The Story of 16 Anna’s
It’s been a few days since
debates and discussions on SFG are going on, there is dissent on the management
as well( A good sign of democratic system, isn't it?).
Here I’m with my 1 Anna experience of SFG(neither an endorsement nor a review, just filling the void with my opinion), let me start with an anecdotal story..
"In the heartland of the African forests, Every morning when the sun rises a gazelle wakes up, it knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. In the very same forest, a lion wakes up and it knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're the lion or a gazelle-when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.1
A long time ago, I've read the
above story on Facebook and from then it has been travelling with me.
How is it relevant here?
SFG or any other program, when you consciously
decide to start, figuratively you are either a lion or a deer if you were to
survive, you got to be running. There is no stopping.
A similar story has been shared by @Neyawn before the start
of SFG2.
Here is the abridged version of original - "When Sfg starts, you see people scoring
exceptionally high marks whereas some of you score medium to good marks, you
will feel insecure or panic about your performance but remember this story -
“Cheetah is the fastest animal whereas a deer is slower compared to it but the
moment cheetah starts chasing the deer, for the deer to survive, it need not be
the fastest animal, it just needs to outrun the cheetah in that particular
chase “2
What does it mean?
"Cheetah may be the fastest but it might
not be at it's best every single day. It might have lost its speed owing to
other factors but if the deer keeps up and maintains the same speed it was
blessed with, it might even outrun the cheetah on a given day. "
UPSC is a marathon, not a sprint, you may be slow but if
you are steadily maintaining the momentum, you are as fast as a cheetah in the
long run.
What if the cheetah is at it's
best and deer was killed?
Let
me share a few abridgedexcerpts from Steve Jobs speech-"We all going to
die someday. There is no escape. This is the law of nature. So, what is that
stopping you from chasing your dream?"
Don't be bogged down by the failures,
stand up and start the chase all again. After all, this is the one thing we
love utmost ain't we?
Okay, enough of this crap. Here
is my take.
I will address the failure we all
see in this extract
1) Bhagat Singh on Tilak
“ When you are fighting for 16 Anna’s from
your enemy, you get only 1 Anna, Pocket it and fight for the rest.”3
If you fail to get what you wanted,
pocket the experience of the failure, stand again and start again all together.
From exam point of view, If you aim for
120+,try harder for it and even if you score 50 marks, but dont get disappointed pocket 50 marks and fight to get remaining 70
marks in next tests.
How figurative might
be the story, Our freedom struggle took the very same path.
Remember weonly have one choice that is to work harder.Let us control the 'controllable' and not worry about the others.
This is the long write up and it might
not make any sense to some, but I wrote it because I wanted to waste the time
of my competitors. Hope you reached the bottom of writeup and here I am ending
it with a good quotation that might affect your thoughts.
“You
came here empty-handed, and you will leave empty-handed. What is 'yours' today
belonged to someone else yesterday, and will belong to someone else tomorrow.”
(Sri Krishna in Bhagwat Geetha)
References
- Anecdotal from Christoper Mcdougall’s Born to run.
- In a conversation with @Neyawn during jan 2020,he shared that story.
- An extract from Kuldeep Nayar’s “ Without fear : The life and trial of Bhagat Singh”
Good article @Patrick_jane
Patrick_jane,
Patrick_jane,Great write up@Patrick_jane . In two years I have learnt a lot thanks to this platform. I remember that electrifying email from neyawn which we used to get after the sfg tests. I had failed two times before at prelims and simply didn't know how to crack the exam. For the first time I realized that I had been fooling myself , I had not even read the basic books. Who was I lying too? Buying all test series from market vision insights gs score and what not.
But when the test happened in the first week, I realized that I had not even done laxmikant well. Who was I kidding. I was preparing for upsc for three years and yet I had not done previous years questions.
I remember this brief interaction with neyawn ( at that time i had not read his blogs ) I asked him why you are asking questions from book only, since upsc is asking question not from book.
He said look, this program is designed to be idiot proof. If I don't ask questions verbatim from the book the weak student who has not read the book will say - they don't ask question from book anyway so why study the book and go . At least students will say they copy paste from book but they will study the book at least. At that time I didn't understand but only after clearing prelims did I realize that I was the same weak student who was complaining of book based question.
This year after Mains I met him and said Sir, that book based approach worked for me as I also realized that I hadn't read the book in three years. What I studied in three months , I hadn't done in three years. He talked about SFG level 2, which will not just be from book but may have outside questions also (given that YOU GUYS HAVE ALREADY READ THE BOOK NOW )
Though I got interview call, but I feel I have lost enthu. Being away from delhi sucks. Badly wanna get back to delhi. Can't study at all here.
And sir ( I know your status, I am no knight dont call me sir) please write those mails again, even if there are some people who use bad language. As you say - spread your story, you never know who you may be inspiring.
Great write up@Patrick_jane . In two years I have learnt a lot thanks to this platform. I remember that electrifying email from neyawn which we used to get after the sfg tests. I had failed two times before at prelims and simply didn't know how to crack the exam. For the first time I realized that I had been fooling myself , I had not even read the basic books. Who was I lying too? Buying all test series from market vision insights gs score and what not.
But when the test happened in the first week, I realized that I had not even done laxmikant well. Who was I kidding. I was preparing for upsc for three years and yet I had not done previous years questions.
I remember this brief interaction with neyawn ( at that time i had not read his blogs ) I asked him why you are asking questions from book only, since upsc is asking question not from book.
He said look, this program is designed to be idiot proof. If I don't ask questions verbatim from the book the weak student who has not read the book will say - they don't ask question from book anyway so why study the book and go . At least students will say they copy paste from book but they will study the book at least. At that time I didn't understand but only after clearing prelims did I realize that I was the same weak student who was complaining of book based question.
This year after Mains I met him and said Sir, that book based approach worked for me as I also realized that I hadn't read the book in three years. What I studied in three months , I hadn't done in three years. He talked about SFG level 2, which will not just be from book but may have outside questions also (given that YOU GUYS HAVE ALREADY READ THE BOOK NOW )
Though I got interview call, but I feel I have lost enthu. Being away from delhi sucks. Badly wanna get back to delhi. Can't study at all here.
And sir ( I know your status, I am no knight dont call me sir) please write those mails again, even if there are some people who use bad language. As you say - spread your story, you never know who you may be inspiring.
@TwoFace yes indeed, sfg maynot be 100% foolproof but it tests everyones water be it subject ,be it our discipline.but for most sfg has been played crucial role in their Preparation.
Regarding @Neyawn posts,those are antidotes for the chilling winter. posts ensures to cover substantial large packets of crowd with possible scenarios & dimensions.
I hope @Neyawn will come back with frequent posts to cheer up aspirants & ors will start contributing like the older times.
Thank you@Patrick_jane for writing this post
Patrick_jane,TwoFace
Well written@Patrick_jane . This is my second time giving sfg and what's the most remarkable thing about this program is the discipline and spirit of competitiveness it inculcates. I was amazed by how much i was able to study in a day just because I knew I had to perform in the test next day. This is something i dont think i would have been able to do on my own.
To all first time sfg takers, yes there might be some people cheating but dont let that bog you down. There were people who managed to cheat even in the offline test. Those people are not your competition.
The main thing is not the marks and not even the quality of tests, but the discipline you will be able to inculcate.
Well, with the risk of getting blamed for exaggeration, I can swear on SFG. It has made all the difference. I had tried every thing but it was SFG which finally helped me to pass the Prelims.
I miss those winter mornings when we used to rush towards the Forum centre (from NRN to ORN to KB). There was also a time when I had to start at 5:30 AM to catch the first Metro from Vaishali to reach for SFG on time. But it was worth.
And@Neyawn Sir (wish you good health), your motivational practical emails boosted us whenever the going further became a bit difficult. Thank You so much.
- Helps you in being disciplined.
- Helps a lot in completing the syllabus , standard books and current affairs both.
- You get a lot of practice of giving tests, so that helps in elimination of options as well as devising your own strategy( a very big plus point
Cons:
- Because of rush of completing the syllabus, sometimes quality is compromised and you just study from test perspective overnight.
- Revision takes a backseat, as it is very hectic as you can see from schedule no doubt.
its Ms Patrick. Unless she is Mrs Patrick.
Ha ha its neither Mr nor Ms nor Mrs.
Im still usingMaster😅(age is just number)
In the ocean of anonymity, determining Gender becomes tough.(most of the time our assumptions become wrong)
The classic example of @Yo_Yo_Choti_Singh sir😄
Inspiring@Patrick_jane
Patrick_jane,
its Ms Patrick. Unless she is Mrs Patrick.
Ha ha its neither Mr nor Ms nor Mrs.
Im still usingMaster😅(age is just number)
In the ocean of anonymity, determining Gender becomes tough.(most of the time our assumptions become wrong)
The classic example of @Yo_Yo_Choti_Singh sir😄
Mx.
Patrick_jane,
Ha ha its neither Mr nor Ms nor Mrs.
Im still usingMaster😅(age is just number)
In the ocean of anonymity, determining Gender becomes tough.(most of the time our assumptions become wrong)
The classic example of @Yo_Yo_Choti_Singh sir😄
Aye Aye Captain !! ;)
Nice Write-up !👍
Patrick_jane,
some awesome ppl has written some awesome things and i am getting some awesome vibes after reading these awesome lines.
@Patrick_jane not going to give thanks........... making as FD......... Plan is to return with Interest. Dont worry, not investing it in Mutual funds because of market risk...... :)
Patrick_jane,
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