my experience and lessons in preparation for ielts..

listening - speaking

Listening is not worrisome for most of those with average level of English. Mostly, people watch holly-wood movies, which imparts a sense of language, but the accent used is not a standard one, which is actually, what we hear in a listening test.
I learned, and want to share, that listening 'good English'* helps a lot in improving not only listening score but speaking, as well.
the benefits I feel are as follows:-

in listening

helps understanding accent well...

makes easy to catch words...

in speaking

helps developing ideas..

helps developing accent...

helps improving style... intonations etc.

*good English:- 

I suggest listening to BBC, as much as one can. The BBC radio telecasts, Podcasts, and many more available at the BBC website( www.bbc.co.uk, or www.bbc.com). There is a section dedicated to the purpose, "BBC learning English" which is very much helpful in assisting the language development, daily usage of English terms etc.

So, here also, I think one should allow enough time for a sound foundation of language development.

The approach at the beginning, shall be, to listen to each of the listening task again and again to get all the answers, rather than moving to next test. This will ensure all answers to be correct and improve the score as well as timing.

 In addition, for speaking one should have a partner, to practice with. Finding someone on SKYPE is also followed by many, and is a good thing to do. 

that was all from my experience with the IELTS .. hope it may, somehow, help to understand IELTS better :)

THANK YOU for reading :)  cheers :)

city design concept Chandigarh, the city beautiful

Recently I came across a very interesting e course provided on www.coursera.org by univ. of Pennsylvania, USA. The contributing professors interact in a very easily understandable way.

As part of its first assignment I wrote about the city beautiful, Chandigarh.

                          

how stuff works in India..

3 years ago I worked hard day and night to appear for one of the most prestigious exam of India i.e Engineering services examination 2012.
I cleared the exam in very first attempt without leaving office and without coaching institute all on my own.
I was very happy to do that, as I should be.
I was called for medical examination to railways hospital Gorakhpur, UP, India in July 2013 and to my misfortunes I was declared unfit for any of the services falling under engg. services.
As per the procedure I had a chance to appeal before the railway board. Which resulted in constitution of a appellate medical board at Central hospital northern railway New Delhi in Sept 2013.
Medical examination at central hospital New Delhi
I was made to appear before a doctor (whose name I don't know remember now), he was not a senior doctor. I was astonished by the im-professional behavior he showed. In the corridor of the hospital without seeing any document he said you are unfit. I asked him about the reference to rules of medical examination then his reply was even more disheartening "agar rules se fit hote ho to hum rule badal lenge rules humne bnaye hain na ki bhagwan ne".
He then went and asked me to wait outside the room of Dr. Sanjeev Singhal ( DMO/Surgery). At around 2 in the afternoon he came and saw my papers and said that you will be communicated the decision.
After reaching home I immediately mailed to railway board about the proceedings and asked them to kindly get my final result be verified from someone specialized in endocrinology( as my issue pertains to this field). But railway board never gave a thought to it as if they never reads the e mail (not so surprising as in 68 years after independence we are not so developed yet). My father went to Dr. Singhal with 4 fitness certificates one from railways itself during my recruitment as Sr. section er. one from CMS hospital Chandigarh( it is a very reputed trust hospital set up by the dean of PGI Dr.Chuttani and is headed presently by Dr. IC Pathak retd. Director PGI), a certificate of Endocrinology dept.  PGI Chandigarh and already I had submitted certificate of Dr. Muralidharan       ( retd. from PGI and presently working in Fortis hospital Mohali).
But to no result as he said if PGI is declaring you fit then go and ask them for your job.


we asked for help from railway board but to result in nothing.
Despite many verbal requests and written communication including a legal notice in Jan 2014 my result was not declared and held because I was chasing the file and they were hopeful of something out of my condition.
( kindly note the dates here they explains a lot about the attitude of working)
on 17th Jan I filed court case in High court Punjab and Haryana, On the first date justice Daya Chaudhary ordered interim orders to keep one post vacant till outcome of the case. I sent a copy of the writ with court orders to Railway board on 22nd and as per delivery report it was delivered on 24th Jan 2014. It was quite surprising that the medical report which could not be prepared for more than 4 months was dispatched on the same day i.e 24th Jan ( as per stamp on the postal envelope).
On next hearing the court case was declared in-fructous as result had been declared meanwhile so I had to file it again with stay orders to be there for 1 week ( It was not at all objected by advocate Sh. Nitin Kumar (Railways) that the case shall not be filed here because of jurisdiction barrier but pertains to the jurisdiction of CAT (central administrative tribunal)). In the first date of the case one post was again kept vacant till outcome of the case. The case went on till Nov-2014 when due to jurisdictional bar it was to be withdrawn from High court and filed in CAT within 3 days.

In the next proceedings railways took 4 extensions to file the reply though reply was there in the earlier case. On the 4th date they asked registrar that they will file the reply just after court, and actually asked for another date. So after 5 extensions and one for preparation of court the matter was heared on 7th May2015.
In the detailed orders court pointed out most of the wrong doings on part of the doctors of railways and the proceedings there and the case was remitted back to the railways to consider it again under the light of observations of the court.
On 10th June a medical examination was held at Kolkata ( Thank gof My future was in the hands of these kind hearted Bengali people), I was declared fit for all services on 1st July 2015 as per the letter from railway board.( this time they were quite quicker as in the afternoon they received the result from Kolkata and in few hours the board accepted the report and letter were typed and got signed from concerned persons and was e-mailed to me).

The proceedings after that were not relieving but actually more pathetic.

On 17th July I called MoWR to ask for status of my joining as one post should have been vacant for me ( by orders of Ho'ble High court from Jan 2014 to Nov 2015 and no vacancy of MoWR for civil engg through ESE2014 and ESE2015). But it was denied as they said they were never informed by railway board about keeping the post vacant.
On 20th July I raised my concern to RB through e mail and now again they didn't respond( as if they read and reply to mails at will not to sort the matter).

despite continuous efforts with 4 written requests telephonic inquiry and RTI ( I wrote about RTI on another blog), I couldn't get any response for my appointment.

I am fed up of complaining and I should be because I have problem with the way they are working.

The Pathetic Indian Reality ....

As most of the Indians( except those who have strong hold on system) feels and experiences the lethargy of working culture of our Indian system, I also heard of it, only heard till I cleared Indian Engineering services examination-2012. You may find it interesting to read, how the Indian system(the Pathetic Indian system) works. Basically,  I dealt with four institutions during the course of my case and this is how people are dealt with........

The railways chapter

It was  May-June 2013, I was very excited for my result of Indian Engineering services examination. I got selected for the prestigious engineering services, and I had to go through a medical examination, before final appointment. I was allotted Gorakhpur centre for my medical examination, it was held in July-2013. I received a communication from railway board( the nodal agency for UPSC for Engg. service) declaring me Unfit for all services ( all services under engg. services exam-2012).
Shocked, I was, but I had a chance to appeal against the decision to railway board. Which I did, of course.The re-medical took place at Northern Railways Central Hospital, New Delhi on 05th Sept 2013. The actual drama of the real Indian system starts here.
on the day of re-medical, I was not alone but few other students were also there,who were declared unfit by the first medical board. We were asked to enter a room where, this one Mr. Tyagi (may be he is a clerk there) asked everyone to give 100 Rs. as fees( though all of us had paid fees for the re-medical through drafts along with our appeal). But, the amount was not that much to cry for so we gave it and thought that it may be the fees without receipt (anyhow it is just the starting).
Then, Tyagi ji took me to a doctor in OPD ( I don't even know his name but can only recognize that face of such a unprofessional person). The doctor said to me in first instance that you are unfit, I gave him a reference of  clause of rules according to which, legally, they couldn't declare me unfit. He then said a statement that I could never imagine from a doctors mouth, he said, " rules humne bnaye hain bhagwan ne to ni bnaye, agar aap fit hote ho to hum rule badal lenge ( rules are made by us and  not by god, we will change rules at our will if you are fut according to the rules)". I was shocked.

At this point, I must share reason of unfitness (which actually I don't like to share), I had undescended testis at birth. The reason for declaring me was this, giving  reference of a congenital defect. Though, there is a clear cut clause about it, that in case of Undescended testis a candidate cannot be declared unfit if it has been operated for and unless it is related to hernia. Which was not my case.

Now, I was made to stand outside the room of Dr. Sanjeev Singhal (DMO, Surgery), for nearly 2 hours. And finally he came to tell me that I am unfit and it will be quite difficult to declare me fit, but he will try ( very politely, a gentleman, image).

Then, I tried to reach everyone fro help, i got my self medically examined from Fortis hospital Mohali, CMC Chandigarh and from PGIMER Chandigarh. All declared me fit and gave certificate fro my help declaring me fit for the job concerned.

For 4 months I tried by all means I could, but for no response from railway board, not even a negative response just lingering on the matter. After I lost all hope, I approached railway board through a legal notice. No reply for the legal notice again. I was left with no option than to knock doors of High court for justice.

The High Court chapter

It all started very excitingly as I was very hopeful by the boasting explanation given by lawyers and legal advisers that it is a quite simple case and will be in our favor very soon. Believe me, ( most of Indians must be knowing that a client always hears these statement till one pays the fees) it was just a jump from a plane to land on a tree ( from an administrative system to a legal system).

I filed case in High Court which actually should had been filed in central administrative tribunal (CAT), misguided by advocate for their own interest). On the first date of hearing, railways was served a notice of motion to explain their side, with orders to keep one post vacant till case is decided. Before the next date railways declared result of the re-medical, declaring me unfit. This was done very strategically as court had to dismiss my earlier case in which my plea was that railways was not declaring result even after four months and various representations. Which they actually did on the same day they received the notice of motion (quite thoughtful). Railways didn't say anything about the validity of case being filed in High court.

I filed case once again, to challenge the order declaring me unfit. Again case was admitted, notice of motion was ordered by Court. On the next date in may-2104 ( i filed first case in Jan-2014), My case was listed on the last serial number, and it was not discussed properly, but just one  objection by railways that the case can not be legally filed in High Court but should be filed in CAT, but it was just noticed and case was adjourned to next hearing which was just for another date as Judge was on leave. So, case was notified in Nov-2014, and it was dismissed for fresh filing in CAT.

The CAT chapter

In  last week of Nov-2014, I filed case in CAT. Where it was admitted and sent to registrar till reply be filed from railways side.
 A protocol  :- It is a protocol or may be written somewhere in rules that any party can take at least 3 chances without any reason to file the reply/delay the case.
This protocol/rule took us to April end when the case was ready for hearing,and orders were passed on 7th May that railways had declared the candidate( me) unfit without considering the rules properly and in a very casual manner, so they were asked to do the medical once again keeping in view the opinion of doctors of various hospitals including PGI Chandigarh.
I was medically examined at Kolkata on 10th June 2015 and the result was to declare me fit for all services( result communicated to me on 01st July 2015).
I was quite happy and was ready to join as one vacancy was kept vacant till Nov-2014 and after that no vacancy was created or filled up in the department I stood allotted.

Ministry of water resources chapter

I called ministry as my case was transferred to them now for issuance of joining letter. I was told that they were not informed of any vacancy to be kept vacant so there is no vacancy. They have to create a post to let me join. I went to the ministry and handed over a letter from my side with a request to issue me joining letter. I was replied verbally, but denied any written reply as I didn't ask for it in my letter. I sent a second letter after 15 days as I was asked to do, to get the status in writing. I got no reply fro some days and I inquired about it on phone. I was told by a lady Mrs. Sunita Sharma that her dealing clerk is not there so I have to wait for on week fro reply. I called next week I was told that they are doing it and asked me to call after few hours, I called again and it was told that the letter has been misplaced and I have to send it again. I faxed it, called them next day to make sure if it has been worked upon. I got another shocking reply, the lady said " tumhare phone utha utha k mare hath mein dard ho gya, itni kyun jaldi macha rakhi hai joining to milni hai ni abhi tumhe ( my hands have started aching by picking your phone calls, why are you in such a hurry as you will not get joining now)".
so I am waiting for the reply now, and hope to see it sooner and joining in may be at least few months.



I will correct it grammatically as I read it again till then kindly bear with it as it is and take a glimpse of the great Indian working culture ;(

khulle paise...

Today, I was watching a TED talk’s lecture by one Mr. Michael Norton, the topic was ‘How to buy happiness’.  I didn’t feel my experience as something very special to be shared, but after watching this lecture I thought it may be worth sharing and motivating for someone.

In the lecture he discussed some results from his study to see the effect of spending money, on oneself or on others, on the happiness that people feels. It was something that I felt in an incident, the feeling of being happy in that case was something different and very fulfilling.

On 26^th December 2014, I was waiting for my train, for New Delhi, at Chandigarh junction. It was 6:30 in the morning, not the coldest one but was shivering enough to make me sip a cup of tea, at the platform. I was having the tea in front of the mark for, my reserved, C2 coach. A very old one came to me and asked me to buy him a cup of tea. I was having only 3 Rs., as change, in my wallet to ask the vendor for a tea costing Rs 7/-. As change is what everyone looks for, especially at the beginning of the day. So the vendor refused to give me the tea as I lacked by Rs 4/-.

I just said to the old fellow the same and started sipping my tea. I looked at him for some time and what I noticed was he tried but couldn’t ask anyone else for “the cup of tea”. I realized that he may not get it and would fall sick. I went back to the vendor and asked if he has got the change now, but it was a negative reply with a suggestion “daan karna hai to khule paise rkha karo”( meaning that ‘ keep change if you want to donate’). I just couldn’t see if it was really a donation to arrange a cup of tea to an elderly  and in such a cold weather.

I thought for a while and gave the shop-keeper the three rupees and asked a favor to give cup of tea (with 4 Rs to be given on next day as I pass by everyday while going to construction office of railways). He refused again, and I gave him 500 Rs note to keep rest and give me a slip or something that I can collect the money later, after staring at me for a while; at last he gave me “the cup of tea”.

As I gave the tea to the old man, the train arrived at 6:50; I boarded and, left for Delhi. While in train, an unvoiced thanks from the old man, was what I felt deep inside me.

So I felt like sharing it. Thank you J