I've often been told by my wife that I should take more care of my appearance. I'm notorious for turning up for conferences wearing sandals and bush shirts. Of course, I like to dress for comfort rather than to impress people but there is some long term thinking behind the attitude. My Uncle, Prabhakar Menon, took the Civil Services exams twice in the late 1960s. The first time, his rank was 13 or thereabouts, apparently missing the IFS (foreign services) by one rank. Instead of taking an IAS (adminstrative services) seat, he decided to decline and try again the next year. In an account of the exam by someone else, I read 'I was surprised to see Prabhakar Menon turn up for the interview in a bush shirt. I knew he had qualified for the IAS last year.' Formal attire was nearly a requirement for these interviews. Why did he turn up in informal clothes? I can think of some reasons. He may have done well enough in the exam that he was confident that he would do well regard...
You summed it up so well, Vinay sir!
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