clear prelims are eligible to appear for the Mains exams)
c) Interview (it is basically a test of attitude and personality)

3) Any Indian national is eligible for IAS/IPS and for other services, the eligibilty is open to subjects from Nepal, Bhutan also. The person must be between the age group of 21-30 years

4) Every candidate is given a maximum of 4 attempts to clear the exams.

5) The preliminary exams consist of two papers each of 200 marks; the I paper being for General Knowledge/ History/Civics, etc. and the II paper being for English, Mathematics and Logical reasoning.
More details for the above can be found on http://www.upsc.gov.in .

6) The purpose of the Mains Exams is to assess the individual traits and overall understanding of a candidate. It consists of IX papers on optional subjects chosen out of various options available on the basis of interests of a student, English, General Studies, Constitution, etc. each for 300 marks.

7) Even though the interview carries 300 marks, it is the deciding factor at many times of your being within the services or out of it and in the least matters in which service you get.However since the interview is so personal and variable it is most desirable to do very well in the written mains.

8) The pay packages of officers who clear the exams may not be very high and are peanuts in comparison to those offered by Corporates, but the respect and perks in kind are many!

So if u have an IAS dream...do give it a chance...!! Google has a no. of websites that can guide you completely on the do's and dont's of these exams!!

Like here's a website that gives a list of Q/A that toppers in IAS have given...very interesting: http://ckforums.zapak.com/Interesting-Facts/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=14991


Nikita

Wait before forming an Opinion!

A short story that I read and found very inspirational.
' Once an Old man was travelling in the train with his 25year old son.
As the train was passing through natural scenic beauties, the son would get excited and show his dad...
'Dad look, clouds...dad look such farms and pastures of green land!'

Like a child he would show his father the landscapes with a twinkle in his eye and his father would smile in return and be happy.

The other people travelling in the compartment, found his behaviour very childlike. Seeing a 25year old getting excited on seeing landscapes like this was very unnatural for them. One of them could not control himself and told the Old man, 'Sir, your son's behaviour is unnatural , maybe you should visit a hospital.'

To this, the old man replied ' thank you for your concern, but me and my son are just coming back from the hospital. My son just got his eye vision back and is able to see for the first time in his life'.

Moral of the story:
Put yourself in the other person's shoes and think of his circumstances before forming your judgement or opinion.
Most people have a habit of forming an opinion of others without knowing all the facts!

Nikita

Art of Paper Quilling!!

Until I saw the 5-6 year old kids at Hobby Ideas, Mumbai making the most beautiful designs and cards with Paper, the art of Paper Quilling was new to me.

Having been extremely fascinated with the outputs that the kids could derive so easily from shredded paper, the kid in me decided to wake my sleeping artistic habits and learn the easiest, yet useful and fascinating technique.

Paper quilling is an old art..and shows the various forms and shapes of multi utlity shredded paper can be made.

Done with different colours and width of shredded paper along with needle, its one of the easist to learn techniques and its basic level can be learnt in as less time as half an hour.

Having learnt it, one is left with a whole plethora of imaginations and experimentation which can be used to make absolutely anything.

After giving an introduction to this art, i am posting pictures of my creations for you to see and get motivated to learn this bful art!

Don't miss the chance! :)

Luv Nikita

Keep it Simple Silly!!

My recent visit to Jaipur was a growing experience. Like seen in many north indian states, there is a rising increase in the need to match up to the societal levels and having an extravagant life, where the basic qualities of a person gets hidden and it deteriorates his/her inner beauty.

No wonder how, despite the societal advancements, the lives of our generation is much more difficult than that of our parents or grandparents. Its surprising how our older generations, lived a comparably more easy life despite having much more members of family and dependants.

Where, some blame the rising prices with Inflation, while a few blame competition and a thrive to succeed within everyone. Some think of corruption being the biggest cause, while the others think of the growing luxuries and needs as the reason for these difficulties. The reasons by different people could be many.

I personally think we ourselves are to be blamed for making our lives as difficult as they have become. The more we strive to make it easy, ironically the mind plays such a game with us that the more difficult it becomes.

In my opinion, the biggest reason for this condition is Lack of Simplicity. As we are moving ahead and progressing along with changing times, the simplicity in our lives is fading away. A simple example of mine could explain my opinion better. In our days hard work, we work tirelessly to be capable enough to meet our needs, mostly which are materialistic, we often forget or miss to spending quality times with our near and dear ones.

Our endless desires of wanting to wear the most expensive clothes, have the most high income job, own the best of cars, et all, make our lives difficult as we get stuck in our limitations, and mostly tend to forget to ensure the happiness or even get a smile on the faces of our family, especially parents.

In order to run ahead of time and at par with the rest of the world, the crux of our inherent personality often goes missing as we become part of the crowd, instead of standing apart.
I believe, leading a simple life is the cheapest and best way to live a happy life, however in the current scenario of the society, its definitely not the easiest.

By this I by no means mean that we should not enjoy the benefits of faciltites available to us or be non- ambitious in life. Being an extremely ambitious girl myself, such an idea would never strike to my mind also.

Being simple, to me would mean minimizing one's own needs and in noway would mean restricting yourself from growing. The difference between keeping spiritual growth above materialistic growth must be clearly understood. A spiritual growth is the growth of a person in the real sense and helps in moving ahead clearly in the long run. Simplicity calls for a simple thinking which asks for working towards living a balanced and comfortable life and not running unnecessary towards infinite power, fame or luxuries.

What one must understand is that there is no dearth to the needs of a human being. The resources to meet these needs are available in plenty today. The mind can be programmed in both ways, to be simple or not.

Only a simple and satisfied mind remains focussed and positive and survives successfully in the long run. The best of politicians and leaders of our country like Gandhiji, Nehru ji, APJ Abdul Kalam, Manmohan Singh and many others have carved a niche for themselves but their charisma is inspiring mostly because of their simplicity which also helps them stand apart.
Its an age old way of ideal living, of 'Simple living, High thinking'! Therefore, we must try and keep our thoughts high, different and broad but our lives as simple as we can. A simple life makes life so much more easier and happier.

So, Keep it Simple silly! :)

Love
Nikita

To Mumbai, With love!!

Mumbai is a Constant Change! Only the people change, the city remains intact always! Earlier it was my dad who must have thought smiliarly and today as i lived there, I am doing the talking!

Mumbai has something special about it...and it surely leaves a special impact on every person who has lived there with its charm and aura...Mumbai has a special place in my heart too...A city of dreams, it never spares anyone and takes as much from u as it gives back!!

Having lived in the city for four years, I have a feeling of being a Mumbaikar yself with a strong attachment and a sense of belonging towards the city, a feeling that almost every person would have after having stayed there...

As I go down the memory lane...i wish to share the thoughts that fills within me and makes me feel nostalgic!

The uniqueness of the city is defined by the small-small things that makes Mumbai what it is...To start with, here's a list of some things that only mumbai can give...
1) A 25p/50p coins would work only in Mumbai...in this city "chutthas(change) is considered as important as say a 1000Rs. note...
2) The walks at Marine Drive is always so refreshing and peaceful even with groups of friends shouting aloud..the Singh dane/Chips guy coming and pestering to buy..the couples romancing by the sea
3) The drives on Bandra-Worli sea link and portraying it as a jewel in the crown with it being on top of the must show list to relatives and friends coming from outside mumbai with pride!!
4) The ferry ride at Gateway of India with the hair flowing with the breeze..and not to forget the n number of photographers roaming about there with albums of previously clicked pictures.
5) The early morning and late evening walks at Amarsons Park!!
6) The street shopping and hangouts at Colaba causeway and Linking road
7) The road side pirated book stolls at Fort, Churchgate and even traffic signals!!
8) Vaada pav, Sev puri, Sandwiches and Nariyal pani vendors at every nook and corner of the city with a mob of people surounding every vendor. In the absence of these, Im so sure I would stay hungry most of the time!!
9) The cutting chai and thick shakes!!
10) The kanda poha and batata wada sold by many ladies..
11) The punctuality of the dubbawalas
12) The peace even while walking amidst a crowd of 100's of people.
13) The storms of people walking to and fro a place making it easy for anyone to easily point out a station being nearby!!
14) The attitudes of Cab drivers and noise of Autos
15) The independance and non-bothered attitude of all mumbaikars which is rarely to be seen in north india.
16) The sincerity of cab drivers to charge by the meter. The slow moving traffic and jams in mumbai can be easily ignored with the continuous chats with the cab walas
17) The distances with scenic beuty to make up for the travel.
18) The rains, some office holidays incase of train track jams..the smell of rains...the sea by the rains..
19) The reaching office drenched even with a raincoat and umbrella in hand...the rains are the sweetest as they make up for reachign late at work also...
20) The friends at Mumbai and the times we spend with each other exploring new eating outlets and experimenting different cuisines.
21) The serious-talking sessions with friends with stories about life and philosphy being discussed
22) The hours at amarsons park rocks with conversion of Hindi songs in English and vice versa followed by the loud and hearty laughs.
23) The work at office...the working culture like the one found in mumbai is not witnessed in any other city in India...
24) The pro maharastrian pangas by the Shiv sainiks and MNS workers.
25) The words like Aiwein, Thamba, Watt lag gayi and many more being a part of normal vocabulary.
26) The vibrancy, environment and fun on Ganesh chaturthi, Janmasthmi, etc... which brings all religions together...I have never seen a similar kind of emotions flowing for any other puja with the stringent pujas followed by their happy and joyful goodbye accompanied with all the music, dances and totally in style.
27) The non-visibility of any actor in all the years while people back at home never forget to ask if i got a chance to see anyone!!
28) The walks and walks and walks in Mumbai keeping everyone fit!
29) The long working hours during weekdays followed by the long sleeping hours on weekends!
30) The excitement on a long weekend and the emptiness on the roads...
31) The buzz at Churchgate and VT stations...
32) The shopping at the crowded and narrow Kalbadevi and Mohammad ali roads which sell the best of the lot!!
33) The mangoes and strawberries from ratnagiri and mahabaleshwar...
34) The crowd at the local trains making u feel proud to have got in and got out and the train shopping which fulfills ur needs for many accessories!!
35) The slums at dharavi with a Tata sky dish displaying from each one of them!!
36) The enthusiasm, strength and unity of mumbaikars
37) The miles of clothes being dried at mahalakshmi with tourists clicking pictures of the same.
38) The tallll and sky reaching buildings...
39) The SENSEX and discussions on the same at work!!!
40) The Train clubs/friends and frequent parties!
41) The timings of the trains like 9:57/10:02 clearly showing the sec by sec working of the city!!
42) The pizza and pasta at Pizzeria and Jazz by the bay!!
43) The music at Hard Rock Cafe!
44) The ambience at Phoeix Mall!!
45) The pride in being a South Mumbai guy which gives an edge in a lot of ways!!
46) The fantastic European heritage architecture and names of areas!!
47) The madness at Nariman Point from 01:00 to 02:00 PM on weekdays where mployees from all offices step out and collect for lunch!!
48) The family at Villa Theresa with the meetings, masti, late nights and fun!
49) The 10:00 AM shows at INOX and Metro with plays around the city, craft at hobby ideas, etc.
50) Me and Mumbai!!

The list can go on and on....
Mumbai will only be mumbai...it 'll always have a special place in my heart because of all the fond memories it has given me and i will always thank mumbai for giving me some of my closest friends for life...and making a better person in every way!!!

No matter which part of the world i go in..it will always be Mumbai meri Jaan!! :)

Nikita