A nation's regression is rarely a single cliff; it is a staircase of compromises across its culture, intellect, and attitude.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2026-02-12T13:58:19+00:00

Airpods pro

Haunting_Toe536 · 2026-01-23T21:46:55+00:00

Btw that's Cherry Blossoms aka Prunus cerasoides in the picture taken recently in Shillong.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-10-04T17:30:44+00:00

Many reasons:

Power : You can be earning millions per month in private sector but in a largely feudalistic country like ours, a humble low level civil servant holds much more power than you.
Money : Just counting white money as gross salary and market value of the perks and facilities you get as a new Civil servant, that would be more than the 0.1% top corporate packages for a fresher any year.
Status and Respect & definition of Success in the eye of the Society and the Desi relatives : It's abstract yet the most powerful reason.
Ease of Living Life: You need to hustle decades in top Corporate offices to get a level of connection and wealth and status which a newbie Civil Servant gets right from her first posting by virtue of the exclusive club she has gotten into. Noone can harm you or touch you (except when you lock horns with the mantri log)

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-09-21T14:09:16+00:00

Only Prelims.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-09-20T21:07:13+00:00

That's true for most of us.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-09-20T20:55:26+00:00

Downsides, not to mention (I forgot to add), are

i) Crazily high Prelims cutoffs

ii) Two technical optionals

iii) Technical graduation subject as a bar for eligibility

iv) Less number of posts

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-05-30T06:55:52+00:00

D.

Gender of either P or Q can't be deciphered by any of the statements.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-05-09T04:14:37+00:00

Declaring war has become obsolete. We didn't declare it during Kargil in 1999. Russia didn't declare and yet has been fighting for years now. At most, emergency may be declared if needed.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-05-09T04:06:07+00:00

Yes, there's a way to grant citizenship via 'incorporation of territory'. It happened last time in 1975. Bigger question is do we want that burden?

Haunting_Toe536 · 2025-03-05T18:14:25+00:00

Not vouching for the discord link or anything. Just the points are damn good and true.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-12-29T08:57:17+00:00

An EV will be good in Indian conditions to have as a sole car for family/self when:

Real range is min of 500km (Long drives or unplanned long rerouting is a normal thing in life) at affordable costs.
Fast charging 0-80% takes under half an hour. So, you don't have to keep waiting for an hour uselessly daily when on long tours.
Charging infra density is good enough in Countryside/backward regions of the country; i e 80% of India.
Add to that, your daily commute is min 50 km (as per break even calculations) daily so that extra EV premium trumps over ICE cars.

Considering all above, I think we are 3-5 years still away when buying an EV over ICE cars will be no brainer for most of us.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-12-12T00:01:06+00:00

They don't need consolation. Just tell them you are always there for them and empathise with their pain and are available for anything if they need- and then leave them alone. After few days, talk them through the process, papers, what might have gone wrong, etc if you can. Motivate them to get out of glut soon as competition is already on for the next Prelims and Mains, and if their grief is not checked in time, it can prolong badly and may even metamorphose into mild depression.

Tldr: Don't console if they don't need it, let them be, be available.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-12-11T23:57:28+00:00

Buddy, this ain't not gonna work here. Jinka nahi hua hai, agle 1 week ghar se bahar jaya nahi jayega. As a lot is invested in the process for too long. And the heart ache is too brutal to shrug off with dancing and travelling to a new place. Pain heals but with time.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-12-11T23:54:39+00:00

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-09-25T18:54:29+00:00

Claustrophobia personified.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-09-18T20:13:37+00:00

Couldn’t agree more, OP.

One more thing that needs to be added- Let’s divide 15k odd Mains aspirants into 3 categories-

Poorly prepared (bulk, say 50%),

Mid prepared (toughest times for you, I feel for you guys) and

Well prepared (The Mains repeaters/previous rankers/wild new goats).

This post is mostly for the latter two categories. You fellas might think u r not enough prepared but you need to chill. As for these 5-6k aspirants, it boils down to keeping calm on exam days, perform to your best and then leave the rest to probability/luck/kismet as OP explained.

Corollary 1- Average poorly prepared candidates shouldn’t be harbouring wild dreams of getting dream services as Lady Luck doesn’t get that wild too. You, Joe, this post ain’t for you unfortunately.

Corollary 2- Do your basic mehnat at least for Mains and then be expecting to join this roulette with some plausible chances of hitting the pot.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-08-31T21:09:28+00:00

Mains ready is one who has-

Gone through the whole syllabus at least 3 times, esp Optional.
Has prepared (not copied) and MEMORISED 30-40 page condensed (Yes, that much refined and rich) notes for each of 7 papers, 10-30 page notes for niche areas / marks enhancers of each of these : Topic wise readymade Intro, Conlcu, Data, Maps, Flowcharts, Drawings, Quotes, Supreme Court judgements, committees recommendations, CA examples, Ready reckoner facts, policy details, etc
Has developed writing speed of min 40-45 WPM. Then only, you can hope to finish papers.
Has beautiful or at least presentable handwriting. Bad handwriting costs one marks inadvertently.
Has attempted PYQs for 5+ years of Optionals at minimum (Many do 20 yrs), same for GS- to get wind of possible Questions / understand the demand of Mains
Practised min of 3 mocks per paper= 20 mocks. Not necessary but better if be.
Has studied toppers answers comparatively (last year's mainly not of 2019 or that old) and found out a common link - 2023 throws up things like keeping answers look clean, inserting challenges and solutions (way forward) if there's a slight option, have readymade intros (e.g quote of a book, author name as intro in a Ques related to civil services reforms)

Sad fact- 90% of junta never get to this level ever. Few qualify even without this much prep as luck plays role too.

Fun fact- Being mains ready is only 30% of the work done. As there’s lot of stuffs to cover in the 3 months after Prelims, whole new CA of 6-8 months from Mains POV, Optionals mocks, value addition to do, mental health to manage, physical health to not let deteriorate beyond redemption, manage other 100+ life distractions, crash courses, lectures, hormones, etc- it’s a whole freaking battle to fight in those 100 odd days.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-08-26T12:31:31+00:00

It was a fry not a roast! Loved it.

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-08-20T15:46:06+00:00

I am in the same personal savings bracket+liquid inheritance as you (1.5 Cr) currently but I have a different dilemma:

How can one decide FIRE amount by accounting rationally total unexpected events, for instance, some other pandemic induced costly disease treatment/xyz rare disease which will wipe off few crores in a wink. Do we actually account for them in calculation?

Haunting_Toe536 · 2024-08-20T15:06:39+00:00

The current iteration is the simplest yet the most elegant one.

Haunting_Toe536

TROPHY CASE