 So I hope all of you are doing good. So yesterday we had a essay paper. So I have just made an analysis of the paper so I thought I'll just share it with you. Let me tell you, this is not a tough paper, it's a very, very easy paper. It might appear to be tough. The difficult questions do not, the questions that you are not able to understand does not determine the difficulty level of the paper. It is the questions that you actually understand determines the difficulty level of the paper. Four questions in section A, even if you can understand one question and that one question happens to be a very easy question, it means it is a easy paper. So that way it is actually not a difficult paper. The difficult paper is when the question paper asks you to write an entire essay about artificial intelligence that is called as a difficult paper. These are papers where you can just indulge yourself in bringing out your creativity and just coming up with whatever you feel like. Just that you have to make sense to the examiner. Those who make sense will get marks. It's as simple as that when it comes to a paper like this year's essay paper. Okay, so it is not actually a difficult paper because as I tell you, don't worry about the fourth question. You were right. UPSC is actually becoming elitist. Elitist in the sense either you should have had a very urban experience in life, good exposures. Otherwise, you should have struggled hard. You should have been a person who is ready to put in efforts. These two are the aspects that are required as of now. So can't really exclude it as if it is only beneficial for the elites? No, not at all. Even if you may be from a rural area, you may have a very normal education. But after entering into UPSC, are you reading wide? Are you having some curiosity to know more than those GS topics alone? These are all some aspects which are going to really matter in performing well in this question paper. Yes, I can't completely say that it is elitist, not at all. After entering into civil service preparation, if you can manage to read more ethics paper, if you take that as your seed of further thoughts and if you're able to browse further and further explore more areas, that interest is what can help you sail through a similar paper in the upcoming years. Yes, UPSC is actually making it level playing. UPSC is ensuring that real writing skills come out and not just some mugged up, cramped memory which comes and some preparing on 10 different themes, mugging up some quotes, just going and writing it, all that is going to be a waste of time from now onwards. But you should be naturally inclined towards understanding more about yourself, understanding about the world, because you are entering into a position where a self-understanding is something which is very, very important in the roles that you're going to occupy. Correct? So UPSC is entering into reforming the nature of questions, so as to choose the right candidates. I think it's a very welcome move and you should just start preparing in the way UPSC expects you to be. So forget about all those new, new themes on science. I'll prepare some template answers, all that. Don't worry about it. So as soon as I saw this question paper, both in section A and section B, I couldn't even touch two questions, but I'm really carefree about it. I'm not bothered about that. I am only concerned about the remaining two questions and out of the two questions, I can very well manage at least one question in each section. Okay, so if that is the case, it means it is an easy paper from my perspective. All right, so we'll get into it. So further, while we go about discussing it, more insights you will be getting about how to handle these questions. So starting from section A and section B, so the first process as soon as you see a question paper is, you have to follow some checklist and identify which ones you must avoid. Okay, so section A, section B, you have four questions each. So can you tell me what have you made up? I mean, what have you decided to avoid out of the four questions? It's first is eliminate, then select. Okay, minus I'll be eliminating question number three, question number four and section A, section B, I'll be eliminating question number five and question number seven. I'll not be choosing these questions. So this is my consideration. And so it leaves me with two questions here and definitely at least there is one question which I know I can manage perfectly very well. Okay, I'll also point out why I am avoiding these questions. Three, four, five, seven. What is the reason why I would like to avoid these questions? Okay, first is philosophy of wantlessness is utopian while materialism is chimera, chimera, right? So see, when I read this, I would have just written everything in the first person since. It's just my own feel that I have written with first person since. So you have to just manage with that. So yes, I will find the question until I encounter the word chimera. Okay, it is something that I have read somewhere in my past. I know there is a word like this, but I really don't know what is the precise meaning of that word. So I'm not very 100% sure about its interpretation. So without it, I cannot give my own interpretation. Okay, that is the first disaster that you can actually do in your SAP, but giving your own interpretation. These are all some lessons which you will end up learning in the hard way. So better you hear from those who have suffered because of making some mistakes. So listen to that and ensure that you don't do those mistakes. Even if one word you're not able to comprehend, better you skip that essay. Okay, so that is why this question is being avoided. Moving on to the next question. Yeah, very philosophical. See, sometimes what happens is unless you know the exact context, exact mind of the philosopher, what school of thought he belongs to, in what sense does he even mean this? Okay, I don't know which philosopher has even told this, but I can see that it is something very philosophical. Real is rational and rational is real. Rational is a word that we commonly use in our daily lives. We say he's a very rational person. It's a rational decision that has been taken. It's a rational number. But did we really care to think about what is the exact meaning of the word rational? Correct? So it makes a lot of, in different contexts, rational means different things. A sensible person is called as a rational person. A decision that is very objective is called as a rational decision. So there are just so many ways of how the word rational can be interpreted. Even if you'd have known about it, can you really write for nine pages or 10 pages? I'm not really sure. So what I'm trying to point out is I'm not here to discuss all the four eight questions. No, no, no, maybe next year some publications will come up with the main guide and you can probably read that. You will have the points there. I'm just here to give you a strategy on if this is the kind of paper that you get repeated in the next year, what would be your approach? All right. So three and four is something that I would avoid. Okay, it leaves me with two more questions. Okay, the process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced. Very, very clear. At least understanding the words, understanding the each and every word in the question is something that I can do it without any ambiguity. There is no way a word can be interpreted otherwise. Okay, that is one. These two questions. These two questions are fine. Okay, so out of that, you may have your own choices. Somebody, see, I'm not saying that you should not even attempt question number three and question number four. All that I'm saying is, before you decide on attempting question number three or question number four, why don't you have a look at question number one and question number two? So never attempt a question because of its novelty. And this is also something that I hear from students, sir. It's something which is very advantageous for political science students. That's a very wrong understanding of UPS. No, no question is advantageous to anybody. First of all, okay. So that is a bias. I told you in one of the essay classes that if you feel that this is something similar to political science, and I have political science as an optional. So I'll just start answering. Let me tell you, my friend, you will not be able to answer so very well after the fourth page or the fifth page. It's a fake confidence that you have because the preparation that we do for optional is you learn a theme so as to manage an answer at the max for two and a half pages. Right? You're not an expert in that optional unless you do a doctorate and you involve your life for that particular subject. So unless and most of us, we are not discipline specific experts on any of these subjects. If that is the case, don't think that because of political science, I have already heard this somewhere. I have studied about Hegel. You would have studied about Hegel, but about this real and rational, you would have studied only for two pages of content. And with that, can you really write for 10 pages? It's really doubtful. So never trick yourself into believing you can do something because it's from your optional. No, look at the other questions. There are some simpler questions, at least which do not have any issues with interpretation. And these are the two questions. All right. So two questions are there. I would personally go for question number one because I feel I can do a justice to this question, at least for eight or eight pages or nine pages, I can write something meaningful. So let's see how to go about it. Okay. So this is my idea. The process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced. Okay. So when I see this, I can understand the entire question, but the word now is actually the reason why I can actually start developing my essay. If the question is, the process of self-discovery is technologically outsourced. I wouldn't have much of ideas, but the word now being technologically outsourced, it means that a comparison is being made. It is a comparison is made between the present and the past. Correct. So the word now allows me to explore the past as well as the present. Instead of the word was just a process of the process of self-discovery is technologically outsourced. Very, very contemporary nature. I cannot diversify beyond what the question asks, but here the question says it has now been technologically outsourced. So, yes, moving on to the next slide. It indicates a comparison between past and present. By making this comparison, I can get further seat for thought. Okay. So it's very palpable that the essay expects some kind of a comparison throughout the entire essay. So if I write only about the present, the essay is incomplete. If I write just completely about the past, again, it is incomplete. But when I make a comparison about how the process of self-discovery was done earlier, how the process of self-discovery is done today. So throughout the essay, if the sense of comparison is illustrated, the examiner will be convinced that I have addressed the demand of the question. Okay. So this is how I intend to take my essay forward. So this is the structure. This helps me, this understanding helps me develop a structure for my essay. Right. And I say that it would sound as if technology is doing what men used to do without technology. Absence of technology, how people used to self-discover themselves with the help of technology, how people are self-discovering. All right. Right. And as soon as I start thinking about this, I also get a counter thought. Why should I just take the same line given in the question? Why don't I contradict the entire question itself? I can just say that technology is not at all useful in any way in self-discovering a man. Okay. That can also be a viewpoint that I can take. But again, why risk it, correct? Essay is open-ended. You can either accept it, you can completely negate it. All that is fine. But while you start negating, your answer alone appears to be somewhat different from others answers. And unless your writing is very, very persuasive, unless you impress the examiner, more than what 100 other aspirants have done through their answers, unless that impression is created, you will not be able to get good marks. Right. So instead, what I'll do is I'll just stick to the line of the demand of the question. But still, in the middle of the essay, I might be bringing in these counter-ideas so that at least I can fill in some pages. It looks as if I'm exploring both sides and then finally arriving at some conclusion, correct? So, and moreover, I personally also believe that, yes, technology is a great tool which is helping in self-discovery. Okay. Now, the question is about, what do you actually understand by the word self-discovery? The word is self-discovery and not self-awareness. If it is self-awareness, it enters the domain of the spirituality. Okay. Then it is about consigns and meditation and how you unearth your, what do I say? Self-awareness is something different where you question the fundamentals of what mind means, how is thought created? Okay. So, is the thought within my control or not? So, such angles, if it is explode, that enters into the domain of spirituality. But that is not self-awareness. That is self-awareness. But the question is self-discovery. Okay. Self-discovery is different from understanding how our mind works. Okay. How thoughts are created. Jay Krishnamurti's ideas about how mind works, that is all different. That is not about self-discovery. Maybe self-awareness could be one tool to self-discover a person. But self-discovery is something which is very broad in nature. You cannot limit it to something only related to your mind. Okay. So, don't get into such a kind of a narrow conception of the word self-discovery. Discovering is finding out oneself. Finding out who I am. Finding out what I do I like, my likes and dislikes, my interests. Okay. My belief system, my philosophies and my opinions on certain aspects. Okay. So, that is what is actually about self-discovery. Self-awareness is different, but self-discovery is different. Okay. So, yes. So, these are the different aspects of self-discovery about one's beliefs, philosophy towards life, one's likes and dislikes, one's ugly nature. Yeah. We tend to think too high about ourselves unless we are put into some situations where then it becomes revealed to us how ugly we actually are inside us, correct? Or not all of us are saintly all the time. It happens. So, understanding about the real us, right? About who we really are. So, that is the process called as self-discovery. So, something which is already there. You're not molding yourself into a person who you would like to be, but instead you are already a person who are there. Maybe you have not yet realized that you really do not have fear of public speaking. You think about yourself that you have a fear of public speaking. You're yet to find out that you really do not have such fears, correct? So, what is your real code? It is getting found out, right? So, that is what is the process called as self-discovery. So, yeah. I have gotten some four or five different issues, but when I'm writing about it, let's say, in the real exam and I'm brainstorming, I just get a block. After that, I'm not able to go further at all. And there is no way you can resolve this writer's block. Okay, once you start thinking, after four or five points, if you're not able to get, that's it. If you keep on thinking, you will once again be repeating the same idea. So, better I'd start writing down, elaborating and extending on whatever I have pointed out now. Then slowly as I go about with my essay, maybe who knows, more and more ideas can even go, it can get generated. So, these are all about one's fears, right? So, I have to identify what my real fears are. Okay, so fear of heights, fear of goals, fear of public. So, these are what is about one's self, correct? So, all these aspects have to be found out. What is one's real belief? What is one's real philosophy? I might be a communist. My political philosophy might be communist in nature, but in reality, once I start earning money, then I might be the most hardened capitalist. Okay, so for that, first I should be getting the money in hand. So, without money, you will be a communist. But once you have property, then you start protecting the property, then you slowly give up communism, if that was your political philosophy. So, the factor that aids in self-discovery, that self-discovering that you are actually not a communist, there's access to money. So, similarly, that is what we have to talk about in this essay. What we are going to talk about is what factors used to earlier lead to self-discovery. And if really technology has replaced those factors in helping a man, I understand all these aspects about himself. That is what is the demand of the question. So, this is all just my thoughts. Okay, whatever I felt when I started typing, I have just noted it down. The word is discover. It means something that is already existing and which needs to be found. It's not getting a new you. It's about finding your true you. It needs to be catchy. See this new you, true you, something that I have got inspired in writing like this after seeing the question paper. Even that kind of spontaneity can happen to you on the day of the examination also. Sometimes you find the question itself is more catchy. So, that itself, a third question or a fourth question, a phrase itself is so catchy that you would want to get inspired from that and would want to bring it somewhere in your answers. Even that can actually work. Everything is possible in essay paper. Okay, so that's why it's a very original paper. It depends upon each and every person. So, anyway, how do you find the true you? Okay, who you are in, really? So, traveling, encountering the new, yes. So, whatever I ask this question. Okay, so people talk so much about improvisation, innovation and all and writing a story would be a good way of innovating or improvising. So, whenever I, so it's only when I start brainstorming, when I arrive at a solid concept, which I can actually elaborate, there I will ask myself, I will have to ask myself, can I possibly write a story with this kind of a concept? Okay, writing a story, it's nothing new. You write the story in the first half page. That is if you can write really good conversations or narrations, write it there, write a story, anecdote, and then start with your answer because the concept is already there. You just need to create characters, that's all. So, this is also some thought that will come into your mind when you start a brainstorm. Okay, so traveling, encountering the new, I immediately can write a good quote on traveling. Yeah, so there is a quote, I think Mark Twain's quote, traveling is the antidote to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Okay, once you start travel, you will lose your narrow-mindedness. You will lose your bigotry. That is all negative opinions that you have about others. So, but anyway, the question is not about prejudice. So, even though I might have a quote, I must have been taught in such a way that traveling helps and understanding more about myself by removing my prejudice. Okay, going to the next slide. So, first is I'm just brainstorming to think about the traditional methods of how people self-discover themselves. It is after that I can make a comparison with how technology is replacing those earlier methods. So, traveling is one such method. Okay, so, okay, fine. So, this is a story which I can possibly think about. Very simple one. But even though I thought of creating the story, but as I moved further inside brainstorming, I came up with a better story. So, I'm not actually going to write this as a story in the introduction. So, better stories result as you go up more and more when you start introspecting. Okay, so how traveling helps in self-discovery. So, basically, a person goes abroad. He has a negative opinion about the foreign culture people. He thinks that all Westerners are racist. Racism is very prevalent in Australia. But when he goes there, he makes a lot of friends from Australia. So, they mingle with him as if he is one among their own. So, such kind of travels, okay, where you meet new cultures. Travel means you are encountering new culture. That is the process. The process is travel is one way. Interaction is another way. In olden days, when technology was not there, the only way you can meet a person of foreign culture is when you go out and meet them. So, encountering new culture helps you understand more about your own prejudice, understanding about my own prejudice that I held against people of other cultures. So, it is actually a way I discover about my own likes and dislikes. Then I come to understand that, okay, maybe people are not really that bad. So, I have to change myself. So, basically, I am trying to understand myself, that I am a prejudiced. I was unnecessarily prejudiced against Westerners. So, it helps in discovering about myself. So, this is one process. Okay, but the question is, as I told you, I have made up my mind that throughout my entire essay, I am going to create the essay in such a way that there is a sense of comparison that is visible throughout the entire thousand words, right? So, immediately, I... So, either you can first talk about all the old traditional methods of how people self-discover, then start a new paragraph talking about all the modern methods of self-discovery that is up to you. But I feel the best way to take this essay forward is, now and then introduce comparisons. Bring in parallels. Okay, so how would I write? Yes, technology led process, FB and communities. So, I make friends on net platforms abroad, right? So, YouTube videos of Indian cooking channels and all where foreigners come and they comment and they seem to be more appreciative of the Indian cuisine. So, that itself can help me discover instead of going all the way to Australia and then understanding that people are not prejudiced. But I think even the... No, no, no, should the entire essay go about in the first person? Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. You should never write like that. It helps break prejudice. A person discovers about his own prejudice. That is the way you have to write. I have written in a way so that I can converse with you. Okay? So, you should never write the essay in first person sense. It breaks my prejudice. That is all the wrong way of writing. It is just... For me to have points so that I interact with you, I have made my entire writing in the first person sense. But never should you write in the first person sense. Okay. So, I feel YouTube channels, technology, information technology has actually helped me self-discover myself. Earlier, some traditional process was going and meeting people and encountering them physically. Okay. So, that is one way. Next. Yeah. This is another aspect which I thought self-discovery about one's fears through putting oneself through pain. Okay. So, yes. Old process getting up on the stage and trying speaking. So, let's say I had an opinion about myself that I... I'm very timid. I'm very scared when it comes to public speaking. I cannot go on to the stage and stare at people and speak. So, that's my opinion about myself. But the minute I tried once and then I find that I can actually speak, the fear is completely gone. Right? So, I discover a very essential truth about myself that I really am not so scared. And how do I do it? It is only when I have a platform where I go and meet people, where I put myself in a new situation surrounded by 100 people and then try to speak. Correct? But the same platform today is made available on the Internet. Technology has made available the same new situations in which a person can put himself and find out whether his established beliefs long-held belief about oneself. Is it all correct or not? It's to test persons, their beliefs by putting them in new situations. Technology has become an aid to replace the old age-old methods of physically the person being... I mean, necessary to stand before a group of people and then speak. Right? So, this is another comparison that I was able to think. Okay? So, when I was thinking about fears and how technology is actually helping realize that I'm not so scared after all, now I get a new example. This is an example which I feel probably I'll be writing my introduction. Okay? So, what is it? Yeah. So, when you go to Polish Academy, okay? You get into IPS. There is a compulsory part. There is a compulsory activity that all the officers must do. What is that? You will be taken to Uttarakhand. Okay? And in Uttarakhand, there is a place where bungee jumping happens. All... Every single person must do the bungee jumping. Okay? You cannot say I'm sick or something. All of you must do bungee jumping. Why? So that you may have a fear of heights. Many people even cry. Please, I don't want to do that and everything. But the minute once you do the jump, then you understand that it is not so bad as you even thought. You are still alive. Okay? So, the fear is completely gone. After that, they themselves would volunteer to do it twice, twice. In fact, people who are scared actually end up doing it the most number of times because it becomes a new experience for them. Right? So, I have this. This is an old method. Okay? This is something which people earlier used to do so as to find out about themselves. But now what I have is for Air Force pilots, you have a virtual simulator, right? Aircraft simulator where the... What do I say? The seats where you're trained. Even the seats are actually... Their positions can be changed. They can be inverted. A real field can actually be simulated with the help of this technology. Okay? The real field that you would have actually had to encounter in an aircraft. So, when you make all the sorties and all manuals, it's very scary, right? So, all that can be even achieved with the help of such kind of simulators. Today, it's so expensive that only Air Force can afford. But with the... What do I say? The development of virtual reality, already we have such kind of gaming seats. I don't know if you know it. In virtual reality platforms, we have these kind of gaming seats where you have cylinders and pistons inside the... Under the chair. So, depending upon the movement of the game, the pistons keep on actuating. So, such a kind of a movement is actually replicated even... It's becoming accessible to people also. Okay? So, the point that I'm trying to point here is... Self-discovery by exposing oneself in newer situations is no longer required to be done in the traditional way. But instead, it can be done. But instead, it can be actually done through technology. So, this is the idea. And this is a good example which I think... Once I bring it in my introduction, now the examiner is completely impressed. Okay? So, this is a very good contrast technology doing the same thing of helping a man discover himself, what earlier used to be done in a different manner. Examiner is impressed, now I take my SA4. Correct? So, this is not an example which I actually had in my first thought that I'll be writing it as my introduction. So, such kind of improvisation will be done by you also when you write your main paper. Okay? So, that's why I always say, don't mug up some examples or don't memorize some... People used to do all these template approach. Okay? Having a list of examples also. Whatever is the question, if it's on education, I'll write this. If it is on... No. Just read widely. Be curious to know whatever developments are happening around you. With all that, you will be able to just come up with your own examples on the day of your exam. So, though I started with a different example, but now I feel this example is actually more convincing than the previous example. Okay? Somebody going abroad, whereas prejudice is broken, he understands that he is wrong. I feel that is more negative in character, but whereas this is more positive. So, always when it's positive, it is helpful. Okay? So, I feel this is much better. So, probably I would be writing about this example initially, but I would not be immediately discussing the entire ideas. This idea I'll not be discussing there itself. I'll hold it so that in the middle of the SA, maybe in the third page or fourth page, I'll be writing about this SA. Okay? Sorry, writing about this idea, point number two. Now, moving on to point number three. So, similarly, yeah, so I have some, another example of mine. You may have your own examples. All I'm trying to point out is we have some examples. But let me tell you, when you keep on piling up one example over the other, it really becomes boring for the exam. That's not a very rewarding way of writing an SA. That is a very average way of writing an SA. You can manage and you can get 100 months or 110 months. But keeping on piling the first example to 10th example. But the idea is the same. I'm not diversifying my thought. From point number one to point number three. So, already three or four, five pages, three pages or four pages is already over because story has taken one of the page. Next page is on introduction and three examples takes at least two pages. So, four pages are already gone. If I were to put more and more examples again and again, it really becomes boring. So, now how can I actually diversify a thought? Should I keep more? So, how can I add variety? Variety doesn't mean. So, did you guys feel that none of the traditional approaches can come and help you brainstorm spectacular approach, spelled approach, social, political, economical, legal, technical? Did you feel that none of those things are actually going to help you brainstorm for points? Because each and every question is about one specific area. There is no point of thinking on social angle, political angle, economic angle. All that is over now. That approach is only useful for your general essay topics, not for abstract essays. If it is a question about health care, if it is a question about health care or global warming, then all such approaches can work, but not for these kind of questions. The question is very specific. It is about self-discovery. You cannot diversify in economic lines, legal lines, no, that things will not work. Instead, I think how something is common about all four examples. I feel technology, yeah. So, this is another thought that comes to me. That is, I am emphasizing the role of technology. Okay. But now I also question, if technology alone can be the reason why each and every person, can they start destroying themselves? Okay. So, I am having the same tools. A person, some other random person also has the same tool of YouTube and Facebook forming communities. All these simulators, all such tools are available to all of us. Okay. Then Twitter, reading blogs, understanding about other people. So, all such tools are available to equally to all of us. But does it mean that definitely self-discovery is guaranteed to each one of us? Okay. So, that is how I start exploring. If you ask me, am I an authority on that and is my words the final word on that? No. And I don't really care if my words are final or not, but I have some idea from based on which I can start diversifying my essay. I can bring in some new dimension to the essay. Right. So, I thought it, so I'll start exploring that angle. Okay. So, what is that? Right. Here, I felt GS Paper 4 is useful, whatever we read about attitude. So, it's going to be useful here. Right. I now place emphasis on the nature of men to accept new ideas and read just their old ideas. There needs to be openness to new ideas and it's a part of personality itself. Right. So, I feel that Internet will only expose you to newer, see, Internet will definitely expose you to YouTube. Technology, YouTube, cooking channels, you see all the comments there, but you are choosy in choosing the comments. You don't appreciate any of the comments from people of other culture. You are keeping on searching. Your eyes are not falling on to the comments of others, of foreigners, but you only go on searching about the comments which are from your own locality. Right. So, what I'm trying to point out is you are not open. Technology is bringing it to, you can only take the horse to the water point. You cannot make the horse drink water. Correct. Similarly, technology can only bring people in front of your eyes. There are people who, even if they go abroad, if they mingle with people, then they come back even more hard-lined. They come up with even negative attitudes. Maybe they could have had one bad experience, but that becomes a generalization about the entire culture itself. They come worse than how they were before they even went up. Right. So, that can happen even in the whole process also. Even technology-led process can also result in such kind of personalities. So, it is more about a person's makeup. It's about whether they are open to new ideas, whether they are appreciative of new ideas or not. Those aspects also play a role. Just because you have technology doesn't mean that it automatically self-discovery is guaranteed. No. So, everyone can't adopt the good things from the tech. Right. So, whether it's true or not, I'm least bothered about it. There will be psychologists who can do research on all these aspects. My objective is I need some ideas to fill in the period. Okay. So, how is wisdom built? Right. So, I can probably talk about this. Accepting that one can be wrong. The courage to do so. So, I start exploring these angles also. I bring in an idea that technology does not guarantee self-discovery for all. This could be even a heading also. Okay. Technology does not guarantee. Guarantee is no self-discovery for all. It could be a self-heading. And then when I take it forward, then I discuss saying that people have to be open. How could you be open? It is only when being open would have rewarded you in the past. Accepting that you may not know everything. Accepting that you may be even wrong in doing an act. Right. So, it requires courage. It requires courage to admit that we are wrong. I am wrong. Correct. So, that can be explored in the next one or two pages. Okay. So, I give an example here to point out that the courage to admit that we are wrong. Okay. It increases our openness to fresh experiences. We would not diminish any thought that is contrary to our established beliefs. Okay. And such a kind of a mindset, such a kind of an approach is necessary. Only then self-discovery can result. These are the ideas that I'm going to discuss maybe in the fifth and sixth and seventh pages. Okay. So, that is what I do by discussing about an experience. So, I bring in an idea. I have read in some books that Newton had lost all his money even though he's the best physicist of the time. Even then there were stock exchanges and all. Okay. Newton had done all bad trading and he had lost his money. Same. So, these are all ideas which I have read somewhere to understand that intelligence doesn't guarantee you success in stock market. Okay. So, people of average intelligence, they become good at successful at stock market. Whereas people of extraordinary intelligence like Newton and John Maynard Keynes, Keynesian economics. Even he's a person who's able to bring the entire world economy out of recession, but he cannot manage his own portfolio, right? So, why do they do that? It is because they strongly believe whatever they say is right. So, they believe that whatever positions they have taken up in the trade, it's correct. Even when the economy is going down, even when they know that the company is not performing, they were not actually open to change. Okay. So, I'm bringing in this idea just to point out that what can result if you're open to change, if you're open to fresh experiences, if you're open to correct your established positions, if you're open to that, what all can result? What results is something that is beneficial to you? Okay. Only if you're, see, if I have never been benefited out of being open, I would not be open to new experiences. Even if YouTube brings in fresh cultures and puts it before me, I will not be open to them. I will only diminish them, dismiss them. But if being open has rewarded me, and that is the reason why I am trying to bring in the story. Okay. Even having a stop loss, having a stop loss means when a particular trade goes contrary to your expectation. For example, I think reliance is going to do well in the next three months. I buy some stocks, but immediately the stock starts falling down. So, some of my money is lost, right? I brought it 100 rupees. Now the stock is at 90 rupees. So, 10 rupees, I'm already in a loss. I'm hopeful that tomorrow the stock will again go up and I can probably recoup my losses. But if that is not happening, at least at 85 rupees, I must have the courage to admit that my decision is wrong. So, I could be wrong, correct? And then I have to close my position there. I have to sell my stocks, at least escape with 15 rupees loss. Otherwise, what happens is, and finally I'll have to end up with 50 rupees loss. So, that is what a stop loss. That is my personal experience of why I'll be bringing these ideas to point out that admitting that one is wrong has to be a habit. It should have been ingrained in you because of previous decisions. Only such kind of a person, even if technology brings in newer exposures, would be open to change. So, the example of stock market by itself doesn't have any meaning here. The example is meaningful, only if the point that being open is rewarding. So, a person, if he continuously gets rewarded because of admitting that he is wrong, if he knows that it is beneficial to him, if such a kind of a person, he should have the wisdom to understand that he could be wrong. And admitting one is wrong is going to be beneficial. That is what is called as wisdom. It comes out of getting your fingers burnt. It comes out of practical life experiences getting hurt. Then you understand that, yes, I'm not correct all the time. So, I'm pointing out technology is only a aid. Technology is a medium which brings in awareness, which brings in knowledge about the world, but whether that can translate into self-discovery or not is something that can happen only depending upon the person. This is the idea that I'm going to discuss in there, maybe for two pages or three pages. Okay, are you able to follow? Yes, from where we started and how the essay is actually going about. We started with making a very established position that, yes, technology is actually assisting in self-discovery. But in the middle of the essay, I'm trying to take a turn. Why? Because just keeping on writing the same track throughout the essay gives a sense of monotony to the essay. It really makes the essay boring. But once I bring in these new thoughts in the essay, the examiner is also able to understand that, okay, this guy is actually bringing in other dimension also. So there is some kind of a variety that is induced and infused in the essay by questioning. Okay, it's just by questioning, I'm bringing in some variety, that's all. So this is the order in which my thought process works. Okay, so I decided that I'll do all this and then after coming up with these examples, then I was able to understand that even I myself feel lost when I start bringing these examples. So I must give an apt heading. Otherwise, what happens is the examiner will really feel lost when he goes through the, why is this guy even writing about stock markets here? The reason why I'm writing it is to point out that I am raising a question that self-discovery is not something that can be actually outsourced. It must happen within ourselves. Okay, so I'm just hand-holding the examiner. I am keeping him tethered to the content that I have written by bringing in these kind of headings. Otherwise, the examiner will get lost. And for an essay like these kind of questions, ensure it is so easy for allowing the examiner to stray from what you have written because unless it is not interesting, unless it is not very coherent and connected, there is every possibility that the examiner might suddenly feel bored and lost and he doesn't even know where, why is he reading all these things? The fatigue naturally sets in because the examiner keeps evaluating so many questions, answer sheets. So this is the reason why I come up with this heading. Can self-discovery be really outsourced? And then I discuss about all these issues. So that gives some kind of, what do I say, a cohesiveness to the content that I have written in one, one and a half pages. So moving on. See, I'm not actually writing all these things. I am now only in the process of brainstorming. I have not actually started writing all these things. All these are brainstormed points. Don't think that I have already put my pen on the paper and I've started writing it. No, I'm just still working my way around. What should I write? What should I not write? Establishing a flow. See, it is only when you brainstorm, at that time itself, you'll have to think about your headings. What would be the best possible heading I can give here? Okay. And be open to change even when you give a heading there. For example, when I wrote an answer for the second question. Okay. Second question here. So this is not the heading which I actually wrote first. When I was brainstorming, I thought the tale of Einstein. So this was a heading, but that is not actually a catchy heading. Okay. But when I further brainstorm with more insights, when I went more brainstorming for the next ideas and the ideas after the fifth page, then I suddenly, it struck me that why don't I give a change the heading? Why don't I now give a heading like this? So be open to changes even when you write your essay papers. But all, but yes, but many of these activities, whatever I have done now, it is all actually a part of the brainstorming process. Okay. The last two or three pages where you take it and you jot down all your ideas, you map ideas, examples, thinking about introductions, story, everything must be over, must be completed before you even enter into writing your essay. Okay. Don't think that I'll start writing an essay. Then I'll think about a counterpoint. Then I'll think about examples that cannot work. You will end up creating a very unconnected essay. Okay. So when I finish all your work, basically what you're going to do is you are going to do a rough drafting. You're doing to do a fine drafting. That is exactly what is going to happen. Okay. So in the brainstorming time itself, almost your essay would find its presence in the last few pages. After all, using the right words in the right places and ordering the essay beautifully is what you're going to do in the main pages. Don't think that when you start writing itself now and then I'll think, maybe then I'll come up with a poem. Rough draft and what time you should finish. I see. Okay. That's a good question because you have 180 minutes. Okay. 90 minutes per essay. If you're writing for 10 pages to complete 1000 words, you must write 10 pages. But for these kinds of essays, I really doubt if many aspirants would be able to even cross eight pages. Usually what happens is when you have four questions abstract and four questions general in nature, students try to write eight pages for abstract and then they compensate by writing 12 pages or 11 pages for general essays. Okay. So overall, it matches balances and you get 20 pages completed. That is what students usually do. So in that context for general essays, what happens is I would say you spend 20, 25 minutes on thinking and brainstorming and writing all these things. Because you still have another 60 to 65 minutes for one question. 60 to 65 minutes is a very, very good time for you to write eight pages or nine pages. You have seven to eight minutes per page. So that is actually twice the amount of time that you actually require for general studies paper. In general studies question papers, each page you'll be completing it in three or four minutes. Okay. So not four minutes, three and a half minutes because you have to write 50 pages within 180 minutes. Three and a half minutes you have to cover one, one page in general studies. But in essay, you actually end up having seven minutes per page. Even if we assume that there are 60 minutes left after doing a brainstorming for 25 to 30 minutes. Very, very comfortable time. 60 minutes to write. So I would actually advise you to spend 20 to 25 minutes only on brainstorming. Okay. So do everything before you keep your, put your pen onto the main answer sheet. Okay. So finish your brainstorming very well. Take time, 20, 25 minutes on brainstorming. Then you can automatically you can see yourself answer it with. Okay. So that is my opinion. All right. So now that I have done all these brainstorming, I arrive at a structure to my essay. Okay. The story, hypersource training story is better. So write it for the first page. When you write a story, automatically you'll find that you require at least one page. Okay. Our page is gone. So our, see the only focus here is filling in content for eight to nine pages. At the same time, writing a proper content, which the examiner is able to understand easily. That's all. Okay. So the challenges in filling pages. So I have a story, one page introduction on the presence of technology in our lives. Okay. So this is a structure. Okay. Introduction for one page where I bring in about the role of technology, how each and every activities we are surrounded by technology. It is all you can write it for easily for one page. Okay. Maybe if not, I live and talk about self discovery, what it really means. I can define self discovery for maybe three or four lines. And that can also be done. All this should be completed within two pages. The first two pages introductions must not go beyond the second page. Okay. If it goes beyond the second page, the reader feels as if the body of the answer is too short. Okay. So finish the introduction within one and after two pages. So this is what gets done in the two pages. Okay. Then four, four examples to show that technology can help himself discovery the next three pages. So four, five. Okay. I have a counter example to show that technology alone cannot help himself discovery one or one and a half pages, which I was just discussing with you. It is about the inner self of a person. It is more about how open a person is. So technology is just a medium. It itself doesn't guarantee that every person will be able to self discover themselves. It is up to the motivation which each and every person has the inclination that he or she has to discover oneself. So that is what that is what I'll be discussing through examples for one and a half pages. Okay. So finally, this would be my conclusion. So it comes around eight pages, not seven, eight pages. I need more. Let me think. Yeah, but I'm not able to think more for this essay as of now. So what do I do already? 20 minutes is over. And now I decide that maybe I should start writing. I'll start. I'll once again come back to my thought process once I start writing. So that would be a decision, logical decision. I see my watch. It's already 20, 25 minutes. So better I start writing. Otherwise I'll have to compensate on the time that I have to spend on another essay. So I decide to write. Why do I decide to write? Because because I know that what where I'll be writing more points. I have made up my mind that I'm not going to write more examples because writing more examples is definitely going to make the essay boring. Example after example, very boring. So I have made up my mind that for the first five or six pages, anyway, I don't have to have more thoughts. I already have the correct thoughts. So before you start writing this page by page content must actually flash in your mind. Okay. That is all a kind of training that you have to undergo. Okay. So when you brainstorm itself, when you brainstorm and you make up your mind that this is what is the content that I'm going to write. It should be broadly there. First pages, the example, story, introduction, anecdote or second page. I'll be talking something about technology. Third page onwards. I'll address about self discovery. Okay. That mental picture must be there. Okay. So that for example, for one point, you keep on extending it too much. Immediately there should be some, some bell that rings in you saying that you did not decide to extend this beyond one page, but now what are you doing? You're writing it for two and a half pages. It is bad writing, right? So that mental structure, the framework for writing must be there before you actually write your essay. And it is easier said than done. So that is why you should actually try it out yourself. It's only when you write some essays, you will understand whether you are able to all the mistakes that I'm pointing out is what actually happens when you write essays. So once you experiment, you'll understand these issues. Okay. So anyway, so yeah. So I have decided that I'm not going to add more to the examples, but instead I'll be adding more. If at all possible, I'll add more to the counterpoint. That is technology alone is not a guarantee. So it means that for the first five or six pages, I don't have to think. Let me just start writing it fast. So I, now I start writing. May who knows even when I write our mind will keep on generating ideas at that time, suddenly an idea might flash. Okay. So have some content for 70 pages. Then you start writing. Okay. And whenever new content flashes, you can actually keep on adding to it. So that's it. This is how the essay will be written. Right. So I just then complete the essay. Okay. So I cannot, I haven't attempted to write an essay for this question completely, but for the next section B, I have attempted to write a complete essay. So maybe there you can have a better idea. All right. So, so that would be the choice of my question. So if not even second question can be attempted, but third and fourth, I would advise for 90% of the students to not attempt unless you really have good idea about third and fourth. So question number three, sorry, question number two, your perception of me is a reflection of you. My reaction to you is an awareness of me. One good thing about the question is all these words are easy to understand. There is nothing that is complicated or misguiding, which can make the entire question misinterpreted. Such a problem is not there in this particular question. So definitely a choice of a question. When I saw this question, I had these questions, these questions in my mind after seeing this question. So it is about how we are. We look at the world. So beauty lies in eyes of the beholder or personality shapes are opinion about of the world and others. Okay. Show your friend. I'll tell about yourself. Okay. Or does it mean that all human beings are actually the same? Okay. I feel the quote is actually talking about we are not actually so different from each other. All of us are just the same. Okay. It is our circumstances are situations that decide how we react to various stimuli. Okay. So the way you react is based on your circumstances that have molded you up. So it is, it is that what has created a perception of me in your eyes. Similarly, it is my circumstances which have actually molded me to react in a way when I see you behaving a particular way towards me. Correct. So anyway, so that is what I was able to link here. It feels that it means that all of us are just the same. There isn't much it is all a matter of our upbringing. It is all a matter of how what has been taught to us. How are we indoctrinated? That is it's because of that attitudes are formed and biggest on that we look at the world in a particular way. So anyway, this is not the question which I would have attempted but okay. I believe so for those who prefers prefer this question, maybe you should try out and answer yourself and maybe you can check it from various blogs. If you have forums and all if they have written similar answers or not. Okay. So I just have some four slides which I was able to think. So yeah, we have a topic called attitude. What is inside you is exhibited through your understanding of me. How that is a question. So yes. So when I consider another person to be inferior to me. Okay. So untouchability caste system where I look at others as inferior to me. So it can only be done by a person who practices untouchability. Right. It is only when I have a belief of untouchability. It is only when I feel that it is a way of grading human beings and I believe so that becomes reflected in my way of how I look at others. Somebody who doesn't believe in untouchability cannot consider another person as inferior or superior on the basis of caste. But it is only some person who believes in untouchability can do that. So if you perceive me as lower to you, it is basically an indication of what shapes such a perception of yours. Correct. So right. So this is one way. So there are some examples which I felt are relevant here considering as ugly or opinions, whether I'm handsome, ugly, beautiful. It is all about what is your standards of beauty. Right. It is about how you have been taught to view beauty as. So that is one other example that we can say. Okay. It's about how we perceive the world like I come across one beam that is a concept. All right. So judgments about my character. Yeah. I'm a woman of loose character and this is a normal judgment that men tend to make normally very easy to make. So your opinion that you have found based on your own assessment, because those men who make such kind of judgments, they have their own standards. They have their own standards, which has been taught to them, but they have never bothered to even think whether the standards that have been taught to them is correct or not, whether it is, why should I even have the same standard? Such kind of an introspection has never gone into such men. So this is an example that I can bring in and say that it is because I feel a particular wearing loose, skimpy dresses itself. There is no association between a skimpy dress that a woman wears and to a character, but I have been taught to have such association. So it is more of my reflection than about the character of the woman herself, right? So there are just so many examples that can be given. I'm sure you can have, can something about stereotyping? Yes. Yes. This is actually stereotyping, stereotyping women of loose character. So yes. And this is an example which I was able to think a mirage doesn't even exist. It only exists in my own eyes. Correct? It is because I feel that there is a mirage, but mirage doesn't actually exist at all. It's an illusion. So this is something that I was able to think something as pertinent to this particular question. Okay. So the essential idea here is how an individual is formed besides this outlook towards others. An individual born and grown up in a family where untouchability is part of someone who cannot be critical of oneself and others and instead imbibes passed on values. We don't look at the world through others' eyes and not with this own perspective, right? So whether you look at the world with your own opinions, with your own well thought, well criticized and then derived opinions, values that is shaping your perspective towards others. Or is it something that is borrowed from others, from hearsay, from what your parents have told, from what your friends have decided for you. With that perspective, are you looking at the world? So it is not the world that is faulty. It is the vision of the person that is actually faulty. So actually what I'm trying to do is I am only tracing the same question. I'm not even able to, I'm not actually diversifying for this question. Okay. So maybe if I would have chosen this question as my preferred question, I don't know whether if my preferred question would have started diversifying and all, but since this is not my preferred question, I didn't care much to diversify. But if, I don't know how to diversify it also. But if possible, you can do it whenever you're in leisure. Okay. And to the second part of the essay, how I react. I'm just giving you a base. My interpretation of the question is right. But diversification is not done. More examples have not been brought out. More research on that, each and every part of the question has not been done. So you can do it. Okay. So I would say that you prefer this question over the first. So, yes, I react angrily at being treated as an untouchable. So that reaction happens because I have not analyzed myself. Okay. Because when I analyze myself, I understand that if a, you see, casteism, you take untouchability itself. Casteism itself, one person shows a superiority inferiority complex on the person next in the hierarchy, the next person shows it towards the person who's lower in the ladder. It just keeps on going. Even among the caste considered as untouchables, there is untouchability practice amongst themselves. Right. So if I understand why do I tend to exhibit some kind of a superiority over a less privileged person, I understand that it's because I feel insecure. Okay. Why do I feel insecure? Because I don't have something called as a self-worth. My worth is associated with my standing in the caste. Nothing else. I have not accomplished anything, achieved anything. So I tend to cling, cling on to my caste position because that gives me some kind of a standing whereas there's nothing else that gives me some standing. So, so it is that lack of self-worth, which makes me exhibit a feeling of inferiority or superiority towards others. Okay. So that would be the same aspect. That would be the same reason why another person is exhibiting it towards me. So I can only feel pitiful for the other person. I can only feel sad about the state of his existence. I can only feel pitiful for the other person. Okay. So he is still caged in his own world, right? He is not broad minded. I can only feel sad. If I start feeling sad, then I'll not feel angry towards him. Okay. So my reaction earlier being treated as an untouchable was uncontrollable anger towards him. But now I feel pathetic, pitiful towards him. So that only comes after I have understood my own human frailties, my own weaknesses. Correct. So this is the direction in which the second part of the answer has to be explored. That is, by understanding myself, I understand the reasons for others' mistakes. Then my entire reaction itself will change. I'll be more peaceful. I'll be, I'll not be disturbed throughout the entire night about why did he treat me like that. Correct. My life also becomes easier. So, so how to become aware. So that is also another dimension that I would be exploring in my essay. So feedback. I behave in a particular way. Now I, each, so it is all about observing our own behaviors. Okay. If I behave, I stop for a moment. I think about what prodded me, what pushed me to such a behavior. Sometimes you yourself feel disgusted about your behavior. Right. So it makes us stop and think, why did I behave in a particular manner? Because I have some unresolved issues, maybe my childhood trauma or some psychological unresolved issues. The root cause has to be explored. Many of us, we tend to be blind to the root causes. We always keep treating the symptoms. For example, I behave in an irritated manner towards somebody. Then we try to go and make comments to it. Maybe we just go and cajole them, pacify them. But the same behavior will once again repeat until the root cause is not addressed. So are we going into the root cause itself or not? Right. So that is a way of how one can become aware of oneself. Once the root cause is addressed, once you're able to understand, for example, you may, you might have had some trauma in your childhood because of which your reaction towards authority might be a very serious reaction. Your father was always too harsh against you. He was always just like 7G rainbow colony, the protagonist. He always has a problem with accepting authority, right? Why? Because that's the way he has been treated in his family by his father. And aversion towards authority or disrespect towards authority. So one day if you disrespect authority, so you just go and ask sorry to them. It doesn't mean that the action will not be repeated. It will be repeated unless you understand the reason why your father has always to you. Could be because he had been a victim himself, right? So this is just the broad idea behind this particular essay. Okay. So it is in this direction that the essay has to be explored and it has to be taken forward. I think I'll just move on to section B. Okay. So I told you I'll not be choosing these questions. It's very important to know that many students have chosen this question and they have given their own interpretations. I and let me and after I had decided not to choose these questions, I just went and browsed about these quotes. What are these quotes? Is it taken from some classics or is it taken from some philosopher's quotes or what it is? It seems like hand that rocks the cradle rules the world is actually a poem written by some English poet. Okay. In that poem, it has brought that role of a mother in shaping a child is very essential and such a child who is shaped by his or her mother, when he can actually go and even rule the world itself. It actually points out the relationship between the importance of nurturing a person, the role that a woman plays in the life of a child to nurture him. That is the idea behind the poem. Okay. So many students, what they did was they just completely written this written about women power about women empowerment. Okay. But that's where that's where the problem lies. You can never give your interpretation if you see hand that rocks the cradle rules of world. It is your own interpretation that women empowerment, but the entire poem is actually written in a different context. If at all you give your own interpretation, your writing must be so convincing that that relationship see there is no second word opinion on that. If you are given, if you have given your own interpretation that you have, I will instead write this entire essay about women empowerment. The theme of the poem must somehow be there. That is women players this is a role in shaping the world. Women's role in shaping the world is different from women empowerment. You cannot mix the two and say that both are the same. Women empowerment is how the opportunities must be made available to the women. How social hindrance must all be removed. That is what is women empowerment, but many people. So this is this is a kind of a mistake which students have actually made in this year's paper. Okay. So they are all now hopeful that I mean they are just wishful that they might get a they should also get a call, but we never know each and every person has written something. Somebody has talked about strictness. Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. They do not know that the word rocking means to and from motion. They thought that somebody who deals strictly strictness is responsible for ruling the world. So there's some different interpretations have been given. So this is the reason why I feel I should not be attempting this question. The reason is because there are other. This is a it looks like a figure of speech also. Right. It could completely it may not be even literal. It could mean something else. For example, when you say a figure of speech like it's raining cats and dogs. Okay. It nowhere cats and dogs rain, but the figure of speech is that it's raining heavily. So I have a doubt that the can this phrase actually mean something else? Could it be a figure of speech? If so, I interpreted wrongly. The entire essay is gone. Correct. So these kind of caution must all be there when you choose your top. Yes. Another question which I personally prefer avoiding is history repeats itself. I know that. And we have often heard about those quotes. So many of us can have a lot of examples. We can go back in the past. Ashoka, Napoleon Hitler. We can make all those comparisons. All that is fine. But then car follows the other first as a tragedy. Even I think even Shankar Academy. We ourselves had had a question in the essay series. History repeats itself. But UPSC asks more than that first as a tragedy. Second as a farce. First as a tragedy. Even that can be managed. History repeats itself as a tragedy. I think I can manage something. But then second as a farce. And I don't know the meaning of the word farce. Farce means it's a lie. Now I'm really confused about how can I make an essay by saying that even skip on happening. The second time they happen it's more sad. And the third time it happens, it's a lie. I'm not even able to comprehend how to actually build an essay with this. So better I think I'll just skip this question. Now I have two more questions. There are better practices to best practices. What is research but a blind date of knowledge? Okay. Now what about these two questions? My preferences. Okay. So you have your preferences. My preference. Okay. My preference is actually question number six. Okay. So yeah, I have just pointed out the reason. So there are two kinds of students one who prefer question number eight or question number six. Then there would be students who would prefer question number six over question number eight. But I would actually be focusing on question number six rather than question number eight because for the batches where I have already discussed, I have already pointed out to you the pitfalls of choosing topics where you have a word given in quotes. Right. For some batches we had essay classes. I have already suffered badly by giving my own meaning to the word that are found within quotes. I'm not really sure about attempting them. Okay. Best practices, colonial mentality. Okay. Standardized tests. These are all some technical terms. Maybe best practices could be right in the way you guys interpret. I'm not saying it could be doubtful. But I am just wondering that what is the question saying? Is it saying that whatever is best as a practice can still has a room for improvement? Is that what the question actually says? Or is it saying that by following continuously better and better practices, that is what leads to best practice? Is that what the question is saying? Or maybe the question can be written by addressing both these aspects also. Everything is fine. I am just being cautious here. While being cautious, I feel question number six is something where I can understand each and every word and I feel once I can understand it means that there is no room for misinterpretation. Because I am always concerned when a word is given within the quotes. Okay. I always start suspecting because if this word best practice can actually mean something else than what I really assume it to be. Or maybe I could be wrong and it could be whatever you guys interpret that is in a particular industry. For example, yeah, best practices, something that can keep the industry at its top most position, right? Something that can ensure the efficiency of the efficiency of the process. It ensures the best quality. All that can be brought under best practices. COVID-19, the best practice is the best practice. It ensures the best quality. All that can be brought under best practices. COVID-19, the best practice is the best practice. It ensures the best quality. COVID-19, the best practices, wearing a mask and using sanitizers. But, so, of course, I know what is best practices, but given a choice between these two questions, my preference was question number six. Okay. So let's see how to go about it. Yes. It is abstract. Question number eight appears to be even more direct. Okay. I can think about all the best practices can be improved. Of course, because what was best practice five years back will not be a best practice today. Evolution happens. Okay. So naturally, I can, as soon as I saw this question, in fact, the reason why I put the slide was I really thought I would prefer eighth question over sixth question. But then when I took some time and then I thought for three or four minutes, then I thought that better I would go for question number six. So that is why I made this next slide. So both questions are fine. It is just my personal preference to go with question number six. So what is research, but a blind date with knowledge? Yeah, blind date. Why would someone go on a blind date? We don't know what the result is. Correct. The other person is a girl itself or some of her friend. Correct. All that uncertainties, it's full of surprises, unsettling, scary, anxious, adventurous, interesting. All these are the how I can label a blind date. These are all the characteristics of a blind date. Correct. So the essay seems to capture that research is also one such process with knowledge. Research is a process where it is so adventurous when you explore with knowledge, where more and new and new knowledge comes known to you, where the knowledge becomes disappointing to you. Correct. So this is my interpretation, whether it's right or wrong depends upon how well my essay has convinced the examiner. That's all. Okay. Brainstorming. Right. So these are all some. So when I start brainstorming, I have some ideas about why and what keeps scientists going on in their park of discovery. Yes. No scientist actually enters into research hoping that one day he will be awarded the Nobel Prize or one day he will be recognized as the father of modern quantum computing or anything. No scientist enters into that. They are scientists just for the sake of research. They are. They just love the process because the process is so adventurous. It just takes them every day to different positions from where they were a day before. Right. New variety. So a sense of novelty. All that accompanies research as scientists. So that's the reason why they enter into it. So this is what I'm planning to explore in the upcoming slides because that's what the question says. It's a blind date. It's an adventurous process with knowledge. It's an interesting process with knowledge. So now I think which scientists probably I'll be writing as an introduction. Then first I decide that maybe about Albert Einstein. So what I felt was why what keeps a man going even after winning a Nobel Prize. He has been given the world's highest recognition and even after that he goes on pursuing his research. Right. Maybe that is what is actually captured in the quote of the essay. Research is a blind date. That sense of adventure. That sense of interest is what could have propelled Einstein to continue further and further into research even after winning all laurels. Right. So I thought I'll bring an idea about Einstein. But then when I but then when I went into writing my essay, I decided that I'll not do any story or anything. But then I actually started writing an introduction because I have a better introduction to write. So I thought that why once again write a story. See, and I also believe that once you write a story in first essay, don't again write a story in the second essay. You make it different. Either you create a poem or you create a, just start with a single quote. But all that holds good for last year because section B is about general topics. And in general topic, you can start with the quote. But already the state, this topic itself, this question itself is a quote. You cannot start with another quote. That's very horrible that actually confuses the examiner. The quote itself is a jinx. It is a mystery. That itself has to be made clear to the examiner. And now you are bringing in a new quote to describe another quote that is given in the question. That is even more confusing to the examiner. So don't do that. Whenever you have quotes, don't start an essay with another quote. Don't do that. Okay. Start with the story, clarifying the quote, or just start with the plain introduction. Okay. So even though when I start with the idea that maybe I'll bring in Einstein's story in production, but as I travel further into the essay, I just ditched that idea. I thought I'll just write a very plain introduction instead. So I'm just, these are just my thoughts. So why people indulge in blind date, mystery, variety. So the girl yesterday is different from the girl. I'm going to meet tomorrow in my blind date. So no idea. Mystery. I don't even know anything about the person who I'm going to meet. So excitement, whether I'll be accepted by the person or not. So such kind of feelings go inside in a blind date, right? So the word blind date need not be taken exactly in the same sense of what is the meaning of blind date, but the larger idea here is that the same feelings that one gets in blind date would be the same ones that the guide people into research. Okay. So could be that is the way how I can associate the meaning of the word blind date with the topic that is actually given. Okay. So moving on. All I need to do. Okay. I get some more clarity because of these thoughts. Okay. Okay. Now I have to provide examples, take the essay forward in such a direction, the examiner understands that this is why someone would pursue research. Right. At the same time, the role of knowledge must be persistent at whatever I try because the question points out that it is knowledge that leads to these effects. Correct. Research is done for a particular purpose in the process of research, one feels all these feelings, but how only because knowledge is used in all these purposes. Right. It is only when you have knowledge, you can even work on more knowledge. Only when you have some idea about photoelectric effect, maybe you can think about how we can be applied to generate electricity. So knowledge, the presence of knowledge, the importance of knowledge is something that must be permanently there throughout the answer. You should never conveniently discard the importance of any word and the question that is given. Okay. This is another trap that we get into. Once you start brainstorming, you will always think about research, methods, logic, hypothesize, testing. You will go into the direction, but missing out the context that question is saying research is an encounter with knowledge. Okay. In that encounter, what results is a sense of adventureism, sense of mystery, sense of variety, all that results. So knowledge should not be ignored. It must be there throughout the entire essay. Okay. What does knowledge mean? Okay. Because these are just words in the essay question. So once I start thinking about knowledge, I wonder why is that human beings are so obsessed with acquiring knowledge? Okay. A tiger or a dog or a cat. It doesn't care about knowledge. It knows how to navigate in its own world. Okay. It is not really bothered about more and more knowledge, but we have a very what do we say insatisfiable thirst for more and more knowledge. So because knowledge helps us in many ways. Knowledge is the reason why we have mastered this world. The reason why we were able to protect ourselves, even though human beings are so weak compared to many other predators in the wild. Today, we are in the top of the food chain, right? Because why we have such technology in our hands and why is that so? It's because we have always been seekers of knowledge, more and more knowledge about understanding the world where other species, other life animals, they did not do that. And I bring in the importance of knowledge as something that is very paramount, which is very ingrained in our nature itself as human beings. That is what I mentioned by why knowledge is seeking as a primal activity. It means that it is something which is a part of us, a part of being a human being is someone to seek more. Okay. So these are all ideas that I bring in the introduction. Okay. So these questions at the base for taking the SA forward can also fit in the introductory page. All right. So this is earlier knowledge seeking introduction. Why not I write up? Yes. So now when I keep on thinking about these aspects to be written in the introduction, I think about the past. This is how we have survived and this is how we have championed this world. We have mastered this world. All that is fine. When I keep thinking suddenly I get a thought. So if this is the case, why not I write about the future aspects of knowledge, future prospects of having knowledge, maybe treating better diseases in helping people doing more research on that. Such kind of people can even be given a second chance in life. So future aspects, prospects that knowledge acquisition holds can be brought in my conclusion. This is a sudden thought that comes to me when I keep on thinking about my introductory ideas. Okay. So I just write it down. So this is what is brainstorming. Write it, write it. Suddenly some thought comes, keep it, write it at some other part of the page, keep it at the side so that when everything is over, you've got 10 minutes back. The reason is because whatever ideas come into your mind, immediately you should write it on that piece of paper. Don't think that, okay. Finally, when I come to the conclusion, let me think about it. By the time you come to the conclusion, you would have forgotten what you actually wanted to think because it's been 10 minutes since you had got this thought. And in the 10 minutes, so many ideas have come in your mind that you actually lose track of where it all began. Okay. So, so whenever you get this idea, immediately make it, make a note of it somewhere in the paper. So this is why all right. Yes. So this Einstein story is something which I'll be writing it here. Okay. But this was not the original heading. Later it was actually modified research a relentless hunt for knowledge. Okay. So it shows the person was done for the sake of itself and not for the sake of recognition. There are no greater ends than the end of seeking itself. Yes. Seeking is not a means to a particular end. Scientists seek always because seeking is an end in itself. They don't use seeking, searching for answers to finally to get noble price. So they derive pleasure out of the very act of seeking itself. Okay. So research which involves seeking knowledge itself is so interesting. It is so captivating that it keeps on the person who seeks excited all the time. Right. So this is what I bring in here. So when I was thinking this, I had a thought about the court in Bhagavad Gita also right. Gita emphasizes one to do his duty without any expectations, but isn't that what the scientists are also doing? They don't expect any rewards. They just do it for the sake of doing it. They just do their work. Maybe it's not duty, but it could be considered as something that is done and activity done without any expectations. So see all these are just random thoughts that come into mind when we keep brainstorming. Right. But how are we able to link these two? I cannot write and say Gita quotes this. That would be totally unrelated. That is a bad way of writing, bringing in unrelated ideas. But if I'm bringing in an idea of Gita, how am I going to link it with research? Correct. So if I can do that, maybe I'll bring this point in my answer. If I'm not able to think of doing it, probably I'll just discard this thought of bringing Gita. Just write that first passage alone. Nothing more than that. Yes. Research happens at Anarthlias. The seeker himself. Yeah. In a blind date. We forget our own state. Right. We are so concerned about what's going to happen. We are very obsessed. So similarly, I bring in the example of Archimedes. Okay. Archimedes was up. So a man engrossed in the research forgets his very own state of existence. And I give an example here. This is my second example. I'll share this PPT. Maybe you can come. Yeah. Now after giving the second example itself, now I suddenly feel that why am I making the say boring to the example? Everybody will be doing it. They'll be just piling up examples or examples. Maybe why not I start diversifying. Right. Now I think about the word research itself. What is actually research? Research is a very, very logical process. Right. Cause effect. You propose an idea. Then you've evaluated. You go about I'm just for my own sake. I'm trying to define what research is actually after it is methodical. It is. Yeah. And the research involves a lot of failure because most of the times you end up failing because whatever needs to be discovered is all discovered before us. So there's a very slim possibility of something new happening in this being discovered. So that's why you spend an entire lifetime experimenting. You finally arrive at one new discovery. So it's more prone susceptible exhaustion. Okay. But even though I went to research. Just not. I I say must not again be just confined to research alone. This is this is why I advise students after you complete each and every page you must immediately go back to the question paper. You should look at the read the question. There is a very high probability that when you brainstorm as well as when you keep writing your answers, there is a high possibility of deviation happening. You should go back to the question paper. Read the question. So that some kind of an imprint happens that this is what the question is. Okay. So do that. Yes. Getting back to the question. This is but a blind date with knowledge. Blind dates can fail necessarily as well. So why not then write about failure. So this is exactly the same idea that I have brought in here. Edison and his experiments. So Edison wants more and more knowledge. Okay. So that is why he comes on failing. And my failure for for a person who's outside this entire research for him, he only feels pitiful for Edison, but not Edison. Edison has found out success even in his failures because he has found out a successful way of understanding how things won't work. Right. So even in failures, there is a knowledge that can be acquired. So yes, research involves failures, but that is the beauty of research itself. Even in failures, there is a success that that that is gained by the researcher. So now I write my own quote here. Okay. Just to make it more catchy. It isn't failure. The knowledge of future. Sorry. The seeds of future research is so shown. So not knowledge. It's a mistake here. Moving on. Yeah. So these are the contents for the first five and a half pages. Okay. So all right. So can I diversify into completely new area, something beyond scientists who are no more past discoveries, something contemporary. What if so I then start thinking about COVID-19 vaccine development. Then it strikes me what if this question itself was because of this issue because of all the controversies regarding COVID-19, whether trials were all completed properly or not, without even a proper four phase trial, then how was it approved for human use? Correct. What if a particular scientist in some meeting would have uttered this quote? What is research after all? It is a blind date with knowledge. Right. So that could have been a statement issued in this context in the first place. We have no idea, but I feel this is also something that is very apt to this particular quote. Okay. So right. So next moving on. So just, yeah, risk taking unavoidable and research for want of knowledge. So I discuss about this entire COVID issue here. So pandemic is not known. So vaccine developments usually take decades, not in the case of COVID-19. Emergency was approved by World Health Organization. Clinical trials was not even possible before it was launched to the general public. Still it was successful in containing the virus. At least if you go with the government version that it is working well, it is containing the spread of pandemic. We have just assumed that it is successful. So I bring it in my essay as well. The idea here is that strict adherence to methods in research. Because I told you research involves a proper methodological approach, a methodical approach. Right. And that is the first case trial. Because it has been established by the scientific fraternity that first is safety, efficacy, sorry, first is safety trial, then you have efficacy trials. So you have various phases to it. So there is a proper method which is involved in research, but not always you are capable of following the methods. Okay, there will be a situations like the present situation where it is uncertain and uncertainty, don't you think it is a trait of blind dates? Right? So research is but a blind date with knowledge. So with various uncertainties, you still pursue with research, the research of experimenting it on humans. Even before all the four phase trials are not yet completed, even before it is being peer reviewed by the medical fraternity, even before that we keep, we start using it. Why? Because that is an essential part of research, taking risks, because you're uncertain about the knowledge base, because COVID-19 is something that has never happened in the past. So with a limited knowledge, we have to go and take those kind of risks. So yeah, what I brought in here, a different experiment has happened and that succeeded. Since the pandemic was killed in 19, does not allow for slower knowledge acquisition. The uncertainties, uncertainties have to manage with existing knowledge. So we have some knowledge about adenovirus, adenovirus based vaccines. So we expected that with that knowledge, we'll be able to proceed further and develop a vaccine for COVID-19 and it seems to have worked. Yes, it is uncertain experiment, but that is how research proceeds. That is my opinion, okay, by bringing in such a kind of an idea. So this is also something which really came into my mind, spill overs and research. We do research having a particular hypothesis, finding out if this can be used for a particular purpose. Then after concluding the research, we understand that the application is not limited only to that limited purpose, but to different other fields also. Many spill over effects have resulted in many today's LASIK surgery. All these are because of research that was done to improve space communications, I mean, for space purposes. Okay, so we can even check out on the internet, there are rubberless tires, which NASA has actually developed. Okay, there's no way it can even be punctured at all. Okay, there are such kind of very great spill over consequences of research. I felt this is also an interesting aspect here. Because you have a particular idea about the utility of research in developing knowledge, but research itself has its own ways of developing the use of knowledge that is gathered. Okay, accidental discovery of superglue, yeah, all these kind of aspects can be brought in. So this is what my way of writing this essay would be. Okay, see, you may all have the right ideas, but using the right words, the right places, and framing the right length of sentences, you can just look at my sentences. All the sentences maximum do not, they don't go beyond two lines. Okay, so don't exceed more than two or three lines, or you can make a how word count one. So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. So in a line, you can actually write six words. That is my way of handwriting six words per line. So if it's 17, I can say beyond three lines in a normal piece of page, you should not go beyond three lines. When you go beyond three lines, it leads to sentence sprawling. Sentence sprawling becomes very, very distracting and irritating for the exam. So this is my way of writing you, I always tend to break it. Okay, never go beyond 18 words or something. Going beyond 18 words increases the attention span that is required from the examiner. You're stressing him. Okay, not really advisable. Okay, so going on, yes. So I have spoken many ideas I've gotten about research. So seven pages are over. I know the ninth page is going to be about conclusion. Can I do something else in between? Okay, I keep thinking. So I know that in conclusion, I'll be upholding research. I'll be praising research. I'll be really saying that research has to be done. I'll talk about, I'll basically summarize whatever positives I have. I'm still now pointed out. Okay, all the character of research that I have pointed out in the last seven pages, I'll try to summarize it and bring it to a conclusion. Okay, so this is what is going to be my conclusion. My research is what has led mankind. So it is indispensable. It has to be pursued relentlessly. That's what I am going to talk about in the conclusion. So now I, after thinking about how my conclusion is going to be framed, now I wonder about my, the last, second, last page. How can I write it? Once again, if I write that research is necessary, research is beautiful, research has to be taken up, very repetitive, very boring, same, and it is in the fag end of reading my essay, the examiner actually makes up his mind on how much parts to do. Okay, and then such a kind of a position when I sound repetitive, examiner will definitely feel as if the last two pages impression, the examiner feels that that is the impression throughout the essay. So I cannot afford to create such a kind of an impression in the mind of the exam. Right, so that's why slightly I deviate. Okay, so though research, see the question itself says it is a blind date. So don't you think it's risky also? It is, what if it is unethical, what if some wrong practices are involved in research? Even that is also an area that can be explored in detail also if you have time, maybe that can itself take two or three pages for exploration. But I thought just in the pre-conclusion, the last but one page, I'll bring about a mild tone of warning about doing research just for the sake of mindless pursuit of knowledge. Okay, you should not avoid other considerations. Yes, research is necessary, but still research, the niche character of research also adds to the element of a pickness. The confines of laboratories and perceived by experts there have always been concerns regarding the ethicality of the means. Right, so this is what I point out in the pre-conclusion just like a word of warning. Okay, because I say here mild tone, slight expression of fear or a tilt to make research more objective or rational. So I just tried to, before the concluding remarks, I bring in a small element so that the examiner feels, see when the examiner has read other's papers and the others have all brought in such kind of dangers and risks associated with research, it should not be seen as if I have not even touched up on that dimension, right? So though I have explored other dimensions, I should make sure that this is something that I should not be leaving out because the examiner, he will not be appreciating me for all the good content that I have written just because he is influenced by the content that he has read before taking up my paper, that influence gets reflected when he goes through my answer sheet. That should not become a ground for reducing my marks. So I should be careful, I should be careful not to allow even a single mark be reduced. So that's why I address that side also here. Okay, so I address it here and then finally go and write a conclusion. So write a favorable viewpoint on research, summarize whatever has been written in the past, talk about the beauty of research and finally conclude it with positivity, okay? So that is it. That's all we are done with the discussion. So there is a, okay, link here. I'll just share this link. You who are once can download this PPT from this link. Yeah, yeah, see SA is your creative area. This is the invest area where you can prove your creativity to the exam. If you're creative, if you're original, nothing like SA paper. Because when I saw GS1 and GS2 papers are very simple. Such simple papers, you cannot really create differentiation between aspirants, but in a paper like this, SA paper, definitely the range is going to be very high. Between 100 till 160 or 170, those who write really well, develop abstract ideas, they can even get up to 170. Those who try their best, but we're not able to convince the examiner, can even end up getting 90 or 100 marks. So a very good range is going to be created in an SA paper like this. It comes with long time practice, okay? It comes with some more with wider reading, whatever you feel interesting you have to read, keep your eyes and ears open to many sources of inputs. It could be movies, it could be books, it could be extra reading, it could be discussion from your friends. So many, many such sources are there, which can enrich you to prepare for SA papers like this. See, when you ask me, can I write about it? I would say, yes, you can write about anything. That is what SA paper is. But how you have written, how you have convinced the examiner that it is relevant to the question is the issue here. A lot of books, okay. There is just so many list of books. I don't know where to start. Any books, a lot of good books can help you, okay? So even by reading, any biographies can help you. Or I can even suggest you a good book. It can, it's a book by, written by Albert Einstein, okay? The name of the book is The World As I See It, okay? The World As I See It, book written by Einstein, but nothing to do with science. It has to do with Einstein's nationalist beliefs. It has to do with how the world is fighting with each other, his sense of grief towards such a kind of a world where people cannot live as brothers. Okay, so it's a kind of a very different work from a Nobel Prize-winning scientist about humanity, right? It's not at all about science. So you can even get that book and read it once. I personally like that book. Now and then I just read it whenever I feel down or, it's a very good book, okay? So you can just read that book. The name of the book is The World As I See It. Small book, not so bulky or anything. Interesting to read. I'm very sure it is useful for your civil service preparation also, okay? Slowly, slowly. The starting point is newspaper summary writing. From there, slowly it develops, okay? No single answers for such kind of questions. These are structural changes. Structural changes has to be long-term changes. Yes, that is another issue. It should be a conscious effort. Don't bring in optional languages here. The reason is you have read only option. That is why optional language comes here. If you read more, optional language will not come into your essays. Many genres will help. Any books will help. Any reading habit will help, okay? Yes, just write plain introductions. Nothing more is necessary. All this poem, stories, all that is not mandatory at all. Just write plainly. That's more than enough. Of course, that would be a very correct approach of taking your essay forward. You ask questions that would prevent the examiner from asking his own questions. That is better. You ask questions and you take your essay forward. That is better. Okay, so thank you.