00:00The story of my IAS interview. More than 50 years ago when I qualified in the written exam and went to the UPSC for the IAS interview.
00:08I was still studying in IIT Kanpur at that time. My interview was in the last week of February, the first floor in the morning at 9 o'clock.
00:18So I took a overnight train from Kanpur to Delhi. I arrived in Delhi at 5 o'clock.
00:24I went to my friend's house in Moti Park. Chased, showered, pressed my news, pulled up. My friend's mother gave me breakfast. I was ready by 7.45.
00:34My interview was at 9 o'clock. Those days you could get to UPSC in 15 to 20 minutes.
00:40So my father who was here, kept writing me letters saying that when you go to UPSC, take a taxi.
00:48Now all the time, I was quite familiar with Delhi. I always used to travel in a bus.
00:54But my father was concerned that I must arrive in UPSC unruffled, in neat and clean and tidy.
01:01So, for the first time in my life, I was wearing a suit.
01:08For the first time in my life, I was sitting in a taxi.
01:10I went to UPSC. I was there in good time, 8.48, 8.45. The staff checked my papers.
01:16Made me sit down in the ante room. By about 9.05 or 9.10, I was in front of the committee.
01:22Good morning, sir. Good morning, sir. All around.
01:24The chairman said, are you still at IIT Kanpur? Yes, sir.
01:27Sir, when did you come? I came this morning, sir. I took an overnight train.
01:31When do you finish at IIT? I'll finish in May, sir.
01:35Sir, you'll be in good time if you qualify. Yes, sir.
01:37Then he looked at another member, and the member asked me, with a very stern face,
01:45Do you read newspapers, Mr. Subaral? Yes, sir.
01:48Which one? The statesman, sir.
01:52Okay, tell me, what is the headline in today's states?
01:56I was flustered. I had not seen that morning's newspaper.
02:00And the first question in the interview, I didn't know what to say.
02:02Sir, the chairman came to my rescue and said, look, this is still dark and rainy winter morning.
02:09He came by a train. He's getting ready for the interview.
02:11Even to have had time to see the newspaper, I'm sure you've not seen this morning's newspaper.
02:16Sir, the member said, okay. Did you see yesterday's paper? Yes, sir.
02:21Sir, tell me, what was the picture on the front page of the statesman?
02:25Sir, it's a picture of Muslims celebrating Muharram.
02:30Celebrating? Is Muharram a festival to celebrate?
02:35I'm flustered. You know, for a second time in a minute, I was flustered.
02:39You know, this interview by which I said so much stuff.
02:42And then he said, I thought you would notice,
02:46Muharram is not a festival. It's a day of mourning.
02:50The day of the Muslims mourn the death of the Prophet's grandson, his martyrdom.
02:57Then he said, look, you've been staying in Cancourt.
03:00I thought you would notice Cancourt as a predominantly Muslim population.
03:05At any other time, I would have been defensive.
03:07No, no, sorry. The campus is very far away.
03:10We don't get to interact with the city life, etc.
03:13But I was so tongue-tied, so scared, so flustered, so floundered,
03:17that I couldn't open my mouth. Thank God for that.
03:21Then he said, okay, tell me which sect of Muslims observes Muharram.
03:25And the chairman said, he doesn't even know a Muharram means.
03:28Why do you ask him all of this?
03:29So in the first three minutes of my interview,
03:33that interview completely dissolved.
03:36You know, I've said so much stuff.
03:37I said, finished.
03:38The members, the committee will go through the motions of interviewing me for 10-15 minutes
03:43and send me away.
03:45But in the event,
03:47the interview went on for about 35-40 minutes.
03:51We discussed a lot of things.
03:53We discussed about Mrs. Gandhi's,
03:55Mrs. Gandhi was the prime minister at that time,
03:57her style of functioning.
03:59We talked about President Nixon's China visit and the implications of that.
04:03We talked about the differences between IIT Karekpur and IIT Kampur.
04:09We talked about the difference between farming between APA and Punjab.
04:14Because I come from West Kuala Wari.
04:16You know, West Kuala Wari is a famous farming district.
04:18It used to be at that time.
04:20So they said, what's the difference in farming between APA and Punjab?
04:24We talked about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in physics.
04:27And we talked about existentialism.
04:28The reason I'm telling you is that the quality of the interview went up from that moment.
04:34In 35 minutes, I knew I'd done well.
04:36I went on to score the second highest marks in the interview that year.
