Travelogue 02: Kedarkantha - A Beautiful Trail to Remember

"Don't only love the mountain, learn to respect it!!"

Trekking was one of the items from my wishlist, and kedarkantha made a perfect start. Its winter trek will make you mesmerize throughout year.

The trail we followed :-

                                                                 
  

Peak visible from top

Swarga Rohini

About Kedarkantha

A moderate trek of height 3825m from Sankri village of Uttrakashi district in Uttrakhand.

Things to remember

• Get details of trek in advance from some reputed sites like Indiahike. 
• Beware of thawed rock and make confident steps.
• If you are first timer like me, Trekking stick, getters and crampon is must for icy terrain.
• Keep your hands always free to make support during any exigencies.

My Journey to Officer in Central Excise, CBEC

Profile in Brief

NAVIN KUMAR

Working profile: Software Developer in a renowned MNC

People say SSC gives you one chance in a year but I would say it gives you 3 chances to remain in the competition. So even if your marks is average or below average, never let anyone else makes you down. Instead identify your strong and weak points. Sharpen your strong areas and work on the weaker areas. Always remember, you can silence the naysayers through your results only!! 
Going through all the 3 phases I faced,

TIER 1

My paper was on 16/08/2015 (evening) – the one every aspirants of 2015 knows about. Despite preparation, I was not that much confident after exam. After comparing my solution with certain online sources, I was getting 105.75!! yes only. Of course, it wasn’t up to my expectation. I knew that I would qualify for the MAINS, but the marks was not up to that level. Dreams was about to shatter. Nevertheless I gathered my strength and started preparation for next step.

TIER 2

I tried to capitalize every second I got after job. I made a routine and tried to religiously stick to that. I took leave for 2 weeks before paper and strove my best. Finally the D-day arrived. The papers went well and I was relieved.
Now I was in competition. But for Interview-Post, I had to face very tough competition in the last phase i.e. Interview cum Personality Test Round.

Personality Test

Any less than average would have cost the interview post. So, I tried to capitalize every online and offline resources to get max out of it. I had shown my "Bio-Graphical Data" sheet to my colleagues and friends and told them to review. Separately, I had given several mocks and practiced tentative questions before mirror. Finally the DAY arrived; I left no stone unturned and gave my best. 
For my interview experience, you may click here.

After lots of wait, result came out on 30th June and I was in. Hurray!! It was Officer in Central Excise, CBEC. ☺

Study materials

There is no hard and fast rule for materials. Just remember CGL is all about speed in Mathematics and accuracy in English. If you are comfortable with your current materials then it's okay. Otherwise time to look for some other options.

What I referred,

English: SSC English - Ajay Singh, Word Power Made Easy - Norman Lewis
Mathematics: Advanced Mathematics for SSC - Rukmini Publication (Vol 1,2,3)
GK: Lucent General Knowledge
Reasoning: Selective portions from RS Agarwal
Practice Paper: Paramount Test Series, Kiran Previous Years

Other suggestions,

Daily newspaper reading is must during preparation days - make it a habit. It's an panacea to boost your vocabulary, current affairs and comprehension skill. 

Analyzing current pattern of examination, it is advisable to attend any online Test-Series.

Keep yourselves positive and healthy. 

Surround yourself with the motivating people. 

Make group study with like-minded people and learn the prudent use of social networking sites. 

Words of wisdom

• Practice the paper as many as possible
• You may relax during preparation, but on that day you will have to be a sprinter
• Have PATIENCE, believe in YOURSELF and give your BEST

Important Dates upto Joining

Form Submission: 17/05/2015
Tier I Examination: 16/08/2015
Tier I Result: 29/09/2015
Tier II Examination: 25/10/2015
Tier II Result:
Document Verification and Interview: 27/02/2016
SSC final Result: 05/07/2016
Department allocation: 22/08/2016
Zone allocation Form Submission: 24/08/2016
Verification of Zone options: 17/10/2016
Zone allotted - 17/01/2017
Physical Test, PET - 23/03/2017
Date of Joining - 12/05/2017

Puzzle Collection

A. Riddles Zone

1. Mary's father has 5 daughters namely NaNa, NeNe, NiNi, NoNo. What is the name of 5th daughter?
2. If you leave the 2nd person behind in a race, what will be your position?
3. A word, if it is pronounced as right then is wrong and if pronounced wrong then is right. What is the word?
4. How many times you can subtract 5 from 25?
5. If A tells B that C's father is my father's son. If A also tells that he has neither a brother nor a sister. Then what is the relation between A and C?

B. Tricky Ones

1. A closed room with a bulb, which you can feel easily. 3 switches outside. You may have to go inside only once. Identify the switch which belongs to the bulb?
2. A man wanted to invade a campus, which is secured by a security system. The system is such that, whenever any person stands before it, it says a number and expecting some reply. He started observing the genuine people entering into it. 
• Twelve => Six, he analysed and thought answer should be half of the number. Although, he wanted to observe another
• Six        => Three, Now he became quite sure. 
• Later he stood behind the gate, the system said Ten, he replied Five. The door didn't open. Decode the system!!
3. Six glasses in a row. The first three are full of water, and the next three are empty. By touching only one glass how can you make them alternate between full and empty?

1. Next :-)

Travelogue 01: North Bengal Diary

Dooars, Darjeeling & Kalimpong 

A memorable, mind-blowing and fantastic journey

The North Bengal is considered as one of the tourism hubs in India. Throughout year, people come here to spend their holidays under the nature's lap. The beauty of the place is so ravishing that, if you go there, you will fell in love with the place, with the hospitality, with the hospitality and many more. Doors basically famous for sanctuary, national parks and tea gardens. Darjeeling is known as a city on the mountain. Similarly, Kalimpong is also situated on the mountain, but it were relatively of lower height.

How to Plan?  Even if you don't have any idea of sites, location and hotels, don't panic. People may plan even after going there. There are lots of Tourism companies available to help you providing a better itinerary at competitive prices.

My journey started on 22nd January, day before Netaji's Birthday. As usual we don't have any plan till 15th of the month. But we were fortunate that, we got confirmed ticket on couple of days before in a special train between HWH & NJP.

22/01/2015

6:30PM : Our train was from Howrah to NJP.

23/01/2015

6:30AM : Reached NJP. There we hired a cab up to Lataguri cost around ₹800

10:00AM : A sojourn at Doors
Reached Indrapuri Resort which was surrounded by Tea-Garden. The view of garden was so amazing that we could not resist ourselves for some snaps.

1:30PM : After having lunch at the resort, we went for wild safari inside Gorumara National Park (A Rhino Sanctuary). There we got chance to watch the animals life through different watch towers. I got some glimpse of elephants, rhinoceroses and snakes through Jatra-Prasad Watch Tower. 
n.b. We could have watched some more, if it were evening. Evening and morning is the best time, as animals used to come near towers for water and salt.

24/01/2015

06:30AM :  Lataguri to Siliguri By Bus cost around ₹60/- each person

10:00AM : We reached Siliguri. From there we hired a cab up to Darjeeling @ ₹800. We reached the Hotel around 2:30 PM.
03:30 PM : Had a glimpse of Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park and The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

25/01/2015

04:00AM : We got up early to watch rising Sun on Tiger-Hill. It was amazing. 

26/01/2015 : 

08:00AM : Had a maiden rafting experience in vivid green water of  the Teesta River. Some of us enjoyed swimming but I will not recommend anyone to dive in this river because of two reasons. Firstly, the water is deadly chill which can cause to unconsciousness. Secondly, the river is not safe. There is lack of proper precautionary tool to handle any unforeseen accidents. So, avoid plunging into river.
09:30PM : Reached Kolkata by Train (It was also an special Train)

In one line, the Beautiful Darjeeling, Charming Kalimpong and Delighting Doors left me thinking of revisiting the place. I missed some exciting adventures namely Hot-Balloon and Sky Diving in Kalimpong and Rope-Way in Darjeeling.
But There should always be the second chance. Cheers!!😊

One Beautiful but Scary and Terrific Night at College Campus

Once after dinner, an idea came into my mind, "To visit the beautiful campus at night and snapping some good pictures". I with Khokan, Ajijul, Wang and Soham left the dorm around 1AM. We kept on walking and feeling the beauty of campus. The campus was so nice and pleasant at night, as if it were a sleeping beauty. It was peaceful environment all around. Extra long Ashoka trees on both sides of the road were greeting us like cheer-leaders. The smell of jasmine and sambac jasmine were making the niche more pleasant. We trudged through graveyard; it was looking nice at night. Clock-Tower, headed high like security-tower protecting the campus. The gym were waiting for their boys for the next day.
We took many good snaps at different places like graveyard, L-square, Oval, Madhusudan Hall, Gym etc.
After some time, we were passing through our Old Swimming Pool lane. Khokan saw a pummelo's tree. Pummeloes were ripe and eatable. Now, what to see, we all got busy for plucking the fruit. Suddenly, the electricity was cut-off. All street lights were turned off. There were darkness all around. So we had to come back without adequate amount.
There was no moon, no stars, just a dark and brooding night. After a while, rattling sound ran into our mind. We all got badly frightened. All of a sudden, a huge scary laughing-sound spread all around. It was very terrific and loud. My some friends got shivering. Soham and Wang got unconscious. Lastly, Khokan was with me in somewhat good condition. We have persuaded each other, not to lose patience and be together. We both started moving slowly keeping our friends together. But, the laughing creature was moving towards us, jumping from one tree to another. He chased us until BE Model School. But, near U-Building, the creature stood before us. We got badly frightened. And my whole body stopped working on seeing the disgusted creature (we usually see such one in fantassy movies).
I could not open my eye. Eyelids just became super heavy. The whole body was unable to move. I wanted to shout hard, but can't.
Ohh, that was just a nightmare. I woke up drenched in sweat and scared as hell.

A Romantic Week to Remember

One of the vital semester has gone. I enjoyed Cultural and Technical fest vigorously, without any hamper in study.... any way....
.....Struggling 6th semester is over. Now I got chance for writing and watching Movies.
Romantic,Romantic,Romantic......!! On watching too much romantic movies I became freak of romantic Movies.
I've seen lot of them,But would like to share some of them.
Here are the List of Romantic Movies, I have seen and liked......

1)The NoteBook

2)The Pretty women

3)Just Like heaven

4)A walk to remember

5)50First dates

6)The Girl next Door

7)Blue valentine.

8)17 Again

9)High School Musical

10)The Time Traveller's Wife

11)...

These are the Hard Core of Romanticism. I can guarantee that anyone on watching these movies,will be Romantic.....