Tryst with destiny

Since I was a kid, whenever someone would ask “beta kya banna chahte ho bade hoke?” , I would reply “IAS officer!”

Today, i.e. 23rd July was my “Tryst with destiny” moment. I had thought of it all along and here I was standing in a queue outside the majestic UPSC building in a humid weather, waiting for my turn to enter. Immediately I thought what if the chairperson asks “Utkarsh, how’s the weather today?” I opened the weather app on my phone and noted that the relative humidity today is a 66% . And then my mind took me to seeing the difference between relative and absolute humidity on the browser. Clearly, nervousness was taking over me.

Since we are living in uncertain times, the huge building to the left of the main UPSC building was made the interview premises. As I entered the building, acknowledging its beauty , I was taken to a makeshift camp where i was given gloves, sanitiser, mask and a face shield. My belongings had to be kept there itself. After entering the building i was made to sit at the third seat for Board number 6. My documents were verified. I was given my call letter for medical examination. The venue written was - Safadarjung Hospital. I saw candidates taking their respective seats. There was a palpable tension in the air. Suddenly a person announced “Please fill your details for Travelling allowance. Also you would be directly handed cash as a mode of reimbursement.” For the first time in my life I realised the importance of the word “cash.” Everyone’s mood lightened up! I calculated that i would be reimbursed ₹7852 . I experienced a sudden surge of power within me like a car experiences when you press the turbocharger!

A guy behind me was a curious cat! He was asking everyone what does “Board 6” signify ? He even asked me but I shrugged. Then he asked the person who was collecting our documents to which he replied “sir wait kijiye.” On further probing , the person looked sideways and in a manner that he was about to reveal the codes to india’s nuclear arsenal , said “R N Chaubey.” What a sigh of relief it was! Reading various interview transcripts, i had read that he is a super cool person and makes candidates comfortable. And trust me, he is as good as one can get. 

After first two candidates had gone, I was called by a person and after a thorough security check (more thoroughly than what happens at the airports) i was taken to floor 2 of the building. There i was made to wait for 10 minutes in a plush waiting room. A candidate was already waiting for his turn. On enquiry he said he had “Dr Manoj soni” sir’s board.

Suddenly a bell rang and I entered a huge conference hall. I saw a long U shaped table with Chaubey sir sitting at the far end . Two members on either side. I greeted them with a smile.

CP :Utkarsh have you had lunch?

Me: No sir but i have had breakfast.

CP: do you want me to make some arrangements for you?

Me: Sir i am completely fine. Thank you.

CP: utkarsh tell me about your academic background and work experience.

Me: sir I had done my 12th from DPS,Indore. And then pursued my graduation in mechanical engineering from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. I don’t have any work experience as immediately after my graduation, I had started preparing for the civil services.

 CP: ok. so utkarsh you have lived in Tamil Nadu. Have you picked up any Tamil? ( sir is a TN Cadre IAS)

Me: Sir only “ille” and “seri.” Nothing else sir.

CP: ok. So whatever you know , just tell us and in questions where you are not sure say it honestly, so that we can move onto next question. 

Then he said something very long related to power sector that I couldn’t understand. He had said that even when people are willing to pay for generators, people aren’t getting electricity . But in the last he said - if i want to buy a bread i can buy a bread but if i want to buy electricity why can’t i do that?

Me: sir the basic problem is of availability. Since our major source of electricity is coal, the problem lies at the coal mining itself. We aren’t able to produce the required amount of coal needed. Then there are transmission losses as well. Also since the power sector is under stress since past few years, this is a cumulative effect of all these factors.

CP: but why is it that on one hand we claim to be a power surplus country but on the other we have so much power shortages?

Me: sir i will have to think more over this.( power sector is not my forte)

CP: No problem. What do you mean by “minimum government, maximum governance?”

Me: Sir the core idea is to deliver better public services in a more efficient manner with the amount of material resources and manpower that’s available to us. There are many facets of it like use of IT, rationalisation of bureaucracy. The main idea is to reduce red tapism as far as possible.

Chaubey sir pointed towards Member 1.

M1: Utkarsh what was the capital of erstwhile United provinces? 

(I was confused between Agra and Allahabad. )

Me: sir i am not sure. 

At this point i saw chaubey sir looked at another member and smiled. It looked as if he was happy that even though UP is my homestate, i did not get perturbed even if couldn’t answer it.

M1: It’s Allahabad.

Me: Thank you sir.

M1: so utkarsh there is always a talk of bifurcating UP because of its size. Regions like Bundelkhand are ignored. Do you think UP needs a new reorganisation?

Me: sir bigger state is an issue and if there’s a genuine public demand we can think in this direct but i think to deliver effectively we need administrative skill and political will. This is true that a party may win a majority in the state assembly even by not winning the Bundelkhand region. But if we don’t focus on delivering on the ground, and simply bifurcate the state into 4, we might end up with 4 more UPs. A committee could be formed for this and based on its recommendations we can think of a new reorganisation.

M1: what do you think? Which is more important? Economic development or social development? 

Me: Both are equally important sir.

M1: What about human development?

Me: sir this is the end goal. Economic and social development are a means to human development.

M1: what do you see when you see the national emblem?

Me: sir i see 3 lions, the ashoka chakra at the base, some animals surrounding it which i am not able to recall ( to which chaubey sir said no problem) and an inverted bell shaped lotus.

CP: anything written below it?

Me: Satyamev Jayate.

He then passed on to M2.

M2: Utkarsh tell me three important reforms according to you.

Me: sir I think we need to start at the bottom. From political reforms by strengthening the Panchayats and ULBs we can move upward focussing on economic development at regional and national level. These reforms in political and economic field would then help in achieving social reforms.

M2: but there is a school of thought which says the reform should be top down . What do you think?

Me: sir we can follow any method whether top down or bottom up, but the end goal is human development. But in my view bottom up approach is preferable.

M3: ok utkarsh do you believe in god?

Me: i do sir.

M3: I don’t. Convince me to believe in god stating three reasons.

Me: sir I cannot convince you to believe in god because under the Indian constitution you are free to have your own belief but in my experience...

At this point, the Chaubey sir intervened saying “ just convince him, you don’t need to force him to convert.”

Me: ok sir. Sir I believe there are many things in life that are beyond our control. Howsoever we try some things turn out to be good and some not so good. But as Steve jobs had said , when you connect the dots backwards it all turns out to be planned by some mightier force. 

Sir my mother was critically ill last year and there was a Ganesha madir where i used to pray everyday and eventually she recovered.

Finally sir, this exam itself. Many who prepare and there are many who might have worked harder than me, but today it is me who is sitting here. I believe god has his hand over me.

M3: ok. Utkarsh is Donald Trump a Democrat or an Autocrat?

Me(after thinking):  Sir , He is a Republican.

A laughter ensured across the board.

CP: He did not mean the party but your answer was very good. 

M3: who is Vladimir Putin?

Me: sir the president of Russia.

M3: i think he is a democrat at heart but my friends dont agree with me. What do you think?

Me: sir since I don’t know him personally i cant say whether he is actually a democrat from his heart or not .

M3: Even I don’t know him personally but what do you think?

Me: Sir the evidence suggests otherwise. He has been a president since 2000s. And when he is not the president he makes Dmitry Medvedev as the president. And he will still be the president till 2036 .

M3: so what is the problem with a person staying in power for this long?

Me: Sir in a democracy, it is important that others be given chance too. This is the reason we have frequent elections.

M3: but elections happen in Russia as well. So?

Me: sir how substantive those elections are is a question. Who is the challenger to Putin? Whoever stands against him is jailed. 

At this point chaubey sir said you are absolutely right.

M3: what are the reforms that putin has proposed?

Me: sir i dont recall the provisions but i know the essence of it.

M3: let it be. Its all right.

Chaubey sir then asked M4 to ask questions.

M4: Utkarsh how has covid affected children?

Me: sir it depends on the socio economic background of the kid. For the poor ones their parents had to leave the cities and move to the villages. They have lost their schools and their friends. Many might even become child labourers. For the ones coming from a well to do family, they too have been suffering. They are studying online and that is taking a toll on their health. But across sections, covid has taken the freedom of kids to play outside.

M4: what do you think a toddler might me missing the most?

Me: sir this question can be best answered by a toddler but if i were a toddler i would have missed my friends the most.

M4: Utkarsh what are problems that we are facing? And is this the time to do things right?

Me: sir may i ask with respect to india or the world as a whole?

M4: both.

Me: Sir our country has been facing many societal problems like caste oppression, poverty, etc and as far as the world is concerned we are seeing upcoming challenges like climate change, refugee problems due to endless civil wars. And sir as far as when to do these things right, sir I believe we should not wait for the right moment. We have to start acting now.

M4: but many times reforms create more problems?

Me: sir whenever we want to bring a change, teething problems are bound to occur. But that should not deter us from making a change. When it comes to making things right, i would say why wait for today? We can start acting from this moment itself.

M4: ok. So tell me where do you see make in india in defence manufacturing?

Me: sir since we are talking about atmanirbhar bharat. And I believe it is the security aspect where the atmanirbharta is needed the most so that we can protect ourselves from external enemies. We need to bring in more private players, more PPP projects, harness talent from outside and inside the country and make use of AI and machine learning to create state of the infra in defence sector .

Chaubey sir pointing to M5.

M5: so utkarsh you have studied from VIT. It claims it is the best private engineering college in india. Is it so?

Me: sir it certainly is.

M5: But even BITS claims so. 

Me: sir it is their prerogative to do so.

M5: Which one is better and why?

Me: Sir i have no idea about BITS as i have never been to BITS so i am not in a position to say anything about it. But as far as VIT is concerned it has good linkages with foreign universities( I mentioned how IITs get low score on international exposure in QS rankings and how VIT scores good here).Our alumni study in best colleges across the world. It has state of the art infrastructure , good placement track record and a very good college for research purpose. 

M5: There have been cases where people after retiring constitutional posts like Supreme court , election commission and then accept certain public jobs. ( he did not name it but he was referring to CJI Ranjan Gogoi case)

Me: sir firstly, they are completely free to do so as it is their constitutional right. But it does raise questions on integrity of the person and of the institution as a whole.

M5: so what should be done? Should there be some gap of 10-15 years?

Me:sir a cooling off period must definitely be there. Also sir 10-15 years would be a long gap as they retire at the age...

M5 interupted.

M5: 10-15 years was just a suggestion from my side. What about you?

Me: sir 3-5 years seems a reasonable timeframe for cooling off.

M5: ok so what are eco sensitive zones? Have you heard about them?

Me: sir i have. But I don’t recall their definition. ( i have always found environment a very boring topic.So avoided it. Sorry Greta :p )

M5: ok. What do you mean by sexual harassment at workplace?

Me: sir it is the trespassing of someone’s bodily integrity without their permission which makes them uncomfortable. It may be oral, through the internet or through a physical contact.

M5: Can a woman also indulge in sexual harassment?

Me: sir she can.

M5: but does the Act cover women doing so?

Me: sir i am not sure.

M5: so what would you do if you are made the head of an institution to completely eliminate the problem?

Me: sir we can have short term and long term measures...

M5: just tell me short term.

Me: sir i will form an Internal Complaints committee as is required under the act. I would then put my number in the public domain so that anyone from my institution can directly contact. And i would make sure that if the allegation against any such person is found true, he immediately be removed from the institution and if would make sure that such person is not employed anywhere if it is in my power.

(Now this was the worst answer i had given in my whole interview. It might sound decent as one reads it but i had stammered in answering this. I had also talked of patriarchy, equality between men and women so that men dont indulge into such acts considering the opposite sex as inferior, something related to fundamental rights. Infact the member wasn’t satisfied and i had to again give this answer. The points weren’t much organised and I think this might take a toll on my score)

M5: ok.

CP: utkarsh your interview is over. Do you want to discuss anything with us that we haven?

Me: sir i had expected a question on my hobbies.

CP: tell us about it.

Me: Sir i like reading books , preferably non fictions and i run a blog where i review them.

CP: that’s good utkarsh. Please continue with this hobby of yours for your life. We enjoyed talking to you. Thank you.

Me: Thank you sir.

Huh! Finally the moment had ended. Not how I expected it to be but overall it was a satisfying experience. I think I could have done better but that’s fine. We are humans and we can never be flawless. 

Chaubey sir is a true gentleman . In the middle of interview he was scrolling his phone. He got up from his seat, flexed his muscles and always said”no problem “ as soon as i would say that I wasn’t aware of a certain question.

I took ₹7852 as my travelling allowance in CASH and went bank to my room in MP Bhawan as the innings were finally over.