Awaaz!

WHY PHILOSOPHY? INTEREST is foremost important in deciding the optional. Personally, I had a humanities elective called “Gandhian Thought” at IIIT-H that grew my interest in Gandhian philosophy and philosophy in general.  SYLLABUS for philosophy is relatively compact, precise and well defined.  SOURCES like standard books and notes are easily accessible. SOURCES Coaching class notes. Standard books Indian Philosophy - C.D. Sharma Western Philosophy - Y. Masih Contemporary Western philosophy - Donald Palmer (E-book is available online, however it is not mandatory to read this book) Socio Political Philosophy - O.P. Gauba Philosophy of Religion - Y.Masih  Please note that these books cover much more than the UPSC syllabus, so optimize your time by reading them selectively.  HOW TO PREPARE CONSOLIDATED NOTES - Prepare consolidated notes for each topic based on class notes, standard book and other printed material. Try and finish thi...

Hello Everyone, I am Garima Agrawal. I am an engineer by profession and have qualified UPSC CSE-2018 with AIR 40. I started my preparation in 2016 after finishing my Btech and MS from IIIT-Hyderabad. I did take coaching in 2016 for GS and Optional to get a direction in my preparation. However I feel that it is the self-studies and tests that helped me the most in this exam. Here, I would like to share my strategy for clearing this exam in the very first sincere attempt. PRELIMS & MAINS While I will be discussing the essential book list in another blogpost, I would like to share some other strategies and tips that may help. Integrated study plan for Prelims and Mains for General Studies. Have a detailed time table (monthly, weekly and daily) to read and revise all standard books keeping requirements of both Prelims and Mains in mind while studying. For eg. If you are doing a topic of polity- Ordinance from M. Laxmikant, you should read the constitutional provisions for pre...

Each one of us has gone through ups and downs, thick and thins in our lives or has witnessed some of our friends going through the same! Sometimes we may feel that we are surrounded with best set of people in this world and that we can’t imagine our life without them…but there might also be a time when we feel, we are living with people who are just “so called” ours but not really ours… In such phases of life we probably can’t change people or their attitude towards us, but what we can do is to change our own attitude. A positive and courageous attitude...to have hope and faith in time that it’ll change…that if today could not be ours, then tomorrow will definitely be ours… . I have tried to create a similar kind of scenario in this poem, which says “bas tum khud na chhodna, apne “khud” ka sath.."                  “बस तुम खुद ना छोड़ना, अपने साहस, अपने "खुद" का साथ ।” कल तक जहां जहां  वो जाता,...

प्रतियोगी परीक्षाएँ: एक पहलू यह भी देखें... आज कल का मौसम परीक्षा परिणामों का मौसम है| हर दिन छात्रगण गहरी उत्सुक्ता  से इंटरनेट पर अपना परीक्षा परिणाम ढूँढते हैं और उत्सुक हों  भी क्यूँ  ना? आख़िर इन रिजल्ट्स के साथ उनकी कितनी मेहनत, सपने  और मन्नतें जो जुड़ी होती हैं|हर रोज़ अखबार में अव्वल पृष्ठ पर अव्वल आने वाले विद्यार्थियों के साक्षात्कार छपते हैं; सब ही अपनी सफलता का श्रेय अपने माता पिता और गुरुजनों को देते हैं और "आय आय टी" या  "पी एम टी" जैसी प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं को अपना लक्ष्य बतलाते है । निश्चित ही ये छात्र सराहना और सत्कार के अधिकारी हैं और इसीलिए  वे उस दिन विशेष के लिए अपने क्षेत्र विशेष में नरेन्द्र मोदी या सचिन तेंदुलकर से भी ज्यादा सुर्खियाँ बटोर लेते हैं। परन्तु क्या हम अगले दिन के अखबार के उस कोने को भी उतने ही ध्यान से पढ़ते हैं जब एक छात्र की आत्महत्या का समाचार छपता है? उसके अन्तिम संदेश में वह "थ्री इडियट्स" के अंदाज़ में "आय क्विट " अर्थात " मैं हार मानता हूँ ", लिखकर इस शिक्षा व्यवस्था के सामने एक प्रश्न च...

 Delhi rape case has moved all of us. Every young woman in the country like me is aghast and asking this question to herself “what if that girl would have been me ???” . Every family in the country is terrified of sending their daughters outside for studies or work, thinking “will she ever come back home safe or even alive?” Every mother having a baby in her belly is thinking ten times before bringing her girl child in this dangerous environment wondering “will she be able to survive in this brutal and inhuman world!!! ?” But then the innocent girl in her womb tries to have a dialogue with her and tries to convince her mom to bring her into this world. I have tried to put this dialogue in the form of a poem “Roshani ka janm aur nari ki jeet”:                               " रोशनी का जन्म और नारी की जीत " एक चीख रात ...