Prologue
After months of research and time spent in search of a coaching institute which can provide me the guidance to start with my optional subject, here I was at Vajiram and Ravi.
The First Day
I was right on time but to my dismal all the seats were pre occupied and the remaining ones were out of my reach. Thanks to the congested crowd of around 200-250 future IAS aspirants. But after a look at my neighbor, I finally found a seat. It took me around 2 minutes to occupy it after disturbing the neighbors, requesting them to please move their seats a bit so that I can reach my destination.
After a wait of around 10 minutes, Dr. Subhash Mahapatra Sir entered in the class. His mike fitted in his shirt wearing a cap which he specifically mentioned is of ‘Nike’ when the conversation about ‘India is now becoming brand cautious’ was going on. A happy, down to earth, and somewhat humorous are some of his qualities that I observed. He made the environment very warm with his motivational oration, assured all the aspirants that this is best optional they have chose because of uniformity in the marks that sociology is getting from the time it has been introduced. And we must have chosen this optional without any love but he will make us love the subject till the time these four months will come to an end.
Along with all this, his one-liners are just made for his voice. Some of his favorites –
”are bolo toh sahi”,
“kuch samajh m aa raha h ya nahi!!”,
“gaya sab sir k upar se?”
So in all the first day was amazing and lets all the days goes like this. J
IMPOSSIBLE until its DONE 
He taught us in the general studies curriculum. His lectures are profound. One has to understand the crux of what he wants to convey, which is, I believe, often of profuse importance.
If u are pro right-wing then u’d enjoy his anecdotes more, as those more mostly about the greatness of our PM. For instance, Modi’s definition of secularism as holding a quraan/bhagwat geeta in one hand and a laptop in other.
Btw, I guess he’d be good as a subject lecturer as well, because of his immense knowledge and way of delivering a lecture.
Good luck!
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Thanks for your advice and yes, you are right. I have now started following him to unearth the crux..
By the way, The same definition of Mr. Narendra Modi was also provided to us by Mahapatra sir in the same manner as you are saying..
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Thanks for the write-up. I’m too planning to join his October batch! Keep the posts coming (:
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Don’t worry about that, posts will keep coming at regular intervals and if this post keep getting good views as it is getting now. I might maintain a Vajiram diary 😛
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dear, you might have completed your optional. i am having Pub-admn, have written mains two times but could not make it to final list. plz, if possible tell how the sociology as a subject is, and Mahapatra sir teaches well..as people say. I will have only more attempt in future. expecting reply..
ashishsamariya@yahoo.com
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hey Ashish,
No, I haven’t completed my optional yet. We are half way down the road. well, sociology as a subject is good, quite a lot thinkers and theories, all about society like how it developed, how it works and all sort of social stuff. Views of many thinkers on society, how the changes occurred in society. Being from pol. sc. you must be aware of Karl Marx, Rousseau and many other thinkers. Other than that bro u can go through the syllabus of sociology and u will understand what I am trying to say,
and about Mahapatra sir, he is a renowned teacher of sociology so no doubts he is a good teacher. Other than that he makes the subject interesting giving many daily life examples. If you want to see how he teaches than u can go through his videos on youtube which are present on EDUSAT-CEC UGC. His methodology is much or less the same, the difference is, in class he is more interactive and engaging.
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thanx for being so quick in rply yar. i will write mains this time also. I ill seek your kind help if i need it in future. rly thanx..n all the very best for your adventurism with UPSC 🙂
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Thanks for your wishes and being a newbie, looking forward for your guidance as well. 🙂
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Hi… how many months did he took to complete the course ? Your batch started on july-30 right ? and when did he finished ?
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Right.. and December 1st week
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Thanks for reverting back. I have one more query. Did Mahapatra sir took 2.5 hour sessions or extended class hours ? On forum one person mentioned that sir took 5 hour classes in last 20 days for 2013 batch. Did the same happened with your batch ?
I am asking this because I am planning to take sociology classes while simultaneously giving mains. Hence I need to plan accordingly.
Thanks.
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No,nothing of this sort happened with our batch but there were too many holidays in between due to which some topics in the end were covered in hotchpotch but no extra sessions or hours..
and what you mentioned about 2013 batch is true indeed but there were reasons at that time for those extra session because till 2013 questions used to have large word limit, hence extra syllabus and more in-depth coverage..
hope it clears your doubt 🙂
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Came across this while surfing net casually. I attended his classes in 2013. I love him so dearly. He is not only a good teacher but a great mentor as well. I wish he was my teacher in DU as well. Anyway, i read some of your other articles as well. Good work! All the best! 🙂
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Same here. Even I miss him and his classes a lot and thanks for your wishes, hoping for the best. #FingersCrossed 🙂
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hey sahil i was in the same batch used to sit at last i really enjoyed his class paaan khilaaaunga ,arey bolo toh sahi , chalo chalo ,sar for dunga , satyanaas huh he is a great man so down to earth how is ur preparation going on
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yeah, i miss his class too. he is the best teacher that i have come across in all my academics, simply awesome. 🙂
by the way studies are going on just fine. Gearing up again now..
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Hi.. brother I need ur kind advice regarding sociology optional by mohapatra sir. Im from south india and newbie to the CSE. might be giving it in 2016. I read some negative reviews at http://vajiramandravi.blogspot.in/2007/09/reality-of-sociology-in-vajiram.html. So im in a confused state whether to join or not. does sir give questions to practise & Is their any personal attention like checking answers as sociology/pub ad. is all about writing Good answers in mains.So, in this regard Is Upendra sir sociology best as some people comment of personal attention & answer writing. am in a fix over Upendra Vs Mohapatra. please do throw some light as i do not want to risk(afford) by coming to new delhi & joining unproductive classes.
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upendra sir or mahapara?? plz help.. confused.. cons and pros of both… plzzzzzzz help
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does anybody has Prof. Mahapatra’s contact number? please reply
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