 I started watching your videos and they are so the fact that they are so easily graspable. I mean, I'm not sure if that's the word but you can grasp them very easily. There's that and also there are concepts, literary theory and criticism. All of them I used to follow you on like I still do follow you on YouTube of course but then your lectures over there are immensely helpful and you are like this medium for me to you know my dreams just came true. So actually the syllabus it's so immense that it'll take me at least a year to just curate it down and you know bring it to one place. Everything like they have not left anything out. So that is why that platform the course arpithakarva.com is just it's the perfect start for a student and obviously they'll have to work harder, read books and do what not. But your course is the right platform from where you know students should definitely start if they're absolutely clueless like I was few months back ago. So it will give them the right platform. Hi Vidisha. Good evening. Good evening mom. This is such a pleasure to see you in real life. I mean in virtual mode that's it. Thank you so much. Say your lovely seeing you and firstly congratulations, big big congratulations on making all of us proud. Thank you so much mom and my entire credits to you and I feel entirely blessed seeing you like in in this technically possible manner because you've been my inspiration throughout and you know I my sister told me that Arpita mom cleared her net in her first attempt and that was such this for me was impossible and seeing you as an inspiration has helped me throughout so thank you so much. Thank you so much for all the love and appreciation means a lot to me and I would want to take that credit but I want to pass it again to you for putting in so much hard work because as teachers we can just be your guide but then you have to really sit down work for days and nights to you know understand literature in its full form to cover an ocean wide syllables and you made it possible so I'm very very proud of you not just me my entire team is very proud of you right now just a few minutes back one of my team member told me that Vidisha is there for the interview I'm like schedule the interview right now I I had to read somewhere I cancelled that because I really wanted to meet you. That is such a pleasure mom I heard like I got a call and I was immensely you know happy that you it is from your side and actually I purchased my NSM exams got over and I only had one month's time and it was entirely impossible even the person I was talking to said that okay is it your June attempt which you are aiming at I said yeah that would be my main attempt but this time I'm just sitting for the preparation however after like I started watching your videos and they are so the fact that they're so easily graspable I mean I'm not sure if that's how but you can grasp them very easily there's that and also there are concepts literary theory and criticism all of them I used to follow you on like I still do follow you on YouTube of course but then your lectures over there are immensely helpful and you are like this medium for me to you know my dreams just came true so thank you so much thank you so much for such such a long appreciation but then I would also want to pass on this thanks to my entire team they work really hard and my mentors as well like it is their blessing and their grooming which is which has shaped me so that's about it I want to know more about you I want to know where are you from how has been this educational journey like for you and when did you start preparing for net and what made you you know plan to prepare for net so all the best please okay all right so I was pursuing my bachelor's from Dell University so over there I used to get inspired from my professor and professor being a professor it was like my calling and I actually have been teaching since like a long time not just home curations we are referring to here after my 12th also I started teaching like in a sort of a school background and so teaching is something which comes naturally to me so for that I had to start preparing and then my teachers over there in Delhi told me that net is the medium that will open the gates for you and after that definitely you'll have to do your phd and stuff like that also I'm basically from Kolkata and currently residing in Ranchi so after my graduation I'm currently pursuing a master's so that's why and you're pursuing it from Rachi yes yes I'm currently in Xavier's St. Xavier's oh Xavier's Rachi right my brother is in Rachi he my younger brother he's pursuing his bachelor's from I am Rachi oh that's amazing yeah I've never been to Rachi but then if in case I do so I'm definitely going to meet you he's been asking me to come down to Rachi since so long but I was not getting time there's so much happening around that I could not go there but now I have another reason to come definitely we'll be so happy to have you here absolutely absolutely I tell my friends that you know what you should now that I've cleared it everybody's asking me how have you done it and how have you done it so my first literally the first advice I give them to them is that you can either purchase the course but if in case you're not just go to the website and that the syllabus over there it will give you the starting point you will literally have to do no hard work other than that you will find them chronologically arranged that will help you with your chronology as well so yes so the course has been immensely helpful to me thank you so much thank you thank you and I really loved how you mentioned that you know that that syllabus kind of gives you know it kind of directs a student as to how to start preparing because the syllabus prescribed by UGC as I always say is very very indicative so I wanted to sketch out the syllabus which anybody I have uploaded it free of course because I really wanted that anybody who's enthusiastic about preparing at least there should be something available for him so that he knows how to you know at least start or begin with definitely actually the syllabus it's so immense that it'll take me at least a year to just curate it down and you know bring it to one place everything like they have not left anything out so that is why that platform the course arpitaakarva.com is just it's the perfect start for a student and obviously they'll have to work hard or read books and do what not but your course is the right platform from where you know students should definitely start if they're absolutely clueless like I was few months back ago so it will give them the right platform thank you thank you so much so I wanted to also understand did you prepare for UGC later while you were in your master's yeah this was just I mean what would I say I gave my NSEM exams and I thought that okay let's just start from now and this was just my I would this is like an impossible thing because people say you should study for six months at least three months that's like maximum but I honestly studied for one month that too like I gave my best and then I sat in the exam thinking that this is just going to be an experience but thankfully I cleared it that too in my first NEM and the entire credit goes to you and my family of course they were being very supportive and everything absolutely absolutely I think family the kind of support that we get from family that is that cannot be spoken about in words because that is so dear and it is kind of the support pillar that the moment you feel demotivated the moment you feel alone those are the moments when it is your family that kind of gives you that strength to again you know start from the scratch it is only possible because of them my sister starting from feeling of form till waiting for the results to come out and my mom she has made that environment in my home so that I have to do no work my dad used to go to the center every like you know to see I was just studying so it is because of them that I was able to and why was I able to study is because of your course again so that is there thank you thank you thank you you should also add so all of this what you said makes complete sense but then add on this thing that you have put in that effort you know we Indians especially girls I would say have this habit of not prioritizing ourselves we kind of feel overwhelmed when we see other people helping us supporting us but then it is also important that this body this mind which is there with you throughout the day that this kind of helping you we should also you know take time to pat ourselves to tell ourselves that we did a fantastic job we worked out really hard to like clear this exam so just add that appreciation that that name in that appreciation list that's also important okay so I have like a lot of questions to ask especially when I got to know that you just clear the exam with one month of preparation so it is very very important for a lot of aspirants who are running out of time who have this time crunch to know and get inspiration from you that what should be their strategy so that they can utilize that one month to the best of their ability so my very first question would be that how many hours did you study what was your routine in the last one one and a half months when you prepared so when did you exactly started preparing and when was the exam exam within the 6th of December yes the entire month of November like apart from me going to college and I also work as a part-time job so that was there so the only time I had was yeah that's why it just was surprising and overwhelming at the same time but like before that I would just want to add something before you start preparing you just need to have that strong faith that this is possible people are doing it it's not angels coming from heaven people are doing it so that is possible number one number two after that everybody has 24 hours in their lifetime so you know you just got to delete other distractions also so I kind of deleted all of my social media platforms I don't know this feels like a little boasting but then apart from that that is important I really want you to share everything honestly because these are things which are going to motivate others because a lot of people find it challenging that okay I cannot keep my phone away while studying but then when somebody like you would say which is cleared net they would feel that okay if if she can do it then so can I yeah definitely so the thing is it's possible it the exam definitely it's tough but it can take you more than one attempt two attempt three attempt but you will definitely do this and a lot of times people have not clarified just because of two marks and three marks that doesn't make them any less capable there they should just never lose that hope that's there and as far as my strategies are concerned I was very specific about things for example there were portions which I could not cover as well for example there was this portion I think it was pedagogy and teaching methodology and research all of that so I saw one of your videos which said that you know 80% of output comes from 20% of your hard work so there was that so I had put my most of my entire attempt was in covering British literature and what happens is students start from the initials anglo-saxon norman and meanwhile when they come to Victorian and modern age they feel a little tired and that happens but then the net it has a tendency of asking questions majority like majorly from the these sections modern post modern that to recent questions so that was there and so focusing on these sections just like Victorian and modern these this is very important definitely there'll be questions from anglo-saxon as well but you should not put your entire focus on something like that so there was that and again analyzing previous your question papers that was there and then I had to make my notes also just there's just one thing I would want to say that people think that they will remember things but no it's it's literally different our minds does not work like that we think we'll remember but we will not remember until like we completely grasp things for example like we make it a part of ourselves that is how we remember things otherwise it's like mugging up and mugging up will never happen if you just read once you will have to write down and then there are different strategies for example I was making notes and you don't have to write it elaborately for example some person married some person so you can just write the names and make a heart in between so just like that exactly so you must have also gone through those video lectures that definitely that's what that's that's what we do like if two people are marrying so we we're just going to make that diagram with the heart in between and if somebody kills somebody so we are going to just put a cross that is what makes your lectures even more understandable I'd say because usually when especially when we were doing Charles Dickens I had problem with that because that man has written so many beautiful works but then they are so comprehensive and they have 60 characters in it so it was difficult for me but then the video lectures it helped me a lot and you know the somebody basic crux of the things which you need to know because questions are asked from that and it covers mostly everything that the text was published in this era and you know this date and everything and in questions also they'll ask you they had questions like Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights was published just analyze which of them are wrong so if you know them right you'll definitely be able to tell them tell them right right and so you were talking about the portions you left like Lagbridge and Pedagogy left what were the other topics that you left because of the time crunch so which were the other units I prioritized my entire attention towards British literature literary criticism in theory because they were the major portion and I did not leave a lot of things because and also while in exams I definitely did not do research pedagogy and all that but when the questions came they usually strike you so over there also you have to do a lot of intelligent guesswork strike out the wrong answers so elimination technique as I said definitely definitely elimination technique so that helped and what did I leave not a lot of portion but research methodology just came into my mind that I did not like completely study it did you complete like American post-colonial European I did go through them but I was again not sure if like I did not do them as properly as I did my my entire foundation was this British literature and literary theory and apart from that yes the Caribbean literature and all that no I did not I could not go in detail but here if people have time they should definitely go through that absolutely absolutely and as a working professional like it would have been very difficult because you were also doing a part-time job so how did you like balance all of that together like you had to also attend college and then come back and study so what was your routine like so basically I had given my in-semester exams so I did not have that entire pressure of academics at the same times I did have to read my novels but then they were like I like literature that's the thing so I had to read them but then they were not much of a burden and then the job which I do it's just teaching children so that is again a part of it's like a practical weird job so that is what I love doing that so that was not like taking a lot of mental toll on me but then yes when I used to come back home I did not have to study for my exam so the college exam that is so I had exactly so then I started yeah the entire course I started watching one by one and then I made notes and then after every week I used to revise them because otherwise there's no point if one day I'll start revising them all again that it'll be really difficult it's going to vanish from your like it's it's going to go into that bomo data angle from where you'll never find that information again that's what happened so I used to revise what's that yeah yeah yeah good okay so I was also wanted to you know just put another question in this that when you say that you were preparing notes and you know studying so what study material or resources were you actually using for paper to preparation paper to yes I had started with I used to ask my professors also they used to tell me that for one particular topic do not stick with any one particular book if you're reading any particular thing for example if you're doing post-colonial literature if you study it from any book for example as you say you're doing if there's a historical instance even if it's war of roses I'm doing I'll read it from one book like for example I did it from E. Albers then I also referred to David Dutch because if if something gets missed then it will be covered up from the second book so books definitely they were there but again I also was watching YouTube videos of a lot of other for example if I'm watching modernism I'll watch I'll watch your video I'll the thing is you should not restrict yourself to only one particular source because there are times when things get you know missed and then you kind of don't know the entire so in order to have the entirety of it of course your course is self-sufficient it's just that in order to have that entire confidence you should also refer to other sources yes yes one topic from difference also keep jotting down also for example I was doing the alberts I was making my notes that okay these many questions are can be possibly asked after that I started reading some other book and then I also watched YouTube channel for my one topic had material from different sources so it kind of gave me that confidence that okay yes I've done it so I kind of can answer this wonderful wonderful and how did you prepare for those chronology based questions chronology specific approach yeah yes there was this very amazing YouTube video I found it was it had that information as to how will you there was this acronym for memorizing there was just one instance I'm giving Charles Dickens's novel so it was pickwick paper then Oliver Twist and things like that so I had to remember those there are sorry for yes yes in a sentence form which is you know there was a sentence and there's that chronology and apart from that even your course has mentioned it for example if it's Romanticism so it'll have words worth at the top and then Coleridge after that so and like these were the pre-romantic not pre the first generation and after that the second generation romantic so that here so there are also the works are in chronology so yes yes yes when you when you learn so it kind of sticks in your head like that right right exactly the theory again another very challenging area for you to see net aspirants so how what was your approach towards handling literary theory did you struggle with that or was it easy yeah I can really feel with the students if they say they are finding it difficult but then my only and only solution to that was understanding concepts concept is power it's literally if you know this especially literary theory and what has some person said and something like that if you know the concepts then what maximum the net like the paper setters will do is they complicate the language and but if you know the concept okay post colonialism is about this then if they give a wrong sentence you will know okay this is not it was like what I've read so understanding concept is very important and again memorizing what Gulf War did not take place and stuff like that so there's that too memorization but understanding it like you know you should not just wrote learn things otherwise you're bound to forget so exactly it's not going to stick in your head like if you're not understood something you are bound to forget exactly exactly but then one more thing that kind of strikes my mind as you are sharing this I I find you a very intelligent girl who kind of understood how things work how the paper setter minds works when he's setting the paper so why did you feel that there was a need to join a coaching class for you to see next like self study did not like why not the root of self study self study could have taken me a longer time is that that is the reason number one if I am being completely honest I would have done this but it would have taken me a few more attempts because I did see everybody has a phone which is like an excellent best like it has the world on your fingertips however you will not have that guidance to where to start from what is what should you leave what should you not leave and you know things like that so joining your first of all this syllabus as I said it was so intense and immense that you know even seeing that will give you that overwhelming fear is it even possible to do it within six months so that can happen but once you join the coaching and like first of all the one if anybody sees the syllabus they would want to listen to the videos and that is very tempting of course but apart from that they can do their own research but listening to that helped me in you know uh sidelining a lot of other things which are not necessary so it kind of the coaching institute primarily helps you to have that footing that base that okay this is where you should start from this is what right right that's why right right and also like why not on offline classes because I don't know about Rachi like whether they have good UTC net institutes but then offline is said to be a relatively easier way because you can go there and set a lot of students feel that nowadays like I am a big fan of edx.com if you've heard of it has like plethora of courses from Harvard and Yale and all these great universities um so it's not possible for me to go there so then internet brings those courses to me so I am a big fan of online learning but then a lot of people still believe that offline is a better way to go so like uh what what was your take on this uh again I think it depends on person to person for example as per my schedule I was not able to even you know find out the time I used to listen to these lectures at 1am at night so going there again the geographical and tertiary problems were there and it's it is much more convenient for me to go through online and the thing is uh see again it has both pros and cons you can definitely interact with teachers and that can happen however if it is online you can use it at your own speed at your own pace you can re-repeat it watch it 100 times until you've understood so that was there and uh offline modes definitely help you but then I think again I mean I can't say one is better or one is not but it depends if one is comfortable with that so online coaching for me makes sense um what you just said makes so much sense that it could not fit in your routine because you were already engaged with a lot of things and you were studying at 1am at night so any online class could not have taken place uh offline class would have not taken place at that time so that kind of fit into your schedule great yes so any specific benefits that you can like pinpoint which you got once like after enrolling in our course like what were the key benefits you think that the course brought in your preparation okay uh there are multiple actually but then to start with it definitely helped me down with my syllabus because again it's vast because those uh for people I am saying you should go and refer to this and they are saying and they're like how is it possible to do it but once you have the course you know that it is definitely possible you just have to make time out of it number one number two critical as you said the theories and um critical criticism basically so that is a little difficult to understand if you are referring to different books and all so in the end I knew I had to buy this course because if I'm studying from my own I'll have to buy a lot of books like one book will be insufficient and so but then this course has that in the videos are self-sufficient and you can definitely do a research aside from that but apart from that if you're just watching that it will make you feel that okay you have not left out a lot you have covered most of it and mother you you can feel confident with that so helping me I was saying understanding is the key so that understanding comes from the videos so there's that right right and uh apart from that they're made very like they're not very long as if they're going for hours and hours they're very short and crisp and it's some videos just end in two three minutes so you feel like motivated okay let me just watch few more and then few more right right I know that was something that even I used to um you know do when I was preparing for that so I have understood this from a lot of psychological researchers that the attention span of human brain is very limited okay so if it is a 10 minute lecture you'll be like you'll feel okay let me do it it's just 10 minutes long if it is a 50-minute lecture you'll be like okay let me just browse through Insta for some time let me just go out and take a stroll let me do this let me do that this is a task too big to finish so if we break that task into like bite-sized lessons people are tempted to like go through it or like at a 10-minute class well let's just finish it I just want to sleep but I want to sleep around 130 so I have like 15-20 minutes let me finish two three lectures in that time so that kind of yeah that's that was my reasoning behind it why I worked once this is what I'm sure a lot of people yeah I hope so and I'm really blessed to have students like you on board with us who are um who look at literature from a very different lens for them passing an exam is one of the goals it's not the end goal for them the real goal is to understand literature to see how it can benefit society to inspire a lot of other students you're going to meet in your journey and what passionate about teaching so when I started this platform I always say to my employees we're going to celebrate six years and a few days on 14 February we are going to complete six years of our company so I remember thank you thank you to the day when I started the company my aim was to make a platform that can teach teacher like that can build teachers who love teaching so that students who they teach will love learning so it's kind of like a very big chain that I'm trying to make yeah and I have to be successful so far mom you have done an amazing amazing job it's like a steam biases happening teachers benefiting from the students and students benefiting like it's otherwise it's amazing so definitely thank you thank you so much um uh coming back to the uh interview I have another interesting question for you you were talking about notes like so can you share your note making strategy like um how exactly were you making notes and how were you revising these notes okay so I would let's just say I'll give you an example uh uh if I'm making notes on Marlo let's just say so I'll start with his biography first I'll write uh not all the details are important for example it was even mentioned somewhere he's a homosexual and all so I know they did not ask such questions if this is true or not I mean they might but then this detail probability is very very rare yeah exactly so you you got to know that this is important and what is not important just leave it out so obviously you can't write everything because it is immense so the important chunks I used to take out from the author understanding author is very important and uh there's that and apart from author when I was also doing the uh when I was doing the ages I did not leave out anything that is the movements the historical the lullard movements and the peace and rebellion and all that actually it's like a it's like building a house and all these works works that I do author's work they are like bricks but the social movements are like a cement so they will help you from the entire brick at the wall isn't it you kind of imbibed that metaphor in similiwala cheese on your side inside you I remember one of my students used to tell me that when I read John Dunn and a lot of other writers who love giving these analogies and allegories I kind of feel that it gets so sticky again right now the moment you just gave this beautiful analogy of building a house and how these moments and social reforms that happen that was kind of uh this kind of contributed contributed in um making the foundation of the house because bricks you can put one after the other but if the cement is not there the bricks are going to fall exactly exactly yeah right so that's a beautiful lovely analogy I am going to get uh in my few further future lectures saying that one of my student taught me this I'll be so glad so that is what I tell my friends also you know do not miss out those because otherwise you will not understand why is this writer writing what is in his mind you know that is important so there's that and after that like I've made notes on malo and after malo then I was I started with his works for example in a chronological manner that is so that badmai don't have to go ahead and see which work was written first so I obviously used to go ahead with the first work right see it's um not just the significance of title and then see the how what is the beginning line how does it end then the character's name and after that the entire crux a detailed summary that is at times they ask questions which are very detailed like who was the personal secretary and their dog or something like that some very detailed questions so um there was that and um like uh for example every plajew of malta and then uh dr foustis all of these had like one one page notes of a very condensed form that will not leave out anything the characters if there's a quote which is very significant or repeated so there was that if there's any reference on which another book was written the title was taken from it like your hand full of dust has been taken from wasteland so yeah sort of just like an intertextual illusions for example white sir gas to see and bertha mason and how so just like that so that is how I made my notes and I used to write them not in a lot of paragraphs I used to write them in point wise because otherwise I'll also not feel like reading it so just point wise very very important it is to like make very short notes so that so you don't have to be a lot of students don't understand they don't have to be a xerox machine they just have to write such like short pointers that only when they see it you can only understand that okay why you have written this particular phrase you will recall the story behind this phrase the notes are for your reference not for the reference of your friend that that's definitely definitely you will carry them with your like I think for the rest of your life so make sure that you understand them write them in proper handwriting change pen colors if that is necessary that will also help so write them in a crisp format and just yeah as you said because they're ox machine and everything so that is not very interesting and how did you revise like did you do daily revision or was it a last minute revision before the exams I used to do a weekly revision as in like daily revision would I my focus was to for example I did not have rigid goals but then I used to have certain things in mind okay that this week I'll be I used to like there's a in WhatsApp there's a thing where you can talk to yourself like the chat where you can talk to yourself I think there's that so over there I used to write that okay this week I'll cover literary criticism it is that I'll cover postcolonial or psychoanalytic psychoanalytical criticism or things like that and then in literature I'll do this in let's just say in other literatures I'll do Gabriel Garcia Maka and things like that so that would that helped me and then after a week I used to revise on Sundays especially I used to give time in the evening that okay what did I study in the entire week so that if I do it a quick revision quick revision would have been impossible if I did not revise it like that so there's that right right wonderful wonderful I think weekly revision makes so much sense that you also have a have a kind of understanding that okay this week this much I've completed so you kind you can kind of have a mental calculation that okay 40 percent of my syllabus is complete next time I'm aiming to finish 50 percent so you have those milestones mentally there that's another interesting thing that I want to ask is that you must have found that since you did not cover the entire syllabus so there might be a lot of questions in the paper that you felt was unfamiliar or was tough for you to handle since you did not finish that portion so how did you tackle those questions again elimination technique that I knew these two were not the answers because I've studied that so for example there was like at times you just need to apply a little bit of there was a question what does quote mantu means so I kind of knew I studied all like this all the options and most of them were making sense but then there was this one sentence of one option which is not making sense entirely so that is strike off and then in the three so again the elimination technique helped me a lot so that is how I did and yeah manage your time yeah sorry please go ahead you would say just that only that there was a question there was a very difficult question it was an Indian writer lesser known Indian writer and there were chronology based on that so I started like you know thinking if I were a writer what would I have had written first is it a poem mother that's very lame I don't think so I think what is interesting good to know is that somebody who is keen on getting those questions right somebody who's not just like you don't know if that is not approach then that person is definitely going to use some or the other tactics to solve it and sometimes it's it is right also sometimes it backfires also but the point is that it is up make the mark look at me probability increase care just say this example that you're giving elimination so I always say that if you have four options and you take one option so your probability is 25% to get it right but if you eliminate two options then your probability of getting the right answer is 50% so you double probability so when you use these kind of tactics to get a question right your probability increased a little bit obviously the questions that you don't have an idea about probability plays a crucial role in considering you do not have a negative marking system which will you know diminish your marks you should definitely not leave out questions because there have been few very few questions which I thought were definitely wrong but they were not actually they were right because of that elimination technique and all that so I'm grateful that that happened so I think people should take their chances even if it's wrong you will know if it's right then good for you so good for you exactly exactly again another question that I have for you is that how did you manage time during the you know exam those three hours what was your approach which questions did you attempt first what was the sequence of paper one and paper two yeah so okay let me be very honest the moment I saw paper one I prepared a DI also like I used to see videos I think is it a brother who makes it some some person some karma yes yes yeah yeah he is my brother the one who is in I am Raji right yeah oh that is amazing so so I used to listen to I had prepared that but then the question paper it it was a little tricky this time paper one so I got nervous and then I was like okay let me I just marked them for review and I said I'll come back to these and then I came to paper like I did all of them but then I was not very certain so I did not waste my time thinking have an RK I will solve this question then only I will go to the next one so no that did not happen so and then I moved to paper two and that is where I was like okay this is my forte here and then I developed that confidence that okay I do this and after I was done with that so there was time left and then I went to review that question so I will the only tip I think with this is a very repetitive tip that you should not waste time on questions which you should which you know if you are not able to do that you should just move on to the questions which you don't know otherwise you just end up missing them missing and it is very important I think I can this is one tip that I kind of have repeated in all my videos that I made towards the end of the course like when I'm just taking youtube lives on how to attempt mock test and how to do the last minute revision so in that series in every video this is one thing that I say that don't get attached to a question it is not like your last relationship that you are like definitely when you have not prepared a lot like math is my again last minute revision I was revising so again the mentor he told me like he told he used to tell in his every video that there are portions which definitely come in exams so you should study these and these are the questions they have not been asking from like so many years so I did not I completely did not study them this time also they did not come so that happened and apart from that there were significant questions for example the alphabet series the number series these are things which you again have to make the mental makeup that okay even if you're not good in maths they will not ask few questions like you know from a very college level they'll ask you basic questions only in fact if I had to give it second time I would have a better in that but apart from that as I was saying so paper one main I did try to as in what do I say I did try to not put so much attention into questions which were a little difficult for me for example there were questions the train speed and everything so I knew this will take time and not for me at least but then there were questions like number series and alphabet series those were questions which I know okay these I can do this so that I did and that I made my surety and then I moved on and then a paper two was again yeah exactly very rightly said that you have to play with your strengths so like I remember this was one mistake that I did when I was preparing for that so when I was preparing for that I was like very very ambitious so I kind of did all number series and DI and everything and I'm pathetic at math yes I'm your ambition has inspired a lot I think the first video I watched of you was how to write better answers if you're in masters or bachelors that was the first video and over there you were explaining how you were the topper of your entire university and that was just so inspiring then you post videos of you going to foreign countries and it just makes me feel that okay one day I will be like her and you know if she can do it on one attempt it is possible so yeah I'm so sorry I interrupted no no no no not at all and I'm so glad I'm so overwhelmed right now to know that you know I have that impact in life so many people so yeah going back to my story so I was sharing that so I did a lot of hard work when it came to DI and logical reasoning questions so I put in like a lot of efforts to understand and solve a lot of questions but then when the paper came that time the DI and the logical part was very tricky so I could not get it right but then that's there I had this feeling here I have to get it right so I kind of wasted those 10 minutes and then that was the moment when I realized and it is just my ego that is making me waste my time here because I have put in like 50 hours understanding DI and now I cannot get these five questions right so so at that time I took a one minute break in the exam hall and I just asked myself that and that is the moment when I decided that DI I'm just going to mark random answers and I'm going to move ahead and that was a game changer because so even I would have not cleared it in my first attempt so that is when I realized a lot of people you know kind of relate to it and they kind of remember it at the back of their mind so on the day of the exam maybe and they'll remember you sharing this or our interview where we both are talking about this and they'll they might not waste their time and they'll move on so I think that is where I feel like I'm like your little version or something this exact thing happened with me I also prepared for DI but then the moment I saw the question half of the section was not there it you had to make the further calculation it was not the basic question definitely yeah yeah this time it was very hard so so that happened I saw and I realized okay I did not I was not even thinking so much I just knew it from the start this will take time I should not waste my time in this I should definitely just see which answer seems reasonable and like not going into extremes and all that so I did that and then I moved on to the other questions and as you said at the moment I did I entered paper two and I realized okay this is mine that there's a scope where I can that that's my battlefield yeah exactly that's my forte that's my strength yeah right great great so any advice that you would want to give to students who are preparing for that anything specific that you have in mind do you've shared some wonderful tips but anything else that you have in mind that you would want to share just believing that it is definitely possible I mean for those who have not clarified this my friends also they have attempted and they have scored 178 also 182 was the cutoff so there was this close so I would just say that you know you are also this close do not lose that hope even I had that in my mind that what if I don't clear this time it would be so difficult I'll have to start from basics again but you are not starting from the basics you are definitely ahead a lot because you have done most of the things you have to revise them and this time you might as well clear jrf so there's that right so believing that it is definitely possible will help you because once you know the why you will know how so answering that question that why you know that is very important to know how and once you know that why that okay you have things cleared in mind I have to get this trade this is my time limit you just don't have to take so much pressure that okay I don't have time that might come naturally if you are preparing for a long time but initially for people the beginners you have time you can do this and it is possible it is it is the exam is made for you you can do this exactly so the mental makeup is done and after that mental makeup there comes the action because you cannot be idealistic about things and just trade will happen no so that is there so I would say the the hard work definitely that should be done that should never be compromised you should not leave the portions unless that's like the only option left you should definitely do because you never know there was like Bharti Mukherjee and questions from that I just gave a read read last time and then after I saw the question I was like thank god I did this I read this otherwise I would have just skipped that portion so if possible try to cover maximum syllabus if not then you're definitely a human being and apart from that I'd say you can also keep a journal and things like that to write down feelings you know today you might not feel motivated so there's that and apart from that there are very wonderful movies also on youtube so there are days which you might not feel like you know studying a lot so you cannot obviously you will not feel like studying the novel so you can just watch the movie it will help you clear so many concepts I've watched that we pilgrim's progress I think it's a very cartoon version and it's amazing because yeah I was writing notes and it was there were like so many things happening simultaneously but then I saw the movie and it helped me a lot so these tips you have to be mentally prepared physically you have to do the hard work and also spiritually also if you want to stay connected there's that also so wonderful I think you've you've given that yoga kaja madra mind body and soul all three together and that is what yoga is all about yoga is all about so very beautifully you know kind of align the three pillars together and all three are as as important as the other because spiritual as you said I have this prayer section on the website if you see oh yeah I forgot to mention I had that in my mind that your course is not just like it does not definitely have content but then in the end there was like prayer from arpita mam and that was so soothing towards and it was like you being with us it's like your it reminds us of your presence that you are praying for us your entire team is working so hard so that we get there we reach to our dreams in a better manner in a faster way so definitely so thank you so much that that prayer I think is something that I advise everyone to do on a daily basis prayer or any form of meditation that you like it just what you said makes so much sense that when you journey you write down how do you feel so even today like I have been in this industry since past six years and yet there are days when I feel that oh I wasn't productive enough today I had so many things in my task list but I did not do it so I have this habit of you know writing my task list on a day-to-day basis in the morning and then I check it off and in the evening I have a completed task list that these are the things that I finished today so the days when I feel demotivated I go back to those previous notes and I just scroll through them and see that oh there have been days where I've been super productive so I can take that leverage that okay today I did not feel like doing so much and that kind of doesn't let me get into that guilt trip which a lot of us have this tendency towards we all gravitate towards saying that oh I'm not done enough I'm not intelligent enough I'm not hard working it out and that is something that has to be changed like no matter if you clear net you do not clear net it has nothing to do with your self-image you're a wonderful beautiful human being each one of us um and these these things that we do is just one of the achievements but that cannot overshadow our personality a person that we are yeah yes and that is probably the reason little difference which we do yeah that's what so that's what I was saying and as you have wonderfully mentioned all the spiritual causes and that but that was amazing yeah right right so that's about it I guess you've given a lot of tips which are going to be very very beneficial and some really eye-opening tips for me as well because you know every student that I meet has a very different way of studying so I'm a very systematic person I am somebody who is going to do a very thorough study you're somebody who is intelligent enough to know that okay this is the time that I have and this is what I'm going to aim for so your approach kind of would really help students who are also having this kind of time crunch and can relate to your approach better than mine so I think that is what we're aiming at that with these definitely definitely you have to have that mindset as well you know of what the paper setters they are going to set you have to just see it not like a battle but then you have to prepare your own army as well and then make sure and the only information you have of their army is the previous year question paper so there's that exactly exactly and thank you so much once again it was lovely talking to you thank you so much for taking out time for this interview and as soon as I land in Raji I'm going to give you a call I don't know when is that going to be possible but probably in the next three four months I'll be there in Raji and I'm definitely going to give you a call and I'll also ask Kadevi to forward your number to him so since he's in town he can definitely catch up with you once he's the one who has like kind of helped you with the maths and di portion so definitely definitely I owe him a treat actually just let you know and you mom if you come here I'll be so honoured actually to receive you and it will be an amazing experience to see you in real life it would be lovely I I I'll definitely take you out for a treat that is a treat that is due from arpatharva.com's team for students like you who have made us proud and who has kind of made us feel worthy of what we are doing so when we see that our efforts are getting converted into somebody's dream are coming true that that kind of motivates us a lot to keep moving on this path. You are an absolute inspiration ma'am if someone asks me where do you see yourself in like few years I would just my one word answer can be arpita ma'am so thank you so much thank you so much but I would really want to like add something to it I would not want you definitely we all get inspiration from each other but then I would definitely not want you to it's it's fire to be me I would want you to aspire to be the best version you can be because I know that you're beautiful in your own way and you can do things which I cannot even think of so there are plans which God has made for each one of us and we have to move towards that path just like that pilgrim progress so we have that journey to the celestial city and everybody's journey is different so ma'am do you mind me asking like this is very like I know this is very too early to think I have to finish my masters and do my desitations as well but then what exactly did you do after clarifying your net did you attempt for jrf as well did you do phd and what yes so I did my phd I cleared my net and since jrf is basically done in order to get that stipend when you're doing your phd I come from a financially well family so I never had that thank you which is jrf karki the government's a stipend because I found that let that money go into the hands of people who need it more than me so and then I pursued my phd I completed it while this startup was running so 2016 to 18 was my master 17 I cleared my net 18 I started the company and 18 may I enrolled in phd which completed in 2021 oh it's recent yeah it's amazing so that's how it is thank you so much for the guidance ma'am that that thank you thank you so much for the love and appreciation and you haven't I feel like earned this from a person I was just a viewer and now I'm talking to you live this is just an amazing amazing experience thank you and I feel grateful for you and your entire team who has worked so hard so so hard thank you I'm going to pass your regards to them definitely I'm definitely everything just the entire aim is just it is helping so many students out there including me and it has helped me you know for me it's like an impossibility thinking that I'll clear just in one month's time and you know under that to a category which is like the marks under this is just extremely much so for me I just thought I'll if it happens and it's good otherwise I was definitely prepared I'll give my second attempt but then I qualified this attempt and my entire credits to you and everybody thank you thank you so much and your strategy was wonderful now that I know your entire journey I can see that it wasn't luck it was sheer hard work and your smart work sometimes people think that okay if I study for like 12 hours for one year only then I can clear net there are people who are intelligent enough to realize that okay just like you said British literature theory and criticism that constitutes of 80 percent of the syllabus if you finish that completely there is a fair chance that you can get net because net cut off is 60 65 percent 80 percent we have 65 questions to answer so that is how the mind works the mind function so exactly and the mind I would say the mind should like there are there was a very motivational video I watched where it was said the mind should not be like a stone where you pour water and it just goes everywhere it should be like a sponge which should absorb it so you should have that clarity in your mind it should be like lattices in the window that okay this forms here this okay structuralism post structuralism this bath was a part of structuralism then he became a part of poster so things should be clear over there if it is clear you will see the questions and you will know the answer and you will be definitely more confident that okay so it should not be like a stone so another metaphor absolutely wonderful analogy once again some words of wisdom that I think it's going to be very very beneficial for all the future aspirants thank you so much for being with us and I'm really looking forward to meeting you very very I am just the same I'm I'm so honored for this interview and for the fact that I could see you and talk to you in person so that is amazing thank you thank you I'm going to share your number with Dave you can you guys get in touch definitely definitely I would love that and for you to come in Ranchi that would be absolutely absolutely absolutely chalo bye bye and congratulations once again and pass my regards to all your teachers and your family members definitely ma'am you too passed my entire like a lot of respect to your team and you of course and your brother and everybody who was a part of this journey because it's not one person just like structuralism it's the entire entire elements you know helping me reach out there you know if you want something desperately want something you will definitely find out the way so the just one last thing I would want to say is do not lose hope it is possible and you will definitely do this absolutely thank you so much thank you wonderful interaction with you actually bye bye same here ma'am just the same bye ma'am bye bye