'Verbose, pointless': UPSC topper Aditya Srivastava's mock essay goes viral, but netizens are not impressed

Lucknow-based Aditya Srivastava, who clinched the All India Rank 1 in the UPSC Civil Services examination, has once again become the centre of attention. This time, however, the buzz isn’t about his professional background or his subject choices during the mains examination but it is about his writing skills. His write-up, which was part of his preparation for the UPSC exams, has taken social media by storm.

A post shared by a popular social media account, 'UPSC NOTES,' unveiled a mock test essay by Srivastava that has since gone viral. 

However, it has not been confirmed whether Srivastava wrote this essay. Business Today could not independently verify the post.

The essay, which addresses one of the four topics provided in the question paper, explores the thought-provoking quote by Rabindranath Tagore: "A mind all logic is like a knife all blade, it makes the hand bleed that uses it." 

The essay starts by mentioning Oppenheimer's concept of the Manhattan Project and explores the interplay between logic and emotion.

Despite the high expectations surrounding any content associated with the top-ranking civil servant aspirants, the reaction from netizens has been surprisingly mixed and unenthusiastic. Srivastava's essay failed to impress many of them.

The essay thread garnered substantial attention, accumulating 1.5 million views and sparking considerable engagement with over 7,000 likes and 2,000 shares. Yet, the consensus among viewers does not seem overwhelmingly positive.

Commenting on the thread one of the users wrote, "This is so worthless. Dumping Oppenheimer story in basic English - verbose & pointless."

Another user replied, "Fell asleep after reading 2 sentences, can imagine the quality of people who grade these troopers sorry toppers."

Have a look at the other reactions here-