IAS 2008 Interview Transcripts #17

P.K. Mishra Board ( Geog and Psycho- date 28th march'09 mornin)
Chairman: Ok, so national title in sparring competetion...so you know judo karate?
Me: No sir, I have learnt free hand style Karate...Judo is more of combative type.
C : So you learnt it for self defense
Me: Self defense and self discipline...because karate is all about synchronising your mind and body.
C: So you play even soccer (Yes Sir)Which position you play in?
Me: Centre Midfield
C: What all formations are there in football
Me: I tell him all the formations according to the stratergy of the team( agressive, normal, defensive etc.)C: There is also a formation with 5 strikers
Me: Yes sir, two of them play as wingers and the other 3 are core strikers
C: What is Oedipus complex?
Me: Sir it was given by sigmund freud, pertains to the male child in his infancy where he develops the urge to possess his mother and kill his father...that is how Freud put it.(He looked at the two members sitting besides him)
C: Its about attachment of girl child with father and boy child with mother( I nod)
C: Do you know kautilya
Me: Yes sir, he is also called chanakya... was during the guptas time.....sorry sir during the mauryan times...chandra gupta maurya.
C: He wrote a book?
Me: Yes sir, arthshastra
C: What is it about, have you read it?
Me: No sir i havent read it, but its about how a kingdom has to be run and how a king should conduct himself....

M1: you were born in pali district...what is special about this district
me: Sir first textile mills in rajasthan were setup here
M1: any religion associated with it...(he actually meant pali language)
me: Yes sir buddhism...even some jain scriptures are written in pali)
M1: Is it a dead lang?
Me: No sir it isnt, its still spoken
M1: Where
Me: Not sure sir but it is still spoken
M1: Which is the largest island on earth?
me: Sir its Greenland, but if we consider the continent australia as an island then its bigger than Greenland
M1: Australia it is...theres been some problem with greenland recently, do you know about it?Me: sir I am not sure but i think its concerned with the depletion of ice sheet because of global warming....(and then some talk on eskimos and igloos and he says some problem with food and i don know where he is headed)
M1: Greenland is part of which country?
Me: Sir denmarkM1:
But denmark is so small and greenland so big?

Me: Yes sir, but greenland is mostly uninhabited( in my mind: what a f***in question is that...is he serious )
M1: Do you know about the Intnational date line
Me: Yes sir,it line in pacific ocean on the two sides of which two diff dates exist at any given point of time
M1: Is it a straight line
Me: No sir, its adjusted to fit in the intervening pacific islands
M1: NewZealand is on which side of it
Me: Its on the western side of it sirM1: Are you sureMe: Yes sir iam sure (do you wanna bet :-) )
M1: What are time zones and how many time zones...and how many degrees
Me: easy ones...i answer them...
The Chairman intervenes
C: How many times zones in USAMe: Sir five
C: Name them
Me: Sir Atlantic, eastern ,central, mountain, and pacific.....i fancy he was impressed by this :-)

M2: Talking about psychology, in india the boy is so attached to the mother that he respects only her and disrespects all the other women, what do you think
Me: Mam, in India the mother is to an extent overindulgent in the child due to which he becomes dependent on external evaluations and is also insecure in exploring his environment due to which he may not generalise the respect for his mother on to other women...(and some chit chat on it)
M2: Have you read in news paper today about kids hacking their school system(i have computer engg as my b/g)
Me: Yes mam, the hacked into the system and fudged their marksheets
M2: we talk about this egovernance and ecommerce...isnt it unsafe
Me: And i answer about the potential dangers, and some ques on virus and a little chat on it...and then my fav ques of this interview comes up
M2: Have you watched Die Hard 4
Me: Yes mam, its about all the systems in a country being wired into one network and how it is hacked by a person for malicious reasons
M2: Can it really happen
Me: It sure can happen as such a huge network would not be without loop holes
M2: What can we do about it
Me: updated s/w, hiring young hackers bla bla...

M3: The sensex has been rising for past 5 days...should we get happy?
Me: Sir though it has been rising, such impulses in sensex are not uncommon and some ifs and buts still remain....we will have to wait for a couple of weeks so see if the trend stabilises....
M3: The sensex has fallen from 20000 to 8000 but the gold prices have been increasing
Me: Yes sir, due to opaque financial instruments crashing and hard currencies becoming fragile... gold seems to be the only safe investment option left...so its demand has gone up and hence the price rise
M3: Do you know about falkland
Me: Yes sir its an island in south atlantic ocean
M3: Adjoining which country?
Me: Its on eastern coast of Argentina
M3: Do you know about any war on it recently
Me: Sorry sir , i don know

Chairman: It was between britisher and the argentinians
M4: Can you tell me about tribes in this place where you were born
Me: This place is not a tribal area, besides mam i was only born in this place, i am actually from Dadra and Nagar Haveli
M4: Have you heard about apartheid?
Me: Yes mam, its was a movement of racial discrimination in south africa
M4: Is there anything similar in India
Me: Untouchability
M4: What are its origin
me: I explain the ancient varna system and about shudras
M4: (she corrects me by saying that shudras were outside the varna system and not part of it)
M4: Is untouchability still a problem
me: It is present in rural pockets of India
M4: Dont urban educated people practice it
me: yes mam, exceptions are there but an educated person is less likely to practice it but there is no hard and fast rule as his conditioning for untouchability may be strong

C: Name the tribes in andaman and nicobar island
me: Andamanese, nicobarese, sentinelese......
C: You are forgetting the most important one( and i cannot recall it)
C: Jarawas...(but ofcos)- Oh yes sir the jarawas
C: do you know about the recent supreme court ruling on them
me: Sorry sir iam not aware of itcontd...

C: What is guilllotine
me: i give him the definition
C: do you know about the historical perspective associated with it...some revolution...
me: No sir...Thank you your interview is over.

I get out a breathe a sigh of releif....

overall a good interview in my opinion...but thats wat i thought even the last time around with mr. Bhurelal n all i got was 150.

Mr. Mishra's is a new board...so lets hope he is generous in distributing marks....
once again waiting for the UPSC Lottery draw :-)