Is life all about a career?

This morning, I got a text from a friend I haven't been in contact with for the past two years. Two years ago, when we graduated from college, he went to do PGDM from an IIM and I started preparing for civils. 

Just to make it clear, we weren't the best of friends. We were just friends, often hanging out in the same group of people, or sometimes I would sleep over at his place because he lived alone and we both liked to play chess and poker. So, when we parted ways after college, there was no contact.

Now, today morning he texted me from abroad. And this is what he had to say. "Bhai, I just need someone to talk to me. I haven't talked to a friend in 3 weeks."

This is a guy who is working with one of the biggest investment banks in the world and earning a handsome salary. He is living the 'dream' of a lot of people but when he felt lonely, he called someone he hasn't been in contact with for 2 years. Just imagine how lonely he must really be.

I have always found him somewhat non-sentimental, and he is definitely not one to be emotional, but today he was reminiscing about college life. He was missing all the friendships he had and destroyed (most of them unintentionally and just because he couldn't find time for them).

So, coming to your question... No, life is not all about a career.

Life is about a lot of things, but it is mostly about the people in it. The people that you begin with, and the people that you meet along the way. The people that are there when things go bad, and the people that are there to rejoice in your success. It's these people that make life worth living.

We always want what we don't have and take what we have for granted. The grass always seems to be greener on the other side. But it's only after we have lost what we had, do we realize its importance. Now, the sad part about that realization is that more often than not, it's too late to go back. The people you wish to keep close have already moved on.

P.S. Going anonymous for obvious reasons.

Edit: Removed anonymity.

Updated Nov 28, 2015 • View Upvotes

How can I make myself better each day?

1. Become More Observant. Notice everything that surrounds you. The world is full of examples, ideas, words, wisdom, mistakes and experiences. Pay attention to details and use them to your own benefit.
2. Collect Ideas. Ideas and thoughts tend to evaporate from your mind too fast. Try to capture them before it is too late. Ideally, write down or sketch every single one.
3. Start Writing. The biggest value of a good writing skill is that it cultivates a discipline. First of all, the discipline of thinking. Your thoughts will cease to be random and chaotic. They will gradually become systematized and structured instead.
4. Develop A Habit To Act. Constant thinking will not take you far from the place you are now. Actions will. Stop procrastinating and start acting. Define your goals and do the things that matters every single day.
5. Read. Read a lot. Reading is probably the best investment of time ever. Devote at least 30 minutes per day to reading. Ideally, have a book always with you. Then you won`t waste any minute purposelessly.
6. Use Wikipedia. It is a great source of interesting and meaningful information.  Choose the topic you like and read one article per day just in order to improve your knowledge and learn interesting facts.
7. Expand Your Comfort Zone. There is nothing new in your comfort zone. All the opportunities for growth are beyond it. Therefore, find your discomfort zone. Enter it!

8. Maintain a Smile Diary: Write in it before sleeping at night - what you did during the day that made another person smile - it could be close friend, the waiter at your favourite restaurant, or even a complete stranger. Make at least one person smile each day, and watch it become a habit. Very soon you won't even be needing to write in all the memories and helping others would become second nature to you.  

Happiness-Does-anybody-actually-enjoy-life

I am a 24 year old Indian guy. I am working as a Software Engineer in one of the country’s top IT firms. The job requires me to work 9 hours per day,five days a week. I almost end up working roughly 12 hours daily. On weekends,I freelance as a software/web developer. I don’t work overtime and I don’t freelance for money. We are a family of four – living in New Delhi since almost 60 years now – and all four of us are working. I like to work because it gives me peace.

I am not fond of people and I don’t have friends. I’ve been lucky enough to experience true friendship in life but somehow, being absolutely alone has always comforted me.

I have been switching off my mobile phone at 12 am on my birthday, every year since 2009. I call back a couple of people and cousins on my birthday because I know they would want to talk to me - and I want to talk to them as well!

On most Saturdays, I get up at 6 am and go for a run in one of the most beautiful places in the city. Then I come back, get fresh and leave the house with my wallet, my mobile phone, earphones, car keys and a book (and of course my car). I go to the tiniest of coffee shops in the most unexplored parts of Delhi and sit and read. For hours. All alone.

Then I head out, eat something REALLY good and take a s***-load of pictures. All alone.I am not on Facebook since a couple of years now – so I don’t really post them anywhere. They are just in my laptop and a very few of them get uploaded to my Instagram.

On Sundays, I skip the morning shower and stay in my room for 8-10 hours – binge-watching several TV shows and movies. I am a huge DC and Marvel fanatic and I read a lot of comics.

On weekdays, it’s mostly the same routine – get up and leave for work at around 10 and return by midnight. I open Whatsapp twice a day – before reaching office and after returning home. If I have to text something important to someone, I send an SMS.

I barely call people I know. It just freaks me out. I have no idea why. And yet, I manage to blabber my way through a 2-hour call with the client, who sits in the UK/US and will never meet me. I have no idea why.

I go for lunch/dinner in the office all by myself and spend the entire time scrolling down Quora.

I don’t have a bucket list.

I am not overly religious. I am a Hindu but I visit the Gurudwara whenever I can. I look up for Gurbanis on the internet and recite them. I attended a Christian convent school for 15 years and I read the Bible whenever I can. I pray a lot. I don’t fear God. Not one bit. I love Him. I don’t know why but the latest fad in India states that ‘praying and believing in God is not cool anymore, bruh’.

I have been called weird, arrogant, mean, lonely, reserved,unsocial, and reclusive and probably a hundred other things. Some people say that I am missing out on life. Because I don’t drink, I don’t smoke and I don’t do drugs. Or maybe because my Saturday nights are not spent at Haus Khaz Social or some other xyz pub in Delhi. Or maybe because I don’t open up to people. It has also been said that ‘I act as if I’m happy’ but I’m really not.

I don’t know if ‘they’ are right. And I don’t care. Nobody apart from me gets to decide how I live my life.

Right now, I am focusing on my first solo trip to Europe next year. I am a die-hard football follower and my club is based out of London and I have been planning to visit them since school.

Moral of the story: It is your life. You live it the way you want to live it. Life is too short to be unhappy.

Peace.

Can I prepare for IAS just by studying 3 hour everyday?

I am telling you some ways that you can follow to reach there:

1. Download joshjagran app at your mobile phone, for all the current affairs topic wise and try to read them during your travel time if possible, it hardly takes your half an hour.
2. Read NCERT twice or thrice as it would be helpful to make you conceptually strong at your points.
3. Two subjects at a time, divide your time equally.
4. Notes ,you can take notes of ias institutes as many are providing distance learning programmes for people like you.
5. Read The Hindu daily anyhow, this newspaper is the heart of UPSC ,you can't ignore it.
6. Write, if you are not able to make it daily then on weekends, whatever you read the whole week you just write it all ,no matter good or bad ,write it like a story and you can feel the difference thereafter by yourself.
7. Analyse. Start analysing the things around you and start thinking about the other part of the coin,provide solution of each and every problem to your head, it will make you problem analyser and would be helpful during your mains.
8. Be motivated.
9. Never lose your hope.
10. Be consistent and be regular with your studies time.

Last three points are the key factors,believe me, as the famous proverb says:
Success demands only 5% of knowledge and 95% of your confidence. 
But always remember that without this 5% of knowledge , you can't gain that 95% of confidence.
Hope it helps. All the very best.

How do I read the NCERTs for the civil services examination?

First of all following NCERTs have to be read page by page.

1. NCERTs VI to X (All relevant for GS).
2. NCERTs XI to XII (Polity, History, Economy, Geography).
3. Biology NCERT class XII (Chapter 13 to 16 i.e last 4 chapters related to Environment and Ecology)
4. Chemistry NCERT (class XII part 2; last 3 chapters)

• They are all available for free download from National Council Of Educational Research And Training 

• You can answer most of the static part of all the papers through NCERTs and also you will develop in-depth understanding.

• Read all the NCERTs at least 4-5 times before attempting your examination.
• For prelims, conceptual and factual information available in NCERT becomes very important. Any key phrases and keywords, if present especially in bold, italics, underlined etc. should be noted down separately.

• Write these key words and phrases somewhere, either in physical form in your notebook or make some evernote file.

• Revise it again and again, till it becomes your second nature.

• Don't skip any NCERT even if you have studied the subject at higher level. For e.g., even if you are from science background, don't skip science NCERTs at any cost.
• I know you have many things to do with your life and you guys are extremely busy in doing important stuff. But, it will not take much time for you to study them (few precious hours of your life at max),and always remember that cost of not studying them is exorbitantly high, so it doesn't make any sense to leave NCERTs completely.

• Google what you don't understand

Completely avoid reading nostalgic description, pictorial elaborative discussion, and illustrations which conjures the feeling of awe. These are meant for fostering better understanding among younger audience in school, not for civil servants in making.

Who is more powerful : an IAS officer or a CM?

When you ask such a question, most people consider this question too simple to even merit answer. They will say, ‘Don't you know that a CM is far more powerful than an IAS officer?’ Their answer is based on perception and not on the basis of real facts. The reality is quite different than the common perception. Let me explain.
Everyone in the government is powerful according to the law of the land. A basic tenet of the Rule of Law is: ‘However high you may be, the law is above you’. The law is made by the Parliament or the State Legislature and not by the PM or CM. 
The IAS, IPS, IRS or other officers implement the laws. When you go through the fine prints of the law, you will find that rarely the power is given to a politician (including CM) and all the power is vested with the officers. For example, in Customs and Central Excise department, all refunds have to be given by the Assistant Commissioner level officer (or above) even if the amount is 1000 Crores. If he refuses to sanction or reject the refund, even a FM or a PM can’t sanction it.  You have to then go to Commissioner (Appeals) for sanction it and then to Tribunal/High Court/Supreme Court. The Ministers have no power to sanction any refund or give any permission or sanction unless these power are specifically vested to them by the laws passed by the Parliament. They can’t even give any written or oral direction to an officer to perform the function in a particular way. In fact, even if the claim of FM/PM or even President of India is pending before the Tax department, only the competent officer can sanction and nobody else. The same holds good for all officers whether belonging to IAS, IPS or any other service.
I remember an instance when Mr M N Buch, an IAS officer of MP Cadre was called for a lecture in our Academy (NPA) during probation days. He told us, ‘Everyone must have taught you that you are a servant. I will tell you that you are not a servant but a ‘Ruler’. By ruler I don’t mean that you are a king or something but that you are the sole implementer of rules and laws made by the Parliament. You and only you can implement that law and no one can take that power from you. These laws are transparent and known to everyone. Follow the laws and you will be the ruler.’
I agree with him fully. We as officers derive the powers from the laws of the land and not from the direction of any bosses. The PM or CM can transfer an officer (a power which is given to them) if he does not like his action but nothing more. Once the decision is taken, it can’t be changed by anyone in the country except when it is illegal and that too after following the proper procedures.
We are in democracy and here no one has absolute power. The CM/PM of today may become nobody tomorrow but the officers would be here for 35-37 years, if they observe the laws and procedures and exercise their power in fair and just manner.  The political masters have to work only with them and not by themselves.

Is it right to start preparing for the Civil Services Exam at 26 years of age?

Born : 15th August 1984 
2001-2005 IIT Kanpur 
2006-2008 IIM Lucknow 
2008-2011 - Investment Banking HongKong. 
Status as of September 2011, Age 27 years  - Did not even know about NREGA scheme. 
Turning Point : Start Prep for civil services. 
October 2012 - CSE Mains written
May 2013 - AIR 244 , INDIAN POLICE SERVICE (IPS)
December 2013 - CSE Mains written for the 2nd time. 
June 2014 - AIR 1 - Gaurav Agrawal - INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE(IAS).Age 29 years (How about that?) 
"AGE IS JUST A NUMBER"

What is the lifestyle of an IAS officer?

Depends on the IAS officer but my husband's schedule goes like this -

1. Leave home by 9/9:30 and reach home by 9/9:30.

2. During the day even if the wife calls, she gets a text on her phone 'in a meeting.. will call you later'. I prefer to send him sms and not call because I know he wouldn't be picking it up.

3. His phone has to be switched on, just in case of an emergency. Like, in the recent rains in Delhi on Saturday, he reached home at 7:30 pm and left again at 8:30 pm and then returned at 1:15 am in the morning with two other IAS officers. They hadn't had their dinner so we all ate together at 1:30 am.

4. He can't leave the station without an approved leave.

5. Half of the times, he loves to talk about country's issues.

6. He is hardworking, sincere and honest and so are almost all the IAS officers I have met.

Hope this helps in clearing out the image that IAS officers do nothing! :)

Edit: Or maybe I can simply state that an IAS officer has the same lifestyle what another person can afford with an income of about INR 50,000. That is what my husband gets right now and that is all we have got to spend on our expenses.

Edit: I noticed almost 3K upvotes on the answer in just one day. So maybe you enjoy this post as well that I wrote last week. Surabhi Surendra's answer to Are Indian girls crazy for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) guys?

Edit: Many people are questioning the perks here. So let me clarify.

1. Yes, his phone bill gets paid by the government. And so does my uncle's (he is in a bank) and my aunt's (she is in a PSU) so IAS isn't the only job here. Also.. 90% of the calls that an IAS makes are official.

2. They do get a vehicle with a driver. But who doesn't? My dad works with a govt organization and he gets the petrol reimbursed. Driver? Yeah, that comes with the job but which other job entails this much of traveling solely for the purpose of official work. How else do you expect an IAS/IPS to reach a place in case of emergency like what happened on saturday evening when an old age home got flooded in rains and the older people who couldn't even move were on the verge of dying? By metro? or by DTC bus? Or you want them to drive themselves in their personal car when they are needed to be at a place in like half and hour? And when they receive 100 calls in between asking how far they have reached and what the situation is currently.

3. Electricity bill - yes, we pay half of it. Because half of the time their house is turned into an office with people pouring in with files and these people are public, common man like everyone. I have people ringing my doorbell as early as 8 am and as late as 11 pm!!

4. A house - yes. We do get some good houses, no doubt. And this is the ONLY perk that is not easily available with other jobs though almost all the govt jobs have provisions of residential quarters.

EDIT: I do not want to answer any more questions or comments about IAS officers. So please comment if you wish to but please do not ask questions.

EDIT: Even though I mentioned please don't ask questions, I am still getting lot of questions on messages and comments. BUT 8.6K UPVOTES in just 2 days show that majority of people here are well read, can understand things and support and encourage positivity. Thanks guys! We will make the country a better place. :)

EDIT: I see many comments stating 'I know IAS officers who do nothing' OR 'My friend(s) is/are IAS and they say they have joined the service to make money' OR 'The IAS officers I know make lot of money' etc etc. TO all these people I have this to say -if you know or are friends with such IAS officers, immediately UNFRIEND or UN-KNOW them. Simply because you should complain only when you are NOT part of that system. By being friends with these IAS officers, you guys are boasting about, you have become a part of the system and have thus lost the right to complain.

Which is tougher, becoming an IITian or an IAS officer?

In my opinion, getting top rank in IIT is more difficult than getting top rank in IAS. The reasons are as following.

1. You have only two attempts to write for IIT-JEE while you have 6-14 attempts for Civil Services Examination (for IAS etc.)
2. You require raw intelligence for getting to IIT while memory plays an important role in IAS
3. You can’t improve your rank much in IIT due to you hard work and perseverance but you can do so in IAS
4. You need to have clear fundamentals to solve the problems of IIT, while it is possible to crack IAS by memorizing the facts
5. Your writing skills and handwriting plays an important role in IAS but it is of no value for IIT
6. You have to compete with the best of the best for IIT after class 12 while limited number of such brilliant students try for IAS as they get much better opportunities after their graduation and they don’t want to spend years preparing  for IAS
7. The factor of luck is of lesser important in IIT than in IAS. You can find people who fail repeatedly in IAS for several years getting suddenly top rank in IAS.
8. IITs have only one paper for everyone while in IAS you can always perform better by choosing a scoring optional.
9. The role of personality is of no importance in IIT as selection is based purely on written score. In IAS, if you click with the interview board, you can get excellent mark and get into top rank.

What-are-all-the-All-India-rank-1s-in-IIT-JEE-doing-with-their-lives

Here is a detailed breakdown of all the toppers from 2000 to 2014
2000 IIT JEE AIR 1- Nitin Gupta
Graduate College: IIT Kanpur
Field: Computer Science
Where did he go post IIT: University of California, Biology
What’s he upto now: Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Bio-engineering
The only one in the list to go do a masters degree abroad and return  to India, Nitin joined IIT Kanpur in July 2014 as an Assistant Professor  in the Department of Biological Sciences and Bio-engineering. He plans  to set up a cognitive neuroscience at IIT Kanpur. He is an inspiration  to many who want to contribute back to the educational system in India.
2001 IIT JEE AIR 1- Arvind Thiagarajan
Graduate College: IIT Madras
Field: Computer Science
Where did he go post IIT: Ph.D from MIT
What’s he upto now: Research Scientist with Amazon in the US
Arvind Thiagarajan has written numerous research papers in the area  of mobile computing. During his PhD, he interned with Yahoo and Google  which are the among the best Silicon Valley companies. With 42 patents  to his credit, in 2011 he founded InFix, amobile computing company.
2002 IIT JEE AIR 1- Dungara Choudhary
Graduate College: IIT Kanpur
Field: Computer Science
Where did he go post IIT: AirTight Networks
What’s he upto now: Principal Member of Technical Staff at Oracle in San Francisco
One of two toppers in this from Rajasthan and one of the few who has  not gone for a masters degree, Dungara Choudhary has written a thesis in  distributed parallel architecture after topping the JEE examination in  2002.
2003 IIT JEE AIR 1- Shashak Dwiwedi
Graduate College: IIT Mumbai
Field: Electrical Engineering
Where did he go post IIT: MIT
What’s he upto now: Research/Teaching
Since Shashank is not on social networks, we have been able to get  limited information on him. We have sent him a request for additional  information and will update this post accordingly.
2004 IIT JEE AIR 1- Sushant Sachdeva
Graduate College: IIT Mumbai
Field: Computer Science
Where did he go post IIT: Princeton Univeristy
What’s he upto now: Ongoing Ph.D at Yale in Computer Science
After his bachelors in IIT Mumbai, Sushant went to Princeton for his  masters degree He has finished research internships at Toyota, Microsoft  and ETH Zurich. He has also published numerous research papers in  prestigious conferences throughout the world.
2005 IIT JEE AIR 1- Piyush Srivastava
Graduate College: IIT Kanpur
Field: Computer Science
Where did he go post IIT: Univeristy of California, Berkeley
What’s he upto now: Ongoing Ph.D at Caltech in theoretical Computer Science
The only topper from UP in this list, Piyush Srivastava has had 3  stints as a research intern at Microsoft in 2009, 2011 and 2013.
2006 IIT JEE AIR 1- Raghu Mahajan
Graduate College: MIT
Field: Physics & Maths
Where did he go post IIT: Ph.D at Stanford
After topping IIT JEE in 2006, Raghu took admission in IIT Delhi.  However, after 2 years, he left for MIT and finished his Bahelor in  Science in 2011. He has been working with AAP in Delhi
2007 IIT JEE AIR 1- Achin Bansal
Graduate College: IIT Mumbai
Field: Computer Science
Where did he go post IIT: Morgan Stanley
What’s he upto now: Morgan Stanley
Achin Bansal is from the small town of Kotkapura, Punjab He was also a  summer research intern for 3 months at the prestigious University of  Bath in United Kingdom. Post IIT, Achin has been at Morgan Stanley as an  analyst and then an associate. He is one of the two JEE toppers from  2000-2009 who neither opted for higher studies nor left the country.
2008 IIT JEE AIR 1- Shitikanth Kashyap
Graduate College: IIT Kanpur
Field: Computer Science
What’s he upto now: Research at Institute for Quantum Computing in Waterloo, Canada
Representing Bihar on this list, Shitikanth Kashyap from Bihar, Patna  topped IIT JEE in 2008 and has interned as a Research Assistant at  Laboratorie d’Informatique Algorithmique: Fondements et Applicaions in  Paris
2009 IIT JEE AIR 1- Nitin Jain
Graduate College: IIT Delhi
Field: Computer Science
What’s he upto now: Working for Twitter in Canada
Nitin Jain from Faridabad secured did his internship from Zomato in Dublin. During campus placements, he got a job at Twitter.
The more recent JEE toppers have only just begin their career or are still in college.
2010 IIT JEE AIR 1- Anumula Jithendar Reddy 
Anumula completed his electronics and communication engineering  degree at IIT Mumbai. He completed his internship from QEA Eduventure  and is presently a Research Assistant at Caltech SURFriends in Pasedena,  California.
2011 IIT JEE AIR 1- Prudhvi Tej
Prudhvi Tej not only topped IIT JEE in 2011, but was also 7th rank holder in AIEEE . He is presently pursuing Electrical Engineering from IIT Mumbai and will graduate in 2015. He plans to become an IAS officer and serve the country.
2012 IIT JEE AIR 1- Arpit Aggarwal
The 2nd IIT JEE AIR 1 holder in 4 years, Arpit Aggarwal is  currently pursuing Computer Science in IIT Delhi. He has worked with  Google India after scoring a rank of 122 in the Google APAC.
2013 IIT JEE AIR 1- Pallerla Sai Sandeep Reddy
Pallerla Sai Sandeep Reddy received admission in the prestigious  Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in the Computer Science stream.  He wishes to further pursue post-graduation in robotic technology.
2014 IIT JEE AIR 1- Chitraang Murdia
Chitraang Murdia is doing his B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT  Mumbai. He goal is to go for research. He believes that there is a lot  of scope in research has a desire to give back something to the society.

What is the step-by-step procedure to start preparing for IAS?

I am repeating my strategy here for your benefit. This strategy I have already put out in various Quora answers.

All these tips are based on the success I got in UPSC in 2014 Civil Services Exams and by no means is this an ideal or the only plan. Go step by step in all sections.

You should read The Hindu and The Indian Express daily and along with websites like Insights on India and IASBABA prepare current affairs.

For Ancient and Medieval History, I read just the NCERTs well. I focused on art and culture mainly here and made my notes keeping in mind UPSC Pre questions as this section is not asked in Mains.

For Modern History, I just read the Spectrum and revised it again and again.

For Art and Culture, I referred Nitin Singhania's notes available in the market and revised them again and again.

For World History, I read Old NCERTs and Norman Lowe. I made short summary of all the major themes in World History and revised these notes again and again. Try and link up World History and International Relations. It's easy and very useful.

For Post Independence section, I refered Vision IAS notes and made a short summary of their notes for my revision.

For Society part, I did nothing and just prepared Government Schemes from India Year Book, Economic Survey and newspapers.

For Geography section, I read 11th and 12th Class NCERTs and 10th class ICSE book. Here topics are straightforward and one needs to understand concepts. Try and remember some diagrams that can be made in the exam easily. Apart from this one must refer to Mrunal's videos on YouTube for Geography.

For Constitution and Polity part I read Laxmikant again and again. I especially remembered DPSPs so that I can use Constitution in most GS Answers.

For most other topics here like civil society etc one needs to use examples and data liberally from newspapers.

For International Relations section just read The Hindu and The Indian Express daily. Avoid World Focus and other books.

For Economics, go through Mrunal's videos on YouTube and his articles for the same on his website.

For major crops and their cropping patterns, I prepared the same from Geography section resources I gave above.

For rest of the issues such as PDS, subsidies etc I relied upon Vision IAS and GS Score material.

For Science and Technology I prepared the theory part for Pre from GK Today and current events for Mains from Insights on India.

For Environment it is better to refer to book on the same by Shankar IAS.

For Disaster Management issue I utilised 2nd ARC report and made a short summary.

For Internal Security one can read GS Score or Vision IAS material.

For ethics read the basic portion and prepare all the definitions of the concepts involved. You can refer GS SCORE here.

Regarding case studies you need no specialized knowledge to handle them.  Remember these pointers:-1. Devote starting two lines to capture the actors involved and their ethical dilemmas.2. Next say that to solve this problem we can consider following alternatives and analyze the options given to you in the paper. 3. For each option now present the pro and corresponding con of it side by side so that it is easy to know the benefits and drawbacks of each option. 4. Present two two pros and cons for each option.5. Now come to the final part of giving a solution to the issue. Never select any option given in case study in totality.6. Start off by saying that there can be no single perfect solution. Then start with mildest solution.  Say if this works it is fine, else give a more stronger solution. If this works it is fine or else give a more stronger solution and continue this way to give a set of continuous escalating solutions so that it feels that you are a real problem solver and that you just dont have a single solution. But in some cases you might not require such a solution as the problem might not be very complex as less number of actors might be involved. In such a case you should take a simple approach and take an ethical stand. It depends upon the case study the approach that you might require to follow. 7. At each point tell that your stand is backed by Constitution Articles,  SC Judgements and in consonance with teachings of our founding fathers like Gandhiji or Nehru Ji or Ambedkar Ji.And hence I say you require no preparation for this part of ethics. Just use the above format and maximize your marks.

This is what all you need to refer. Now I will discuss my strategy for Pre which always gave me a 100% success in Pre. I completed all of the above sources well within time.Then having read that, I took up all Pre mock papers by various coaching institutes. Whatsoever Papers were available in the market I did them and made jottings of all those things that I did not know in those papers. Having done that I revised all my jottings.Now in the real Pre exam, after having followed such a strategy I used to attempt 90% of questions in GS Paper I as I had read so wide and prepared so wide. While I did not know exact answers to all, I still attempted them because you get very few sure shot questions in Pre. So you have to make educated guesses. This strategy will always ensure a 110+ marks in GS ie Paper I for you.While for Aptitude, my advise is just practice. Now it is just qualifying and you need not give too much input here.With the above strategy, you are guaranteed a 100% selection in Pre. Please don't start reading mindlessly all the NCERTs and all books you find mentioned here and there.

Next strategy relates to writing answers for Mains. To explain this I will take up an example. For eg the question is on corruption. More or less depending on question, you need to answer what is corruption, what are the causes of corruption, what are its positive and negative impacts and the measures to check it. Now look at how you can make this very easy. See the syllabus of UPSC and you find history, society, geography, politics, administration, economics, science and technology and ethics as major subjects. I use this approach to answer. Wield all these subject wise analysis into each and every question you need to answer about corruption. For eg look at the reasons of corruption. I think you can easily tell me historical, societal, political, administrative, economics, technology, ethical, judicial perspectives about why corruption occurs. From these angles you can also tell me the definitions and solutions. You can just reverse the reasons for the above points to gather solutions. If you know a relevant committee like 2nd ARC in this case it would help you give official look to your solutions. I hope this will enrich your answers, simplify what you need to remember and maximize your marks. This approach worked well for me.Remember this is a general approach. It might not work well everywhere. But in generality you can use this approach to 

I am not happy, I am not satisfied inside. I don't know what to do in my life and it's purpose. I am 25 now. I lost my life. What to do?

Spend a month without passive entertainment.

What is passive entertainment?

• Watching movies, cricket, serials, songs, porn etc.
• Reading novels and newspapers.
• Masturbation, sex etc.
• Surfing social websites like facebook.
• Doing anything which is fun but does not involves you intellectually or creatively.

Now, why should you avoid passive entertainment? Because they tame you. They give you joy and keep you going with a life that sucks. You first get brainwashed during your day and work, and when you finally have time for introspection or thinking, you compensate the bad day through passive entertainment which makes your sucking life a little comfortable and you find a reason to live. You get tamed by society and its expectations. You work hard during day and watch porn in free time. You compensate. You do not revolt.

Or maybe you do. That is why you posted this question.

Now, what will happen when you give up passive entertainment? You initially feel emotional shocks. You were addicted to passive entertainment, bollywood-hollywood bullshit too much. But slowly, you will become stable. Your life will appear before your eyes in its untinted ugly form, as mine appears before my eyes. But without stimulations from passive entertainment, your life will suck more. There will be no joy, no passive entertainment, no reason to live.

And then, you will have to find the reason. You will start doing small things that give you joy. If you loved trekking before, you will become crazy about it. If you loved painting before, you will start spending nights doing it. If you loved mathematics, your brain will start storming with ideas.

People will start calling you lunatic, but that’s what they call all extraordinary people.

Give up passive entertainment. Find out yourself. The real one.

What are the myths about being an IAS in India?

Myth 1: All IAS officers are powerful.

Reality: IAS officers have no inherent power just because they are IAS officers. Being an IAS officer entitles you to be posted in some important assignments like District Magistrates, which is powerful.  There are a large number of postings where anIAS officer enjoys hardly any power.

Myth 2: IAS officers are mostly posted as District Magistrate.

Reality:  When you think of IAS officers, you think of a DM. However, an average IAS officer is posted as DM for only 2-3 years in his career of around 30-38 years. Some IAS officers never get an opportunity to become a DM at their career.

Myth 3: A DM is the boss of a district?

Reality: A DM is only a coordinating officer for all the state government departments. He has no power and control over the central government officer like IRS, IRTS etc. Even the state government officials report to their own superior who writes their performance report. DM only enjoys a loose control over the other government officials.However, he is responsible for every department in his district which oftentakes the toll on his health and happiness because his responsibilities are toogreat to handle. He also has several bosses in bureaucracy and politics; and itis not easy to please everyone.

It is not everyone’s cup of tea to manage a district. Some officers prefer to have cooler assignments than heading a district as the salaries and allowances are same for all officers.  You can be suspended for any shortcoming in any department under your district or face vigilance cases for misusing your discretion even under political pressure.

Myth 4: IAS officers always get huge perks like bungalow, cars and servants?

Reality: Most of the perks of IAS officers are based on the specific charge. You may get a huge bungalowas DM but get a small flat once you are posted in the secretariat. All the vehiclesare provided for official purposes only and the servants are often those whoare diverted from office to do personal work.

Myth 4: IAS officers can’t be removed from service?

Reality: The procedures for removing IAS officers are almost the same as any other Group A officer of Government of India. Every year several IAS officers are suspended, arrested and removed from service for various reasons.

Myth 5: IAS officers are more powerful than the officers of other services?

Reality: The power to any government officer is given by the Act of Parliament or State Legislature. The power of an IRS or IPS officer can be exercised only by them and not by the officer of any other service including an IAS officer.  For example, CBI can be headed only by an IPS officer and only an IRS officer can be a Commission of customs,excise or income tax.  No service is superior to any other service in performance of their jobs.

Which took more effort between the two, cracking UPSC Civil Services (IAS, IFS, IPS et al.) or cracking IIT?

I was selected in IIT twice (1983 &1984) and in Civil Services Examination in 1990. Let me share my own views about the difficulty level of IIT and CSE.  
1: Getting into IIT
You can get into IIT, if your fundamentals are clear and you have the ability to understand complex problems. Everyone can’t get into IIT. You require a basic level of intelligence and analytical mind to get into IIT. If you don’t have it, you can never get into IIT, even you try 10 times (only 2 attempts are actually permitted now).
2: Getting into Civil Services
Getting into Civil Services is a matter of chance as well as abilities. The most important parameters for Civil Services are your ability to memorize things and reproduce it in a beautiful manner. Hence your handwriting, your memory, your command over language plays very important role. You should also understand that CSE is very subjective and luck factor plays very important role in your selection. The syllabus of CSE is virtually infinite. Hence, you should be lucky that the questions are asked from the matter which you have prepared. Further, you should be lucky that the examiner shares the same views as you write in your answer. The same answer can give you best marks and also an average or even bad marks, depending upon the mood of the examiner, his own ideals and world-view. The interview is very subjective. You will find that the same candidate getting  excellent mark one time while scoring very poorly next time with better preparation, because the Board is not favorable to him. In IIT, there is no subjectivity at all at the examiner side, as all questions are objective. 
Hence, if you wish to succeed in CSE, be ready for long preparation. The more attempts you write, the better are the chances of your selection and getting good ranks. I have seen people getting into IAS among the top ranks, who did not even get selected in earlier attempts or got a very poor rank. Some officer gets top rank in their fifth or sixth attempt. Hence, the more time you are willing to give to CSE, the better are your chances of success. The best thing is that anyone can try for CSE and get success.

What-are-some-of-the-facts-about-the-IITs-that-only-IITians-know

1. Most of the people study on the last night before the exam.

2. Many IITians drink and smoke a lot.

3. Few of the first day companies offer packages of 6-8 lakhs too.

4. Most of us are single contrary to popular belief.

5. Some of the students are better singer, instrumentalists, dancer, player and actor than the trained professionals.

6. IITians too fail in subjects very often.

7. Many private colleges have better infrastructure and mess food than IITs.

8. Many of us are better at arts and we came here just because our parents wanted.

9. Connection with seniors and officials matter a lot along with CV in internships.

10. Most of us talk more about movies, TV series, football, cricket, politics etc. rather than engineering and technology.

11. Majority of us like to show off that we are IITians, in first year. The number of such people decreases exponentially on being senior.

12. Some students from non CS departments are better coders than CS students.

13. Most of the teachers are below average. They give us a feel like we are not studying in an IIT.

14. Most of the classes see less than 50% attendance for whole year.

15. Many of us go for CAT & UPSC just because our parents want us to do so.

16. Very of few of us are interested in research or hardcore technology stuffs. Most of us believe that research sector doesn't pay well.

17. On our birthdays, we try to hide to escape from GPL. Alas! There is no escaping.

18. No matter how much we keep talking about the IITian girls being ugly, deep within we realise that there are very very gorgeous ladies also out there in the capmus.

19. If I have a CG of 9+ and my friend has a CG of 9-, many a times the reason behind this is the mood swings of laboratory instructors and tutorial teachers.

20. The guy who never attended any class and whom you taught just the night before exam can score more marks than you.

21. Most of us play and hangout around 1–2 am in night.

22. I had the data of packages of students and I must say that average package is almost half of what other people hope to be.

23. Seniors play bigger role in most of our lives than professors. Be it tips for scoring good marks, guidance for career, internship opportunities, CV building etc. it's seniors who help us a lot.

24. Seniors here strictly don't like to be called “Bhaiya” and “Sir”.

25. If a person is getting 100 likes within first hour on his/her DP, it necessarily doesn't mean that picture is good. It happens because of being IITian also.

26. If you find someone wearing IIT's T Shirt then either that was the only cleaned cloth he had or he is single! (Mostly applicable for first years especially when they are in hometown)

27. Most of our learnings come from internet via video tutorials, PDFs and DOCs.