IAS interview experience

So far my father had watched with some kind of disbelief that I had passed the Mains too, but he had not really enquired how I did it nor had he offered any advice, unsolicited or otherwise. In the circumstances it came as quite a shock when he phoned me and asked me to proceed to Delhi to attend a one-week interview coaching at Raus. He had already paid the fee!
I didn't really want to go, but decided I should simply to avoid any confrontation with dad. I stayed with a friend, who offered me practical advice: Lets go and have a look at Raus, maybe we'll see some pretty IAS aspirants there. And off we went, and the first person I saw there was this pretty lady from the South of India. She finally didn't get through the Civil Services. I did. And married her!
The coaching at Raus was, to put it mildly, useless, and I would drag myself to it simply to be with this pretty woman.
Finally the D Day arrived in early May. It was hot in Delhi, and I wore a plain shirt and pant (no suit, contrary to the advice that I was given). Dholpur House (where UPSC is located) can be quite intimidating at the best of times, and now here were so many of us-some nervous, some calm, but all anticipating the worst.
I think my name was the sixth to be called out, and by that time I had noticed that on an average each interview was taking about 30 minutes. I entered this room with 5 people (including one lady) sitting on the dangerous side of the table. The Chairman was a retired Air Marshal, the others were retired civil servants, while the lady was a professor. I was asked to sit down after the formal good afternoons, and the Chairman asked me what business my father was into. I told him that our family business was petrol pumps, automobiles, and audio-visual equipment. And thus began my interrogation. I say interrogation because I barely knew the answers to questions like:
What is the difference between a diesel engine and a petrol engine?
Why does a petrol engine have a spark plug while a diesel engine doesnt?
What is stereophonic sound and what is quadrophonic sound?
Can you describe the internal design of a speaker?
What is stereoscopic vision?
By the end of this bombardment of scientific queries I was ready to flee, but managed to reply reasonably intelligently (or so I think, else they would have driven me out by then). The Chairman now handed me over to the others, and questions that followed were simpler (because they related to what I knew):
Can you differentiate between the parliamentary systems of India and UK?
Why should we have a multi-party system?
What do you think is the effect of the television on the family?
Would you say that the institution of marriage has a purely economic foundation?
Why do you think women are called the weaker sex? Are the reasons physical or sociological?
Do genes determine behaviour? Or are we taught how to behave? What is the process of socialization?
So you read books. Which ones? Herman Hesse. OK, explain his philosophy. Albert Camus? Have you read his "A Happy Death?" Tell us about it. Can death be happy?
You read poetry? What is blank verse?
Suddenly one member asked me to stand up and turn around. I did and found myself facing a large map of the world mounted on the wall.
Please point out the Read Sea, Black Sea and the Yellow Sea to us.
I did.
Please point out the Golden Triangle, Bermuda Triangle and the Red Triangle.
I pointed out the first two, and said the third would not be on a map.
Where would it be?
Sir it is a logo for the family planning campaign.
Excellent. Sit down.
Suppose you got through, what inducements do you think you would be offered to bend the law or do things out of turn?
I said "money".
What else?
I was about to say "booze" but checked myself and said "alcohol."
What else?
I looked blank.
Think.
I thought and said "sex."
They all smiled and that was the end of my interview.
And to cut the long story short, I passed the interview too!