Coaching of GS at Vajiram: Ravindran Sir, Kapuria Sir, Mahapatra Sir, Manocha Sir, Mukul Pathak Sir, Vikas Bharadwaj Sir.

Though people come to Delhi with numerous expectations, sincerity and commitment, but how much of it is sustainable is the question. Here I will try to give my genuine advice based on my personal experience. I
am going to talk about the quality of teaching and teachers at Vajiram and Ravi, which is the leading coaching institute for civil services in India.

Vajiram never markets itself in a huge commercial manner like thousands of others around in the national capital and elsewhere. Its value is remarkable and itself provides sufficient publicity to the institution through word-of-mouth. Similar is the case with the extremely committed and professional teachers here. I am no propagator of Vajiram. My only intention is to clarify the confusion hovering over what to do and whom to chose for your coaching based on my experience, because in today's circumstances NOBODY BOTHERS ABOUT YOU, AND IT IS ALL COMMERCE THAT MATTERS. I am not untouched by this either, but I consider it my duty to help other students with the best advice because when I came to Delhi, I was misguided by various elements. Some people (including students) are even ready to pursue unethical and immoral ways towards defaming and slandering unfounded rumors about respected teachers, who at times even go beyond their capacities to help worthy candidates.

Such is the preparation of this exam that all ideas seem correct, anybody can be your role model provided you get success. Otherwise, some mean and self centered individuals are ready to blame coaching institutes and teachers pointlessly for their failure, which only serves to deprive other forthcoming and worthy students of good guidance. Again I say I am not propagating Vajiram and Ravi in any way, but am only sharing my experience. Vajiram has a long history of existence and its worth is quite evident.

Every now and then we speak of expenditures incurred on coaching and blame these institutes like Vajiram. However, institutes like Vajiram facilitate lots of government candidates from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere (some cases I know of), thereby giving the rural and poor students a chance. But my experience is that a majority of such sponsored candidates are insincere and spend money unscrupulously on non-academic and non-progressive things. They totally lose the track and spend years in out of track. Here comes the commitment of the illustrious teachers of Vajiram. I know a couple of candidates who took coaching once and with the help of different teachers, got tremendous success in their future attempts.

Ravi Sir is a benchmark in himself and a fine organizer who has inspired many a students into becoming IAS and has brought about a fabulous team of best teachers at his institute. However, it is not rare to find students even discrediting him saying he is a money making machine etc etc. Coming to academics, not only his polity, but also International Relations are the epitome of clarity and depth together. I am only sad as he is taking lesser classes these days by himself. But his very same ideas and commitment are reflected in his team of Kapuria Sir, Mahapatra Sir, Manocha Sir, Mukul Sir and Vikas Sir. Of course there are many other experienced teachers but I do not plan to mention everyone here in this short write-up.

Kapuria Sir has ages of experience, though he sometimes bluffs about some major concepts. He has been a part of policy research and policy making and has an eye for efficiently sorting out the relevant stuff from all the Indian Economy portion.

Mahapatra Sir is a renowned teacher in Sociology. He not only teaches sociology, but also subtly acquaints you to facts of social life, which is a valuable learning experience. I don't know much about him personally, but I know that he is a humble person who makes you feel good about yourself. Though I think he may be misunderstood by some who look for reasons to be complacent.

Manocha Sir teaches in a practical and scientific manner. He has an excellent grasp of things and is a very dedicated teacher. He is an engineer and can teach not only geography but also statistics, reasoning, psychology and even civil engineering with clarity.

Mukul Pathak Sir also provides personal attention and tells you your real status on the face. He always motivates students for success. He is a teacher of top quality. He has been published in many international journals and has spoken in many a seminars on psychology. But students may misrepresent his ideas due to his straight-forwardness, boldness and humorous manner of taunting, which is actually meant to inspire. Students also at times complain that he did not complete the syllabus on time and did not complete Paper-II of psychology. But, since he gives personal attention to forthcoming students, a little extension of time limit can be tolerated.

Students even go the extent of character assassination of such great teachers. Because the numerous strength of students at Vajiram is so high, students are often found desperate to do anything to build some personal relations with these teachers and are found doing a THANKLESS JOB. Some begrudged students end up propagating rumors and false allegations against such teachers.

Vikas Bharadwaj Sir is a very dynamic and unconventional teacher, and rightly so because Civil Services is not just about cracking an academic exam. He teaches relevant points history in a very clear and sincere way. His classes are a real learning experience, not just academically but also emotionally and in many more pragmatic ways. His style of teaching focuses on discussions and didactic learning rather than the typical lecture-format. He puts a challenge in front of you in every class. Those who accept it and try to learn, get sure shot benefits.

I feel the challenging GS study enhances your learning experience, but even this might seem unpalatable to some who probably expect that coaching centers can give them some medicines to clear the examination.

Like Mukul Sir, Vikas Sir is another one who says things boldly on your face or rather blasts on your face, which carry an element of sarcasm at times and which might seem to be a strong criticism or even insulting to some. But those who understand him positively, are bound to benefit from his comments.

Generally most of the teachers at Vajiram give you valuable advice after introspection and consultation. They genuinely try to know your academic status and potential first and then advise you very correctly. They are very committed, sincere and optimistic teachers. Mukul Sir and even Vikas Sir are especially known for their confidence and positive straightforward talking. That is why they can be misunderstood at times.

I have made good out of my Vajiram experience and have learnt valuable lessons for life from these teachers. I hope that this detailed explanation would help you also to make an informed choice and benefit from the fabulous guidance that Vajiram offers. But it should always be kept in mind that there are no shortcuts to success. Without a solid platform of hard work, no guidance can bring success to one's door.  It should also be noted that those who keep an open mind and try to grasp only positive things, are more likely to succeed at this venture.

This was all about making the most of your resources. Now, I should probably tell some allegations as are prevalent here in the atmosphere. I guess some of them are widely believed. It is money that fosters some unethical practices on the part of some teachers and the management here.

From what I have heard, the vast and industrious staff of Vajiram also includes some professors and government officers who are legally not allowed to teach at private coaching centres. They even teach here with fake names and probably take money through cheques made out to some third persons. However unethical this may be, but all this somewhere goes to show the commitment of these teachers. They are all very good teachers and are even willing to go beyond the line to impart the best of their teachings to students who want to become IAS, IPS, IFS etc.

 Due to the overflowing number of students and tightly packed huge batches of classes here in Vajiram, students generally get almost zero personal interaction with the teachers in class. For this reason, students die to talk to teachers. Some who don't get proper attention get frustrated at times and take all the above mentioned aspects in a negative way and propagate such ideas and many more about individual teachers as well.

 I would again invite all of you to take things positively because all these things do not matter. All that matters is how you take right guidance, whose long history of existence is a proof in itself. All you need is to study
and get through this exam. What is the harm if you also learn some valuable lessons for life from the teachers' experiences. Teachers' at Vajiram are unparalleled and are indeed highly respected by me. I really hope more students to think in a positive direction like me.

Note:- Above mentioned views are my personal and are based on what I have heard and what I have experienced