Posts Tagged ‘Situational’
The roller-coaster ride
Travel and work, two idiots I happened to befriend of late, never seem to leave me alone these days. They are such good friends, that I cant help spending time with them. No matter what situation I am in, they are always there for me. I am lousy, they are there. I am hungry, they are there. I am tired, they are there. I am sleepy, they are there. I am…. they are still there. I must confess I am very lucky to find such loyal friends and am very thankful to them for having happened to meet me. Otherwise God knows how wonderful a part of life I was going to be missing. Ok, that little piece you just happened to read is what I am giving as an excuse for the near disappearance from the word of blogging.
Getting back, the little subject here in consideration is a ride back home. So for those of you who are bored or already feeling the need to show me a beautiful wide angle shot of your mouth or already fallen off asleep, the whole drama here is boarding a bus, and on reaching the destination, getting down. Yeah, you were right. Your wide angle display is justified. I have this liking for writing and well, you are witnessing the result.
Range: 350-650/head.
Duration: 3-5hrs.
Purpose: To scare the daylights out of you. (erm its always a night ride so there is no daylight anyways!)
Procedure: To provide a seat in the upper berth and let things work its way.
Disclaimer: The farther at the end of the bus your seat lies, the more fun you derive!
An overnight journey aboard a bus, the best way to travel would probably be on a sleeper coach. Atleast I am one of those who prefers sleeper coaches to those sitting ones. Nothing but sleeper works for me. Not even those near sleepers with a prefix semi going ahead of them. Such a relaxed way to reach your destination and what’s more you could even get down to work in the morning.
No! Not if you take an upper berth and as a bonus, you being in the last seat. Hell! No! The drivers on the Bangalore-Udupi/Manipal/Kundapur bus, err. any of them for that matter, they are all the same; they have this strange disease where in they seem to forget the being of a 3/4th bus behind them and whats more find it to be a nascar and really take it for a ride! An urgent requirement of arrival back home coupled with a busy season, and your love for sleeper, ends you up with a lovely nest perched right at the back, where if you are kind enough to stretch a little you could be hugging the back of the bus.
You board the bus, settle down. You are still in Bangalore, everything feels good. You feel the driving is good, making a note to yourself to tell others about this particular one, how it is different form others and hey, I wonder why people run away from last seats. Its really not all that bad. The journey slowly begins, as your thoughts drift by and you are soon asleep. Bang! From blacks to blues, the next thing you know you are on a roller coaster ride, an expensive one in that. Did you just say the driver is good? Screw you! You were wrong. The ride continues with no interval. And you desperately needed one. You estimate the time of stoppage. Another bang! ‘Watch out dude!’, you shout, knowing fully well that for one thing, you wont be audible and secondly, he is on his way to finish line and nothing can stop him in his endeavor! You are tired, and every now and then you cant help falling asleep, only to be pulled out in catching yourself from falling down situation. You begin to wish there were safety belts so that you could atleast not worry about falling. Whats more your bag is have a ball of time and if you don’t bother to curtail its freedom, it will have no hesitation whatsoever in bungee jumping. Only catch being that the bungee jump is one way. Your precious laptop is in its care and it doesn’t in the least seem to have a concern about it. So you, being the more responsible of the two, takes the responsibility of taking care of the bag in addition to taking care of yourself. Every now and then it tries to take a sneak peak of what lies in the world beneath and your job is to curtail its movement. Your hands ache from clinging on, your legs ache from controlling yourself and your bag, you are jittery from lack of sleep and to add to it, being awake has made you hungry too. You try sitting so that you can find something from your bag, and no sooner you do it, you feel yourself spinning. You resist the need to eat. You resist the need to sleep. You resist the need for stillness. You resist the need for peace. You wait patiently, and yeah, as the saying goes it indeed pays off. You finally reach your destination and you are free to get down.
Conclusion: The roller-coaster ride is successfully completed.*
Remarks: You are now ready to take another ride.
*In our appreciation and as a bonus for taking part, you get a free subject to write an article upon!
Why can clearing CA exams be difficult??
“Days back, the memories freshly watered,
a thirst to convey, deep hunger to vent out,
the break, as if cool breeze blowing around,
taking along with, the experienced words;
now, weaved, stale though seemingly fresh.”
You have about two months after PUC before the exam to prepare. As you glance by the syllabus you feel most of it is dealt in PU, so its hardly a big deal. Moreover its a multiple choice questions! Just need 100 out of 200! The probability seems quite near to 1!
Why then, do you end up flunking?
– MCQ yaar!:
Multiple choice questions aren’t as easy as they seem. You might feel; answer toh wahi pe hoga, bahut aasaan he! But once you see the options, everything seems correct unless you are absolutely sure. Further, every option would be related to the question, so an oversight might as well make you mark the wrong answer, and you thought you had got it right!
– Writing off a subject:
Its a common practice for you to write off a subject as ‘chalega’. You ask a non-maths student how is he finding maths, his reply would be I am not reading maths, just about 25 marks, so wont be a problem. He fails to conceive the fact that he isn’t a master in the other subjects (accounts, law, economics and stat)
– Negative marking:
I have answered 160 questions. I will surely pass. WRONG! You tend to over see the fact that there is a negative marking for every question you have bluffed! You lose a mark for every four wrong answers, which could as well be the reason for you ending up below 100, where you could have actually passed!
A few things to be noted so that, these can be avoided!
– Don’t underestimate MCQ’s. Get your basics strong, for that is what you will be tested on. Before you look at the options, think about the answer. Once you are sure about the answer, look for it in the options. If its present, done. If not, you know you are wrong.
– Never write off any subjects as irrelevant. Study as much as possible. You might be a non-maths student, or non-economics student. That’s not an excuse to write it off. Its any day better to get something by studying, instead of getting nothing, by not studying.
– Avoid as much bluffing as possible. You might feel chal yaar mila to ek mark milega, ek do galat hua toh kya farq padta he! Don’t be in such a state of mind. Failing costs you six months! Bluffing could as well be the reason for above 100 to fall below 100. Bluffing to a certain limit is allowed. Only to a certain limit.
– Tuition/coaching is not actually necessary, but that totally depends on the person in concern. Don’t go by others words. If you feel you cant understand studying by yourself, then you need coaching. Also by going for coaching you can be sure of completing the portion. How useful it is depends on how well you comprehend.
– Pile of reference books, notes, etc isn’t necessary. Follow a single book. Reading too much will only confuse you. Say, two books contradict each other, which do you believe?
– A few months of “dedicated” study is enough to get you through CPT.
CPT toh aasani se clear kiya par ye IPCC!!
– Preparation v/s non-preparation:
What generally happens is that when a student clears CPT, he will be high on spirits, decides to write both groups. But then, the nine months spell works its magic on him, making him decide on one group, and in the end his preparation would be at such level of readiness that he ends up writing the exam for the sake of writing it. There are also those others, who write to see what they are up against. They fail to realize that every experiment of theirs would cost them six months. Being prepared and feeling tensed on seeing the paper is one thing, being unprepared and feeling tensed on seeing the paper is a whole different thing all together. For one thing they are unprepared. In addition to that the paper comes with expertise to make even the well prepared, sweat. When the actual exam comes, they would be facing double pressure, one, as a result of their previous experience, the second being, its no longer a practice paper! Hence its important that you decide well in advance how you will be going about with the study and stuff. Its always advisable to clear in the first attempt. In CA, failing is not at all an issue coz its very common, but failing can prove costly, if it adds to your fear of clearing.
– Pre-conceived notions:
A student’s usual adaptation is that questions usually appear the way they usually did, a pre-conceived notion based on the previous questions that this would be what I am up against. WRONG! CA exams are an exception to it. Never expect a question to be simple. Never expect a question to be like you have learnt it. Never expect a question to be like it appeared before. In fact never expect a question. Never expect a particular patter. Never expect anything…
– Theoretical approach:
The other thing that usually students are used to is theoretical approach. Of course, that’s what happens else where but for CA exams! They are an exception to everything. It will be the most practical paper you can ever think of. Even a theory subject will seem practical after facing a CA exam. If you are still in the world of question and answers, then stop dreaming. Wake up! “The question paper setter’s thinking begins where yours stops.”
– Time & efficiency:
The questions set would usually would be such that an average student would be able to complete answering the paper within the allotted time. Doesn’t work so with CA exams. The paper is usually set at such pace that even if you know everything you wont be able to solve them. The paper doesn’t provide for time to think. No time to understand the problem. You are expected to know everything. 100% efficiency would be insufficient to finish the paper. You can expect your fate. You challenge the paper, you will always end up losing. It wise to be smart in answering the paper.
– History v/s relevance:
Its usual practice of students to write the whole story where the climax is asked. What is expected is, to-the-point answers. You write history, you only end up wasting time that you don’t have. The other dis advantage of writing lengthy answers is that in the process, you tend to miss out what is actually required to be mentioned. History doesn’t mean anything to the evaluator. He knows better than you. If he doesn’t find what he seeks, you don’t get what you want.
A few DO’s/DON’Ts:
– Its a professional exam:
As soon as you have decided to write IPCC, make it clear to yourself that this ain’t your semester paper, where you wake up on the day before your exam, and still come out with a distinction. Plan your course well ahead, keep enough space for uncertainties. You never know when something might crop up. As far as possible, try to avoid writing for the sake of it.
– The paper will never fail to surprise you:
Again as said this ain’t your semester paper wherein you could as well have become the paper setter, for, you already know what you are up against. No matter what anybody says, never assume anything if its going to make things seem easy! Yeah, coz that’s never gonna happen.
– Practical approach:
Right from the beginning take a practical approach, theory subject is no exception! It will help to a very great extent.
– You are half dead before the exams begins:
Each day seems like ages, you wait for the exam to approach, nah! not so soon.. the anxiety and wait will half kill you. (Course, the exam does the rest of the job ;)) Get over it.
– Avoid discussing topics with people knowing more than you:
Discussing with others is not at all bad, no doubt, but not on the day of exam. What generally happens is, you go to somebody with a doubt, he, already knowing it, says its quite simple, its like this, this, this.. What then happens is he raises a question over and above your doubt. Lo! your went with one doubt, you return with two! You are already carrying enough burden, you don’t want more! Also its important to remember not to discuss about a paper after its done. “What’s done can’t be changed, but what’s to come can be done better.”
– Have your own way of dealing with things:
Just because somebody is doing something some way, it doesn’t mean you need to go the same way. Going the same way isn’t a problem. The problem is that it might as well not work for you! You have nobody else to blame but yourself.
– Pressure:
One thing that a CA student knows properly inside out is, what is pressure. Learn to handle pressure. The more cool you remain, the better for you. Seeing the paper you feel you know nothing, or maybe you just have 30mins to go and you have completed only two/three questions.. many such situations might arise, where in if you can’t keep your cool, you end up making a mess of everything. Not just that, it has an adverse effect on your confidence! The sooner you realize that the first paper is just the beginning, the better. For one paper, you cant afford to screw other papers. It will be very costly. More than time loss, what matters more is the confidence loss! ” What is past is lost, you can’t bring it back. What you can only do is let it haunt you.”
– One or two good reference material will suffice:
The more books you refer the more chances of messing up yourself. Its important to bear in mind that solving more numeric problems correctly will not necessarily mean superior conceptual knowledge. Its important that you concentrate on conceptual study. Problems are nothing more than applications. If you are not sure of what is what, you will never be able to solve problems. Its advisable to dig deep, rather than digging wide.
– Nine months of time is sufficient to study enough, to clear the papers easily, provided the study is done in accordance with the requirements.
Started with the thought of covering IPCC, but then thought inclusion of CPT too might be helpful.. anyway in the end its an opinion and doesn’t necessarily require your agreement. Hope it is of some help to those other aspirant CA students like me.
An extract from Sridhar Kamath’s comment mentioning some valid points that I missed out! (Mr. Kamath is a practising CA.)
-Time management: I’m one of those who wrote the old-fashioned CA Foundation paper. Have always thought the MCQ version is better than the traditional four-exams-over-four-days deadly combo(20% pass-out then v. 34% now says it all!). I think students seldom strategise. Writing model exams and effectively planning your time during the exam plays a key role. I know of students who started by attempting 50 Qs in the first 1.5 hrs only to end up marking 50 Qs in the last half-hour. You don’t plan your time well, you are bound to panic and get unnecessary negatives.
-Baggage: Another psychological point which you might have missed is baggage. Your reputation in the class-room, among your relatives, you sitting up to late nights and impressing your neighbours, your baggage of bagging 1st rank in the local BCom exams, always standing first in the class since you were in nursery –> all this goes to the trash-can in CA Exams.
What matters in the end is how good your basics are and how confident you are on exam days, both points you’ve beautifully brought out in your blog. Well written.
The suspect
A young boy, mostly in his teens, clad in a blue polo t-shirt and dark gray trousers, had a plastic bag in one hand, a book within it, purchased hardly a few moments ago, his hand kerchief and the key of his prized pulsar, along with it. The other hand was fumbling in search of the token which was required to get his bag back. A wallet in one pocket, cell in the other, but the token seemed to be missing. Where could it go… About thirty minutes ago he had entered the shop, and like in all shops he was required to keep all his possessions outside with the guard before going in, for which he was given a token and while leaving on producing it, he would get back his possession.
The guard, hardly a few meters away, held a constant vigil on him. There was not much of a crowd in the shop, so not many eyes were on him. Not had many noticed the thirty long minutes he had spent at the shop. Nor none bothered to know what he did all the while. A cell in his hand, going through the range of books available for selection, he took his time to select the book he wanted to buy. He narrowed it down to a single book, ‘The hungry tide’ by Amitav Ghosh. After a while of thinking on whether or not to buy the book, he finally picked it, went to the billing counter, got it billed and was about to leave when he felt he had misplaced his token. He recalled no such incidence of placing the token somewhere, or any such thing, yet he couldn’t find it now..
Looking just once more, he finally found it, gave it to the guard, got back his bag, put his stuff within it, and hung it over his back. It was another favorite possession of his, his adventure worx bag. Just as he was about to leave a thought occurred to him, something seemed to have caught his eye. He immediately turned, gave the bag back to the guard, excusing himself for the moment, before the guard could question him, went in for a few moments and returned back. From there he took his own sweet time roaming around the mall, noticing every small detail that was required to him, observing every person crossing him. Not one bothered to notice him roaming around aimlessly in the mall, a lone stranger minding his own business, after all it was usual in malls, so this was no exception.
It was long after the setting of the sun that he finally showed signs of having to leave. It was quite dark, although the insides of the mall were fully illuminated. As for the outsides, there was a busy street out there, going in its own pace, brightly illuminated by the street lights, head lights and taillights, of the various vehicles going by. He stopped by a cane juice centre, had a cold cane juice and though it wasn’t entirely anything compared to the one he had a few months ago, it was filling and that was what he wanted it to be. As he was finishing his drink, he saw a group of four pass by, and one of them seemed to be very familiar to him, why, it was certainly a person he knew. He was sure it, also the who, but couldn’t place the reason for that person’s being there. He made a mental note to enquire about it later and got back to his drink.
It was high time he started back, for there were more things to be done.. He walked back to the bus stop, which was hardly a little away from the mall, waited for a while, skipped the first bus, and when he saw the bus he wanted, got on to it. He found it a bit disappointing to know that it was almost filled up, but thankfully there was a seat for him, which he occupied, settling himself for what was to come ahead.
The first half of the journey went uneventful, of course with the rush that there was it was quite obvious. At one particular stop, the person next to him got down, and so did the three behind him. Immediately he shifted and took the seat behind to the one that he had formerly occupied.
A man sitting across his seat, was deep in slumber, one leg upon the other, and as he was just looking by, his eyes suddenly caught sight of something!! Was it what he really thought it to be? He wondered.. On inspecting it more properly, he was sure it was what he took it to be in his first glance! A five hundred rupee bundle half out of his pocket. He thought about it further. It was certainly a five hundred rupee note that he had seen, for the color was unmistakably right and he couldn’t be wrong, no way. There was a rubber band on it, which meant there was more than one. Now if it was just ten or twenty it would have been folded, but it wasn’t. Also the rubber band was quite straight which meant there was easily a minimum of a thirty to forty thousand in there. He was quite sure of it, very much certain of the facts he arrived upon.
He looked across, the fellow still seemed to be in deep slumber, quite unknown of the fact that his possession was noticed, calculated out, and in moments planned out too. There were not many people in the seats behind him which meant that the chances of anybody noticing, was next to nil, unless something very stupid was done. There was a strong breeze coming through the window, and as he let it hit his face, he thought of the plan he could put into action. It was pretty simple and straight forward, there was no doubt in it. Perfectly clean, hardly any risk but for the timing, which would be the key for the entire plan. All he had to do was get up from his seat, flick the bundle and pocket it. All done with moments to the stop already decided upon, and once he got down, there would be no trail. It would be quite late before it would be known, and he would taken the next bus back. Very simple, indeed it was!!
He kept his gaze steady on his prize, but soon enough the person seemed to wake up at a slight disturbance in the road, when he chanced to glance towards the person looking at him, but before he could actually do anything, he was back asleep. Moments later he looked back again, as the person signaled to his pocket, but funnily he didn’t seem to notice at all!
With all thoughts clear in mind, his actions decided, he calmly walked up towards the person, gave an acknowledging pat on his shoulder saying, “Be careful to conceal your money the next time, when you tend to sleep” and before he could say or do anything, walked away.
Standing by the foot board, he noticed the man, realizing what had happened, turned around, and smiled as I got down from the bus, giving just another few moments to notice him smile again…
Boards
The first thing that comes to one’s mind on hearing to the word ‘Board exam’ is uncertainty. Now whats so special about it that makes you speak so much about it is something to wonder. It is a simple difference between a normal exam and the boards that gives it all the fuss and attention. Normally you write an exam and the day you finish your examzzz you will know how you have performed. But not so with the boards!! It has got the unique ability to give you surprises, very huge ones, which comes right out of the dark, hitting you square and hard knocking you off the ground. And if you aren’t prepared for it, which is most likely the case, you will find it tough to regain your composure and balance. It also has the ability of giving you pleasant surprises. But for that you got to be lucky, very lucky. There are instances of people getting way beyond their expectations even after performing poorly and vice versa. A silent tear goes unnoticed in the crowd of happiness. That’s boards.
Here is a small little story that might be of some interest. There was a student who was hardly serious about studies. He wasted time instead of studying by watching TV when he should have been studying, etc, etc.. Days passed and his exams came by. On the day of his language exam minutes before the exam was to start, he was arguing with his mother that he would not attend the exam as he hadn’t prepared for it and didn’t know anything. In the end after a lot of persuasion he agreed to go, and wrote the exam. When the results were out there was a surprise!! He scored 100 in the subject which he dint want to write!! Now whats more ridiculous.. Is it that fact that he scored 100 in a subject he hardly knew to read or write or is it that there are even such valuers who don’t even bother to think that the future of a student is in their hands.
Its as a result of such careless valuers, that many students have to suffer. Now the student might rejoice at scoring such good marks, but another student who really worked hard but falls a prey to such people will feel really bad about it. In some cases the genuine student tends to falls back. This becomes a serious breakdown for him/her. Everybody will console them telling that its not the end of everything, but the true emotions and feelings that they go through is known only to them…
“I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.”
No matter how hard you work or whatever efforts you have put in, it becomes secondary to what your fate has for you. All said and done in the end what you get is what is in store for you. Time passes on, incidents are forgotten, but the feelings of the unfulfilled desires stays on forever reminding you that you couldn’t achieve something you wanted to. No matter how much ever you achieve, you truly think of yourself only in rare moments and those are the times when you need somebody to judge your thoughts and give you the feeling that you are not as bad as you thought you were.
Kabhie khud pe hasa mein, kabhie khud pe roya…..
Mint your way
“A person earns 1.5 lakhs a month”.
This is a normal statement and might make one wonder whats this about. This would be the first thought. Now I say that this post is about one such person and your immediate thinking about the person would be as a professional. If not for recession many would have been dead sure I was speaking of a software professional who worked hard to achieve this. But if these were the thoughts that crossed your minds then you were entirely wrong. Speaking of a software professional would also remind the long days of work, busy schedule etc.. waiting in the the store. Now the person I am speaking off happens to be no such professional, but a simple layman.For people who have thought of a professional life to be the way to earn here is a small story, no an example set by someone would sound better I guess, to show that innovation and creativity can bring achieve wonders.
I am speaking of a place at Manglore wherein there is a simple sandwich stall. Its nothing big and dashy, but a normal stall. The stall opens up at four in the evening and by five thirty at the max the stall is closed as the products are all sold out (I believe the timings are right). The style with which he goes about preparing it is a sight worth watching. He does it with such simplicity which I am sure if we tried, would either lead to some injury or else we will mess up everything. I am sure anybody who watches it will be impressed. The quality is just too good to speak about. At the first glance it looks as simple as the stall but have it and you will realise you were wrong.
An experience…(Memories-III)
This took place during my vacations after finishing my 1st year at college. There was a cricket tournament near my place and after it I was inspired to initiate one too. Then, I surely din’t know what I was up against, but was determined to do it all the same. It was decided the tournament would take place in two parts, taking place on twoSundays. The banner was made for the advertisement, but then it was decided that the prize amount was far too much and would be difficult to handle. So the prize amount was reduced(thankfully i was sensible enought to do it!!). That was the first obstacle to come up and it never stopped.
The first leg was up and the arrangements were sloppy. I can rather say that I considered them to be stable but was mistaken. The day arrived. Early morning the sound system was setup and the first match was supposed to be starting at eight but it was half past eight and the teams never showed up!! A second mistake… Should have taken advance from the teams willing to participate but over looked the possibility of failure. Then came a time wherein there was a thought of cancelling everything and just inform others about it. Would have been a great decision to do that but once again there was another way to escape and it seemed easier. Make up for the mistakes in the second leg. It looked as the only way to overcome what was already done.
The second leg was up and the arrangements were done more cautiously. The teams were registered(but of course, without advance payment because the possibility occurred only once it was finished). There were more teams willing to come and the time managementbecame a problem. Even then it was adjusted and the fixtures were set. It looked like it would be a grand success and would end up on a positive note. It did go that way but only until the day arrived to take it all away. Half the teams never turned up!! And the revenue due by them which would have led to a profit and also a success ultimately, turned it around fully. There wasn’t sufficient funds and that was the only problem… A big one…
This event is a reminder of how things can turn all of a sudden if you don’t have things under your control. One moment you think everything is going well but the next moment you find you are completely. Its like when you are surfing for a moment you will be riding high on a tide but if you are not alert the next moment you will find yourself overruled by the wave.
They say learn from your mistakes and I definitely have!!
Joy of life
This, I believe is going to be a slight drift towards philosophy. Kindly forgive any opinions expressed wrongly.
How often have we been satisfied with what we have?? We always seem to want something thats a step ahead of us, like in out of our reach. We work our way towards it and get it. Then?? The funny thing is most often we dont even take time to cherish and enjoy what was just gained,but rather find that there is a new want on the horizon, there is a new desire… And so the process goes on and on.. We are seldom contained with our current positions and the wants never seem to end.. Of course they don’t. But then we must learn to be happy with what we have gained, even if its momentary. Its not wrong to keep chasing wants but if we don’t have time to enjoy them then whats the use of it?? Why the mad rush?? We should be able to derive a certain amount of joy from whatever we do and whatever we have. Past is a history and future, a mystery. So its only the present thats with us. Each passed moment, be it good or bad, is gone forever. So cherish each moment..
It is a momentary glimpse I caught, that triggered all these thoughts into my minds. I had been to Manglore recently and while returning, was lucky to find a window seat..(Not that I board a bus if I don’t think I will get a window seat) Its my customary practice to study the surroundings while travelling. It fulfills two objectives. One, I wont be bored and the second, I will find a lot of interesting things that fascinates me. Now there is a fly overbeing constructed and somewhere near Surathkal they have piled up a lot of cement bags. It looks like a small mountain since its almost twenty foot high and ten foot wide. Upon it a young man of around twenty years or so was lying with his head head supported on his hand. He was almost dipped in cement dust. It was his expression that kept me spell bounded. He looked so happy despite the place he was in, a busy traffic infested roadside. There was such a twinkle in his eyes that gleamed of happiness… I just couldn’t get my eyes of him. I believe he is a worker of the fly over and has to work in the scorching heat all day. But at the end of the day he had the look of the happiest man in the world. I donno the reason for the happiness in him, but then it kept me wondering… If a person working in such a state can be so cheerful, am sure we all can find a lot of reasons to be cheerful too.