IAS ACADEMY: The Secret Mussoorie “Quizzine”
The 12 C’s of Civil Service: A dozen questions the IAS Officers wanted to ask but were afraid
Mussoorie, the “Queen of the Hills” at glorious best in the third week of August; the monsoons have breathed a new life into the hills, the forests and the trees. The British-Raj hill-station perched at 6600 feet above the mean sea-level seems to be dressed for its anniversary, when nearly 500 newly-selected Civil Servants — young men and women — converge to the portals of the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). The new inmates have cracked UPSC’s Civil Services Examination, arguably the Nation’s toughest competition and once again the Academy is about to be a melting pot, a cauldron with these youngsters, from diverse academic and socio-economic backgrounds, mingling with each other for the next four months or so.
Some are first-timers, a little in the awe of the hallowed portals of LBSNAA, whereas there are others who have “been there, done that”. The latter have already completed the “Foundation Course”, common to all the Services, before at Mussoorie, a couple of years ago, while they took another shot at the examination to try and get into the coveted IAS. Some are a wee bit disappointed; they have exhausted all their chances and they shall have to rest content with a Central Service for a lifetime and their aspiration to be an IAS officer would, alas, remain only a fond dream. There are others in the IAS who are still apprehensive as the cadre-allocation is still to be decided. Will they get their home cadre for whether the system shall fling them to the North-Eastern States or the UT cadre?
There are a few closed groups of “probationers” or “officer trainees” (take your pick) but by and large nobody knows anybody when they initially land at Mussoorie. Thus when you run into any person who has “probationer” writ large on their faces, you don’t really know how to crack the ice. Of course, you are keen to know who stands where, literally as well as metaphorically, as the system of hierarchy, whether you like it or not, is built into the very DNA of the “Babudom” (Bureaucracy, if you please). Everyone has the following “C”s to clarify but one is, quite seriously, afraid to ask these simple questions, notwithstanding their innate curiosity. Whether one approaches directly, or tactfully, or by inference or through circumlocution, these are the questions everyone is dying to ask but inherently afraid to do so. Any wrong wording may trip you and you might be labeled as tactless or blunt or arrogant, or worse, casteist or communal. But will-nilly everyone does ask these questions or learns the answers or yearns for them.
1. City
This is the simplest question to ask. This will fix the coordinates of the other person on the national grid. You don’t ask tactlessly whether you are a “Madrasi”, “Punjabi” or a “Bihari” but the general idea is to get the relevant information. However, one has to be careful when you hear the reply “From Delhi” because it could pretty much mean anything — Jharkhand, Nagaland or Hyderabad and further probing is necessary. Delhi University and its constituent colleges and various IAS coaching centres attract aspirants from all over the country who, having spent a few years in the Capital, are not hesitant to claim that they belong to Delhi.
2. Civil Service Rank
This is a crucial bit of information since it reveals your placement in the vertical hierarchy. It may also give you a fair idea of the Service the other guy belongs to, in particular whether he/ she is a member of the “heaven-born” IAS. A caveat, though — with the all-pervasive reservation policy, a lower rank may not necessarily mean that you have been abandoned by the system to the “shallows and miseries” of the less sought after Central Services. So be careful.
3. Central Service or All-India Service
This simple question reveals much. The supplementary question then reveals the precise Service. You, therefore, do not commit the sacrilege of asking a Central Service officer as to what his cadre is. Conversely, if the answer is an All-India Service, the cadre is the next logical query. Be sure you distinguish between IPS and IPoS (Indian Police Service and Indian Postal Service) and IFS and IFoS (Indian Foreign Service and Indian Forest Service); many probationers are known to omit accentuating ‘o’ while pronouncing, since IPS and IFS are also a legit abbreviations of the “poor cousin” service.
4. Cadre
We have dealt with this “C” in the previous paragraph because the mere nugget of information that a person is an IAS or IPS officer is not sufficient. What is his cadre? Is he getting his home cadre? Is he being allotted what is your home state? Is he suffering because he’s being consigned to the North-East (unless it was your option, being an insider). The answer will definitely shape your future interaction with them.
5. College
This is a very subtle question. The reply will reveal whether the officer is from “The College” — the simple high-brow short-form of St Stephens College, Delhi or whether he’s a high-IQ techie who has weathered the IIT curriculum. An answer like “Thapar College of Engineering, Patiala”, which I initially gave, immediately lead to a perceptible loss of respect in the eyes of the querist, leading to me modify my future replies to “Punjabi University”, trying my hardest to make it sound like the Panjab University.
6. Caste
The curiosity about your caste is not limited to merely ascertaining whether you have taken the benefit of reservation for SCs/ STs, but a larger uncertainty to be cleared since caste is virtually supposed to be embedded into your identity in practically every other Indian State. Bought up in a liberal environment of Punjab, my knowledge of the Caste System was confined to the four “varnas”, as derived from Kundra-Bawa’s ICSE History textbook. In Mussoorie, I was to learn that in India there are not only Brahmins and Kashatriyas but also Kayasthas, Rajputs, Yadavs, Ahirs, Bhoomihars, Raos, Patels, Reddys, Iyers, Iyengers, Nairs and, of course, Jats, who are scattered all over the northern states. This would be important to understand not only their socio-economic profile and dynamics but would also be a very relevant factor, if you are considering to contest elections for one or more of the numerous Societies and Clubs at the Academy.
7. Class
Years after the Mandal Commission made its recommendations, the straightforward question would be, are from an OBC (Other Backward Classes, for the uninitiated), if so, which. However, one approaches cautiously so that he can use this information garnered for the purposes summarized in the previous paragraph.
8. Couple?
Whether you are single or not, this is question which arouses the curiosity of most probationers. Even if you are not looking to woo a lady officer, this information comes in very handy. Whether an gentleman probationer is unmarried could be of immense relevance even if you are a male, because you could be looking for a suitable match for your sister or your spouse’s sister. You could also get third-party queries from your own friends and relatives, and this tick on the marital status could prove very useful. For those looking to change the cadre on matrimonial grounds, this could really emerge as the central piece of their strategy throughout their sojourn at Mussoorie.
9. Community
This is just any euphemism for what your religion is. Indian names give much away but generic surnames like “Singh” do not reveal much, especially when clean-shaven Sikhs are not rare. “Singhs” could also be Rajputs and then, of course, you have “Kumar Singhs”, who are entirely a different breed. Similarly, in case of married lady-officers, one is unable to decode whether she has adopted the religion of her husband. The information regarding their religion helps you to greet them appropriately on their festivals but do your research carefully. You don’t want to end extending greetings to a Muslim officer on the occasion of “Moharram” or a “Shaheedi Gurpurab” to a Sikh officer. These are occasions, not for celebration, but for solemn observance and introspection.
10. Clan
In India, family matters. It is very relevant to know whether the father, mother, sibling, bother/ sister-in law or a vague uncle of the person in front of you is an IAS or an IPS officer. The senior folks could be very high in the seniority and depending on their cadre or whether they are on central deputation, it would be well worth your time to ferret out this information tactfully. Even senior folks could be looking for a suitable matrimonial match for their own children/ nephew/ nieces and you could actually end up hitting the jackpot, if you play your cards right.
11. Choice of Subjects
So what were your subjects in the Civil Services Examination? In LBSNAA, no one is bothered about your basic degree and the discipline you have specialised in. It is fairly common for the IAS aspirants to opt for optional subjects that has no relationship whatsoever with their basic degree. Knowledge of their optional subjects could yield useful information for your brother or sister or cousin, should they be civil service candidates, and even for you, should you be planning to take another attempt to get into a “better” Service. No Coaching Institute can offer better advice than an officer who has successfully tread the path himself.
12. Chronology of Attempts
This is relevant. Whether the guy is a high-flier, if he’s cracked the exam in his first attempt or has be managed to sneak in at his “nth” attempt. It also reveals whether he has any chance to improve his service and also indicate his batch in his current service. The latter would be very relevant whether the officer has already completed his training in his Department’s Specialised Training Academy and could actually from a senior batch by as many as 2–4 years. Network, as they say, is networth.
Don’t be shy, don’t hesitate. At the same time don’t be tactless, boorish or blunt. Ask these questions because the answers that you shall get are going to be a very valuable information resource in the years to come. Hurry slowly, but remember the “Foundation Course” is not a 4-year degree course. Plus, in the salubrious climes of Mussoorie, with strapping lads and dainty damsels, time flies. So better pop the right question to the right person, at the right time, lest you live in a lifetime of regret.
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KBS Sidhu. The Author is an IAS officer of 1984 Batch of Punjab cadre. The views expressed are his own.
He can be reached on kbs.sidhu@gmail.com or @kbssidhu1961 or https://www.facebook.com/kbs.sidhu
