Thursday, April 8, 2010

My interview

April 1st 2010 1:15 pm

I entered the UPSC premises and proceeded to the waiting hall where document verification was carried out. The wait began at that time. We were told that our panel was headed by Prof. Balagurusamy. It was a sigh of relief. There were four other members, one more from Karnataka and one each from Pune, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Being fourth in the order, I was called in at 4:25 pm. I was led in.

Me: May I come in?

CP: Yes come inside

I entered and wished all (all male members) and was asked to be seated; I thanked and sat down.

CP: So you are a doctor cleared from Rajiv Gandhi University, which college?

Me: Yes sir, I studied at Vydehi institute of medical sciences

CP: Is it a govt. college?

Me: No sir, it is a pvt. College.

CP: So how much are they charging for a seat now?

Me: Sir now the fee is approximately Rs. 3.5 lakhs per annum

CP: In Tamil Nadu they charge 50 lakh as capitation fee

(they all talk among themselves and I was a silent spectator)

Me: Sir mine was a govt. seat in a pvt. medical college.

CP: Ok. What did you do since 2007 as you graduated then? You realize that if one is out of service you can’t be in tune with latest developments.

Me: (nodded) Sir, I finished my internship in May 2008. Then I appeared for state civil services in Sept. 2008. Subsequently I appeared for civil services 2009. In between I worked for two months at Cisco systems in a project to deal with health presence.

CP: So leaving your profession wasn’t opposed by your parents?

Me: Sir my parents allowed me to choose anything after graduation

CP: Anything? Then why didn’t you join govt. medical service

Me: My father is a doctor in govt. service and I have seen him go through all the troubles

CP: Oh so both are doctors. What is your mother?

Me: Sir she is a principal in a govt. college

CP: You have a very good family. Why don’t you people start a nursing home with your mother being an administrator?

Me: Sir it is better to reach poor and the masses while being in public sector

CP: You can reach poor if you are good. Charge rich and do free service to poor.

Me: Sir truth be told, I entered medicine mainly due to peer pressure and parent pressure and various other situations

CP: No financial pressure?

Me: Mine was a free seat sir

CP: Ok. So your preferences are IAS, IPS and then IFS.. All put IFS third. (proceeded to M1)

Me: Yes sir

M1: Have you read foreign policy of India

Me: I’m sorry sir, no.

M1: What all do you know about NAM?

Me: When world was divided into two power blocs, India and a few likeminded countries decided to maintain a good distance and ensure cooperation to safeguard their interests. This led to beginning of NAM

M1: Do you know about the first summit

Me: I’m sorry sir I don’t remember

M1: Do you think NAM is relevant now?

Me: Yes sir. Having two poles or three is insignificant but important is development among all countries which is the objective of NAM

M1: What do you think are the chances of India being in P5

Me: Sir given the present support from existing members and our close proximity with Washington may be it could be possible in future.

M1: What is the biggest advantage of being in p5

Me: A member of p5 has veto power

M1: Do you know where UN HQ is located

Me: Sir I’m sorry I cannot remember

M1: IMF and WB HQ

Me: I’m sorry sir

M1: Do you know about IMF and WB

Me: Sir they were created to assist and provide finance to developing and under developed countries to boost development

M1: Your hobbies are cricket-playing and watching. What position do you play?

Me: Sir I was in school cricket side till class IX but subsequently I had to concentrate on my studies. I’m a lower middle order batsman and occasionally I used to bowl

M1: Occasionally?

Me: Sir I was used as a spare bowler

M1: Do u think the present trend of IPL is commercialization or is it sports in reality as now the senior players are performing better than youth

Me: Sir there are pros and cons of t20 cricket. Cricket is reaching all those places where it did not exist earlier but at the same time it is leading to fall in consumerism due to commercialization. There are ads not just between overs but also between deliveries. (maybe I got deviated slightly)

M2: IPL.. Do you know the revenue generation to BCCI in season 3

Me: Sir the recent auctions of two teams have fetched approx 3200 crores

M2: In season 3

Me: Sir I’m not sure but around 1200 crore

M2:It is 4 billion

Me: Thank you sir

M2:Telecast rights? It was in paper today

Me: Sorry sir I didn’t read that.

M3: You optional is anthropology. What is the difference between old world and new world monkeys

Me: Sir old world monkeys were found in Africa and new world monkeys were found in Americas. But the new world monkeys were earlier in evolution

M3: Are you sure?

Me: Yes sir

M3: Sure?

Me: Yes sir

M3: What is the age difference between the two?

Me: Sir I’m not sure, but maybe around 500,000 years..

M3: Way off the mark. 25 million years. Do you know about the human genome project? People earlier thought there were thousands of genes. How many genes are there?

Me: Sir there are around 30000 genes

M3: Can you name a few genetic defects

Me: Sir, thalassemia

M3: Tell me about thalassemia

Me: Sir it is a genetic defect due to a defective gene in HLA region(I made a mistake. It was HBA region)

M3: HLA, are you sure? Or is it any other thing in blood.

Me: Sir it is coded by a defective gene in HLA region leading to an abnormal globin chain in hemoglobin.

M3: But HLA is present in leucocytes.

Me: Sir HLA genes are present in all cells in the genetic material.

M3: Do RBCs contain genetic material.

Me: Sir RBCs when immature have genetic material which also has HLA genes. When they mature the genetic material is lost.

M3: But do the RBCs contain HLA antigens.

Me: No sir. I’m sorry sir, this is what I know. I may be wrong sir.

M3: What about sickle cell anemia?

Me: Sir it is a genetic defect where one of the globin chain’s sixth amino acid is replaced from phenyl alanine to valine.

M3: What happens?

Me: Sir the oxygen carrying capacity of the red cells comes down.

M3: Any homozygotic and heterozygotic condition?

Me: Yes sir. In homozygotes, there is a full blown disease whereas in heterozygotes it is a mosaic pattern where a few cells are normal and others are defective.

M3: Ok.

M4 did not ask any question

I was asked to pick a card


“Globalization has reduced the gap between the rich and poor in India “


CP: Do you agree or disagree?

Me: I’m sorry sir I’d like to disagree here. The rich continue to be rich and poor continue to be poor.

CP: Do you think it has increased?

Me: I’m not sure of its increase sir but maybe it has remained the same

It has increased.

M2: In fact rich have become more richer and poor have remained where they were.

(chat amongst themselves about india being rich of billionaires and is at fourth position. Then M4 said janardhan reddy also is in the race. Stopping of mining was also mentioned. Him shaking karnataka CM over the issue of a lady minister. Asked me on the status)

Me: Sir, she was forced to resign.

CP: She was his wife?

Me: No sir she wasn’t married to him.

CP: Now SC has legalized it.

Your interview is over now. Do you have any question?

Me: Sir, do you blog?

CP: No, I don’t have time to blog although I’m an IT person. You should ask better questions.

Me: Sir I want to follow ppl of great repute.

CP: You don’t need to follow by examples. What one needs is sincerity and honesty.

M3: What is difference between blog and twitter?

Me: Sir twitter is also called micro blog where one can post using a mobile and reach to anyone following him

M3: There is a limit in characters

Me: Yes sir of 140 characters unlike a blog where there is no limit and blog needs internet access.

CP: Yes all the best

(gave me a chocolate and shook hands)

I thanked them all and started to leave. At the door I thanked again and left.

Time 5:05 pm total duration : 40 mins

7 comments:

Nagaraj said...

It seems that u didnt do it as per ur standards. May be you could have done better considering that u left simple questions. But this is not a viva so u can relax a bit. Confidence matters and not the correctness of answers. All the best sir.

Amit Sharma said...

Congratulations on getting 569th rank!

Dr. A M Farooqi said...

Thank you both Mr. Nagraj and Mr. Amit sharma..

Rohit singh said...

CONGRATULATIONSIR,COULD U POST UR MARK OF ANTHRO AND OTHER SUB,I NEED GUIDANCE REGARDING ANTHRO PREP,DO U THINK ANTHRO IS SCORIND WITH RESPECT TO PAUCITY OF RESOURCES IN ANTHRO AND OTHER SUB.

I M NOT ABLE TO DECIDE BET ANTHRO AND PSYCHO,I DO ENJOY BOTH,BUT THE PROBLEM IS NO GAP BET THE TWO,IS IT ADVISABLE TO TAKE BOTH,CAN GAP BET EXAM ENHANCE THE SUCCESS CHANCE.

Dr. A M Farooqi said...

@ Rohit singh

Thank you very much. Definitely you can think about taking anthro as your 2nd optional as this one alongwith psychology come close to marking pattern of literature papers.. For a little more on this, You can refer to a post on choosing optionals. Of course even psycho is also a very good optional but ultimately its important to get higher marks/study hour ratio. As i note that you have less time left now, dealing with psycology might be a little difficult as there are 28 chapters in all. Best is a literature paper, but if you can manage physical anthro, then even anthro is a good bet..
All the best..

shoaib said...

Thank you sir & also congratulation

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