Adieu et Bon Chance

Hello Friends and Comrades,

Where do I start? The results have been out for a week now. I was unable to make the list. 

Nonetheless I do hope many of  you did, and scored the rank you aspired for. I would love to hear from all of you. 

As for me- I shall henceforth serve to "safeguard the economic frontiers of the country", as we in Customs and Central Excise love to say. :) I am enjoying the training till now and there is a renewed enthusiasm for the service, since it has been determined that I shall be part of it for the foreseeable future. Training keeps me rather busy and I was unable to contribute to the blog much, as you all do know. Thankyou for dropping me messages from time to time and am sorry I wasn't very responsive. Well...2013 brings my sojourn with the CSE to a close, and with it this Blog too. But before moving on from this chapter of my life, I wish to register my experience about the Blog.

I must say writing this blog was a very educative and enriching experience. I was able to interact with so many more people than I would have otherwise. It was always exciting to receive a new comment or see that someone has taken the trouble to register as a member. In the first month of writing this blog, way back in July 2011 (tis not all that way back but certainly seems like a long time away), my excitement would stem from how many hits the site would receive. And at the end of everyday I would proudly proclaim to my family members that so many people visited my site. Initially it was about 10-15. But, then I used to wonder why people from US or UK or Germany are visiting the site. But such are the joys of ignorance- I was shortly informed, by those better informed in tech matters, that most of those hits were bots. That was a very grim day I must say. :D . 

Writing my 100th post was a big achievement. I was a little surprised that blogging kept me interested for such a long time. But as I said earlier it was a very educative experience. With every issue I would pick up, my effort would be to understand it holistically- and for this I would go from article to article till I got the picture. It was a very  time-consuming process indeed. I remember that I spent an entire day to write the post on the US sovereign debt crisis. Additionally, the excitement was fueled by  how one picture would lead to another. In this process there were several aha moments.:) I think that was what kept me hooked to this process. 

Preparing a post for publishing meant for me- cogent presentation. There was a lot of recut-repaste of paras and a re-writing that I would do.  Part of this presentation was referencing. Indicating sources of info was vital to establish its veracity to the reader. Formatting was another major pique with me- I would spend so much time just de-highlighting lines, spacing, changing font sizes etc. These were the more drudgerous activities involved with blogging- but were necessary for my peace of mind. And lo and behold, there were small achievements there too- like discovering that <br /> represented a whole blank line- let me tell you, for an Arts major the first step to understanding html was a giant leap.

There were certain areas of great interest for me. International affairs, Culture, and Economy- the first two as they genuinely interested me and the latter cause I didn't understand zilch. :) These also might be the posts  which continue to be of some use in this year. Culture stays the same, and so does some of the Environment related info. There are also a few case studies relating to PubAd and Socio- these will continue to be of relevance.

All in all this has been a wholesome experience. Although I did not make the end, I certainly learnt a great deal in the process. Understanding GS issues and presenting them on this blog kept my interest alive in the exam. One can perhaps wonder if one spent an inordinate amount of time on the blog- it may not be altogether too far from the truth. I must admit the optionals seemed so uninviting to me. Reading the same registers, books and notes a third time was just unpalatable. In that vein, I think I would have enjoyed prepping in the current format more. But then writing the CSE a third time was one time too many. My socio prof, Mr. Mahapatra (teaches socio at Vajiram) said to me in the first year of my prep:

First Attempt, you Appear,
Second Attempt, you Re-appear, and
Third Attempt, you Disappear

I can say in hindsight this has proved true for me. I cleared in the first attempt and could not improve my chances after that.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way. :) Now, I can say goodbye to UPSC with peace.

With this, I wish you all the very best- in this exam and in life. Thankyou for being part of my journey and for including me in yours.

With much love and gratitude,

Spurthi Reddy

11th May, 2013.