“WHERE TIRELESS STRIVING STRETCHES ITS ARMS”

Disclaimer- with due respect to Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore and his classic poem ‘where the mind is without fear’ 

       Since my childhood, I am reading and praising this everlasting poem. Since my teenage years I have adopted one of its lines as my motto ‘where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection’ 

        Lately, I have come to realise that this line needs an alteration, by removing the final word. 

PERFECTION: an extravagance!

        Perfection, of all the words that kept motivating me all these years has something different. When I hear this word, I drown myself to a level of geek from my existing level, that of a student.  

        For past 4 years I have been an aspirant of civil services (preferably IAS) and this word has done more damage than anything else to me. earlier every time I studied something I wanted to do a Ph.D. in that. For instance, if I studied a chapter on indigo cultivation in modern history, I would go through every video on Internet about indigo cultivation and every topic about indigo and it’s association with India’s past and more importantly, without noting down anything. For I assumed that I gathered enough knowledge to reproduce it in exam or I would do it again at the time of revision. 

This is detrimental. The following points are the reasons for it- 

1. Being a working professional, I already have lesser time than of a full time student. digging reduces it further. 

2. Due to a vast Syllabus of this exam, not everything can be covered this thoroughly. Which means either to skip some parts or to completely them haphazardly. 

3. Sometimes less important topics get more attention and time then required, affecting cost ratio negatively. 

4. Unlike technical and professional exams like Chartered accountant, CSE requires general idea and informs about every topic mentioned in syllabus. 

5. In order to retain the information, one needs multiple periodic revisions. Extensive study & then note making (if one succeeds in doing so) reduces the time for revision and also adds the unnecessary content. Which results In

         a) prolonged time of revision 

         b) consequently, lesser number of revision affecting the retention. 

        Being perfectionist may improve the performance in some other areas of life, such as arts or sports but not in civil services examination. 

Let’s see how this counter-narrative works for me. 

Until next time, 

Bye!

Take due care.😊😊

“Criticism and suggestions are always welcome, they will only improve me”