For students from a Madrasa background, the current scenario is not satisfactory because of many prevalent social constraints like strong superstitions and norms that hinder their path of improvement, so what do you have to give them any advice? I think the sentence is negatively connoted. There are ample opportunities and a positive atmosphere for persons coming from Madrasa. It is what they lack and their hindrance is lack of foundational knowledge. So, if they are equipped with foundational knowledge like current affairs, and social science, and subjects like applied science, mathematics, and English, they have all the chances. Because to get any service or any achievements, you need two things. One is the skill. You can get the skill from coaching institutes or any other institutes that prepare the students. But the second most important thing is the will. The will you have to get from your mind based on your experience and your willpower. So, willpower is there in all mothers of students. So, if he is equipped with the skill, he has already so many positives. So, if we are given the needed foundational skills in the subject that is needed for civil service, he has enough opportunities to excel in the exams and also in the services. You talked about superstitious beliefs also. But I can easily tell that superstitious beliefs are also created by the persons who are produced from Madrasas. So, the age is changing and the time is changing. There are new challenges, there are new possibilities. So even the Madrasa students have to change and update with the given knowledge and they have to be updated with the current challenges. So, they have to come up from their traditional mindset that they are enough with these things and they have to overcome because they are first-generation educationalists, especially from their families. So, they have a double burden. First, they have to make their family or the system educated and second, they have to be updated themselves. So, both of these works should go simultaneously. But in my experience, it is sure that if the students are ready to update themselves, the system will automatically change us. Nowadays, there is an increasing tendency of suicides from students for many reasons especially due to failures in exams like SSLC.As for your experience, you got your dream after five successive failures in preliminary. Frankly, what do you think failure is a great obstacle in front of success? The fail means the first attempt at learning. If you fail, it means you are failing in your strategies or you are failing in your operational methods. So, you have to change your strategy, not your goal. If you are not getting selected for your goal, then you have to change your vehicle. You have to check the fuel efficiency of your vehicle sometimes you have to change your vehicle also, but not the goal. So, the goal should be destined. It should be fixed before the time it means. It is the Niyyah. We are from a Madrasa background. We all are studying that Innamal A’maalu Binniyyah. So Niyyah should be the backbone. It should be strong. It should be fundamental, and then everything will follow. And, in my case, there is nothing to be lost, and all the skies are there to get.So if you have nothing to lose, then it is clear that you can go all around the way. Failure, success, it is nothing. And secondly, if you fail, it means you have failed in the preparation, not in the result. You may have seen the theory of karma. That means we have to do the work, not concentrate on the result. Resultsmay come, and they may be positive or negative, but we should not fail in our preparation, in our operational modest modus operandi, or in our work efforts. We should be consistent, there should be positive mind consistency, and perseverance should not concentrate on the result. We have to do our work. The rest of everything is based on god’s perception, man proposes, which God disposes Being a Madrasa teacher for 2000 monthly salary, you have made more effort in your preparatory period of UPSC.So, what was your motive to keep in Madrasa teaching even though you have to meet huge expenses in your journey? Actually, for UPSC preparation, there are two methods. One is the expensive methods. You can go to a high-level coaching institute in Delhi or some other places and you can get all the things scheduled for your life. In Delhi, Rajendra Nagar, there are thousands of institutes. They are charging high levels for their coaching. Very expensive coaching. It is easy that you can go there and crack it. But other methods are very cheap. You can get coaching from YouTube without any cost. You can get NCERT books and read them. It costs nothing. You can go to some philanthropic coaching institutes and get it done. So, both ways are possible. As my financial background is very low. My option was the second. So, there were so much of problems with selecting that. But it was sure it was also possible. I studied only in the free coaching, except for very few incidents. All of them were free coaching. Like Ponnani Saint Service Institute, Morena national Urdu university, and Azad coaching institute. All of them were free coaching. MSF free Coaching Initiative Scholarship Program. Shihab Thangal Coaching Programme. Everything was very free cost. So, it is also possible. And secondly, the Madrasa gave me a wonderful opportunity to do my earnings for my existence, which means we need food and accommodation. That was possible in the Madrasa. And it gave us even if it was 2000, it would give us the basic income for our traveling. So when I was doing coaching in Kozhikode, I selected a Madrasa in Kozhikode. It gave me the opportunity for my food and accommodation. When I was in Trivandrum, I got it in Trivandrum itself. When I was in Kanur, I got it in Kannur too. So rather than a hindrance, it was a good opportunity for our existence and survival.
Mathematics is a huge challenge in front of many students, especially for UPSC preparators Once you also said you were weak in mathematics. So how you have dealt with it? Have you ever faced any problems with inefficiency in Mathematics? Any advice from your side for those struggling with Mathematics? Mathematics is a huge challenge, especially for persons coming from the humanities background and for the persons coming from a Madrasa background. The recent CSAT question pattern is also tremendously changing. They are giving maximum focus on the tough mathematics. So previously it was okay with simple mathematics, but recently the pattern has changed.They need a higher level of mathematics and it is not also possible to pass the CSAT paper only in English it was not possible. So for mathematics, we need two types of mathematics also first the ways and means of mathematics which are taught in the NCERT textbook of mathematics, and second competitive mathematics. So, for the students who are coming from Madrasas, I think I suggest they have to get basic mathematics from YouTube, especially on the topics, the ten topics the UPSC is covering. Moreover, rather than the basic mathematics, they have to get the previous question papers and get it practiced several times to get a hint of mathematics and again they have to get a correct classroom for the mathematics. Now it is available online also. So in conclusion, I can tell that whether you like it or not, mathematics is an inevitable part, it is not optional, it is compulsory. So we have to change our mindset toward mathematics. We also know that the time has changed with the mathematics. The new demanding courses like artificial intelligence data learning, and machine learning. Everything is based on Mathematics. Even software engineering courses are based on Mathematics. So without Mathematics, we can’t go to the current opportunities, high-earning opportunities in the tech or IT field. So mathematics is compulsory. So as a student, we need to change our mindset. We have to get the Mathematics done. Mathematics is not as difficult as Mantic or Akeda. It is also an easy subject. But we have to give maximum interest, curiosity, and excitement towards Mathematics. Then it is easy to capture. And it is sure that we will get 100 percentage marks only in Mathematics. We will not get 100 percentage marks in social sciences. So, if you know the formula, if you know the way, you will get full marks. So, the opportunity is there, and we must crack it at any cost. The committees of Madrasas also should focus on basic mathematics inculcating mathematical abilities to students. Then automatically things will be cleared. According to you, in your early stages, you had to get ridden the dream of being a civil servant desperate for continuous failure and heavy family burden, and entered some PSC training classes. But immediately, you stepped back into civil service again. What did the incubating factor for this come back? It was God’s plan or Allah’s plan because I think some of the divine things happened at that time, I was very eagerly waiting or praying to get into service at least to get prelims cleared. I tried a lot, but due to the mathematical paper I was in complete disarray, and I failed consecutively. I tried at least three or four institutes to get the Mathematics paper cleared. Ultimately, what happened after I passed from one institute to another, I realized that it was not possible to get things cleared because at that time the paper was different. That time there were two papers, the first was GK, and the second was CSAT for the prelims we had to get the marks and it was calculated combined. So, we have to get at least half of the marks from both papers. So it was not possible for a person who is very weak in mathematics and ultimately, I decided that I couldn't pass Mathematics and I withdrew from the competition.I joined another PSC-level institute to get a government job. But after one or two months the new government came and the decision appeared that the second paper pattern was changed. We had to get only 33 percentage marks in the second paper and at that time Mathematics was very easy. So, when I read that decision in the newspaper, I decided that the time had come my way. Sometimes the system changes to our desires If you desire hardly, the universe will change for that. So that thing happened and I came back again to the competition. Besides continuous failures in your career, questions from people are more heart-touching, so what about your experience? How you could tackle those hurting questions? It is very correct that sometimes we can survive. But society will not allow you to survive. Because society always follows easy methods, shortcuts, and the average things. But for getting excellent or extraordinary things you have to do extraordinary things. The extraordinary results will not be created in ordinary ways, they will be created only in extraordinary ways. So, you must do extraordinary things continuously to get the excellent result. But society is not ready or equipped for that, first thing they are not literate on the basics of civil service. Usually, they understand that it is a course, a certificate, or a year-based thing. So, we have to make society first literate on that thing, especially at that time. But I think in the end it is an experience. We have to take it in a sportsman spirit. Whatever the questions come from the society it is the best toolkit or study material. We will not get it in any other textbook. So, if we are okay with that in that textbook if we are okay with them, then everything will be easier. So rather than textbooks, society is the best textbook for UPSC. As I heard, you were dismissed from your college, but interestingly you won the prelims in the same year.Would you please describe the moment after becoming the first ever to win prelims from your institution? Yes, it happened when I was studying at Molana National Azad Urdu University. Minority coaching cell. But it was a minor issue of management that they expelled me telling me the reason for the shortage of attendance. However, they were not aware that attendance is not mandatory for UPSC it is the self-studying and practicing question paper. Using the library is most important. So, I was not a fresher there and their management is insisting on the classroom. Studies and attendance. And I was not happy with that. That’s why they expelled it. But out of 120, only one person cracked up prelims.It was the problem with the management and the persons in the governance of the coaching institute. They are coming from an academic background. They have some Ph. Ds or PGs but they are not aware of the ABCD of coaching. It happens in some institutes, but for every institute, we can tell that one is the academic atmosphere and the second is the peer group pressure. Both these things are more important than attendance for getting cleared.