IAS 2008 Interview Transcripts #7

The second UPSC interview

Same city. Same place. Same time of the day. Separated by a year.

Exactly a year after my first upsc interview, I was standing again in front of Dholpur house. A host of other aspirants, in smart formals and charming sarees, were roaming around in front of the front gate. Many were reading newspapers, a few deep in discussions, almost all tense, and those not tense trying real hard to suppress their anxiety. The date was 28th of March 2009.

Nothing had changed. It is fondly said that nothing changes in the bureaucracy, and being the cradle to the bureaucracy upsc is least expected to change. Well then, something has changed about me since my first interview (click here). Due to sheer luck I managed to get an interview call in my very first attempt, and the interview board was generous enough to give me 210. It all seemed to happen by a master strategy to some benevolent divine being, considering the fact that none other than Prof. DP Agrawal had presided over my board last year.

As a result of the multiple twists of fate today I am in the Indian Revenue Service, and confused as usual. I didn't have any specific hunger, or zeal to strive for a good performance this year. Am not desperate to get into the IAS. This had brought in me the nothing to lose airs in me. Yes, this year the interview happened in a much different than it was last year. I was cool, free of anxiety, and confident: in deed slightly reckless. This time around my primary motivation of giving an interview was to have the experience... to feel the thrill of being interviewed by an upsc panel. I was there to enjoy every moment of it.


* * * *


I got Mr. Nirbhay Sharma's board. I wasn't especially pleased about it. I was hoping to get Purushottam Agrawal or Parveen Tahla who are known to take stress interviews, or Prof. Balaguruswamy who makes you do some weird activities (and gives a chocolate as consolation in case he decides to give you 75 out of 300). You see, I was searching for excitement. Anyways, a retired lieutenant-general from the indian army will be no less fun. So with an AK-47 in hand, I was fully prepared to dash in and shoot all board members down.

Well, that may be an exaggeration. I walked in with style and poise, as a class 1 gazetted officer is expected to do. I had a confident gait, and had put on a bold attire. I was in my best suit, a slimfit reid & taylor black made specially for me, and a cool red tie to contrast over my white shirt. To speak in brief, I was nirbhay (meaning fearless) when I walked in.

"Why have you come in a suit in this heat?" that was the first question Nirbhay Sharma asked me.
"Because sir, I feel good when I look smart"
Oops! Did I cross the line in the very first minute of mu interview? All other board members laughed out at this, but Nirbhay boss didn't seem to be impressed. May be he saw through my act and understood that I had anticipated the question and had come prepared.

After this the interview went on predictable lines. I was grilled on many issues. Most questions were opinion based, and the panel members touched on wide-ranging issues ranging from India's Myanmar policy to underdevelopment in Kalahandi. I would like to narrate one googly thrown at me that I couldn't defend against. To the question why IAS over other services, I said that it is because of the kind of managerial responsibility one gets at a very young age that motivates to go for it. A DM heads some 40-50 departments in a district and gets to experience lot of diversity (and this wasn't untrue. My first preference last year was IFS and I had changed over to IAS this year as much because of convictions as because of parents' preferences).

Nirbhay sir is a smart man. Immediately he catches the word 'young age' and asks me: "Giving so much responsibility to a young man is akin to giving lots of power also. Don't you think a person with much experience, expertise, and specializations will do better in the role?"

This was the googly. And this is where I flunked. Promptly and fluently I replied "Sir, a young person is full of energy. The kind of creative and innovative solutions he can bring in an older person can not. The youth have greater power of lateral thinking. Besides, it has been seen that the scope of entrepreneurship and taking initiatives is always greater in people of younger age group"

It is only after I end this passionate speech that I realize all the members in the board were old. Nirbhay sir seemed to be the youngest of them all, having just retired from the army. All others seemed to be octogenerians. The lady member looked as if she may die any moment (no dissrespect intended, just an honest appraisal). The gentleman sitting to my right seemed to be weak in the heart, and I feared any inflammatory remark from me may lead him to a heart attack. After having a closer look at the interviewers I wished I had taken my words back. But like an arrow that has left the bow, I couldn't take back my words.

Nirbhay sir felt a little piqued by my eloquent defence of the youth. But you see, he was smarter than me. He said, "I totally agree whith whatever you said about the youth. See, there are certain problems that are bugging me for a long time now. Being a young man -you passed out
from IIT Kharagpur in 2006 -I guess you can give me some innovative solutions"

This is where I was trapped. Now I had to perform! Show my creativity. And I failed. But failed in style. He asked me to give an innovative solution to the Indo-Pak problem. Oof! After beating around the bush for a long time, I accepted that I really don't have any innovative solution. After this, he looked triumphant, and passed on to other members. I answered most of the questions posed by other panel members. Since most of the questions were opinion based, I talked a lot (they were surprisingly good listeners: guess some trait people pick up at old age!) and explained many things at greater details. On issues that I had little knowledge, I said "I don't have sufficient knowledge on the issue to form an opinion"

Questions asked

A few issues that I was grilled about were:

• What is India's Myanmar policy? Is it right?
• What all missiles have been inducted into the army?
• Do you think democracy is bad for us? Why do people choose so inefficient people as members of parliament? then I brought the issue to caste based politics, role of middle class etc
• Is coalition politics good or bad for our country?
• At which places seccessionist movements are taking place in India
• Give a history of the Naga Movement? (I couldn't answer this)
• Of what use is your engineering skills in administration? (I explained this with a situational example)
• What about the grid connectivity to various parts of India?
• What are the problems in Kalahandi? (the way I listed out the problems the member must have thought that I had mugged up the whole thing, even though it was spontaneous)
• What solutions do you propose for the Kalahandi problem?
• Explain the root cause of communalism in Orissa... recent riots
• Do you think religious conversions have to be stopped? (I say forced conversion is bad but because of that genuine conversions can't be barred because it will violate fundamental rights)
• Is conversion a fundamental right?
• Tell me something about the temple in Puri (how dumb! and how dumb of me for taking a long time to answer it)
• Outsiders know Orissa for all the wrong reasons. Do you think the media is responsible for it?
• Is the media always right? (here I take example of Aarushi case to highlight the psychological wound that news reports inflict)
• What should be done to restrict the media from crossing the line?
• What should be done to stop tax evasion?
• Should taxing income be replaced by taxing expenditure?
• Was Voluntary disclosure of income scheme good? Is it good now?

Then back to Nirbhay Sharma. He asks a very interesting question: "We find that the middle class in India is very self-centred. It is concerned only about rising above and not about larger issues. It only pays lip service to issues of common interests. Even voters' turnout is low for the middle class. How do you think their behaviour can be changed?"
This was a profound question involving both psychology of human and group behaviour and sociology (incidentally both my mains subjects). I couldn't think of any answer to this. He asks me to think over it and informs me that my interview is over.

How did my interview go?

I have been bugged an umpteen times regarding how my interview go. The point is no one can say how his/her interview went. Only results speak. I got 210 after a bitter interview last year. Many people landed with 75 or 80 marks after so called 'good interviews'. What they see in you, what they infer from that, and what insights into your personality they get no one can say.

All that I can say for sure is that what answers you give to factual questions doesn't make a difference. 'I don't know' is perhaps the best answer when you aren't sure about the answer. Be honest about your ignorance. Don't be ashamed of your ignorance. Your reaction to ignorance reveals a lot about your personality. Be true to as much extent as possible; it is appreciated.

In my case, I had gone into the board with the primary aim of getting the feel. So I talked in an uninhibited manner. I talked a lot (which may backfire... only results will tell) and had a slightly casual body language. But I don't recommend the same for you.