Write any one of the following essays in 1000-1200 words (125 marks)
1.“Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane”.
Objective of the Essay
This essay explores how creativity often emerges not from grand visions or extraordinary circumstances but from the ability to perceive wonder in everyday life. It examines the philosophical, psychological, and practical dimensions of this idea—showing that innovation, art, and problem-solving are rooted in transforming ordinary observations into meaningful insights. It challenges the myth that inspiration is rare or divine and highlights how mindful attention to daily experiences can spark originality.
Focus:
Relationship between observation and creativity
Mindfulness and the ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary
Real-world examples of art, science, and leadership born from mundane contexts
Philosophical reflections on imagination and perception
Relevance for individual growth and societal progress
Understanding the Topic
Key Terms:
Inspiration: The process of being mentally stimulated to create or invent something new.
Creativity: The act of turning imaginative ideas into reality.
Magical: Wonder, novelty, or profound insight.
Mundane: Everyday, ordinary aspects of life that often go unnoticed.
Guiding Questions:
How does attentiveness to daily experiences fuel creativity?
Why do some individuals see possibilities where others see routine?
What psychological and societal conditions enable this transformation?
How do leaders, scientists, and artists embody this mindset?
Introduction Techniques
Anecdotal: “When Isaac Newton watched an apple fall from a tree, what millions had seen before, he perceived gravity—turning the mundane into a universal law.”
Philosophical: “True creativity is not born of rare genius but of the quiet ability to see the infinite in the ordinary.”
Quotation-Based: “Marcel Proust wrote, ‘The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.’”
Historical Hook: “From Archimedes’ bathtub to Steve Jobs’ fascination with calligraphy, history shows that groundbreaking creativity often emerges from everyday encounters.”
Structuring the Body (Thematic)
Theme 1: Psychological Foundations of Creativity
Role of mindfulness and heightened observation
Cognitive science on divergent thinking and curiosity
Everyday problem-solving as a seed for innovation
Example: Da Vinci’s sketches of daily life inspiring inventions
Link between childlike wonder and breakthroughs
Theme 2: Art and Literature – Finding Magic in Daily Life
Poets like Rabindranath Tagore and Emily Dickinson elevating common sights into profound art
Street photography and impressionist painting capturing ordinary moments
Folk art and crafts rooted in routine life
Magical realism in literature turning banal settings into extraordinary tales
Cinema and storytelling inspired by regular struggles of society
Theme 3: Science and Technology – Innovation from Observation
Discovery of penicillin from a seemingly trivial mold
Wright brothers inspired by observing birds
Frugal innovations (Jugaad) in India transforming simple tools into impactful solutions
Everyday user problems leading to tech startups
Role of serendipity in research and development
Theme 4: Societal and Philosophical Implications
Empowering ordinary citizens to contribute ideas
Democratic creativity in grassroots innovations
Gandhian philosophy of simplicity and observation-based reform
Buddhist concept of mindfulness as creative liberation
Contrast between material pursuit of novelty vs. inner discovery
Theme 5: Way Forward – Cultivating Creative Vision
Education fostering observation and reflection
Urban design and policies that encourage community creativity
Use of technology to democratize art and invention
Role of leaders in valuing small, local innovations
Building resilience through seeing opportunity in everyday challenges
Building Arguments
Examples: Newton, Archimedes, Penicillin, Steve Jobs, Tagore, grassroots inventors like Mansukhbhai Prajapati (Mitticool fridge).
Theories: J. P. Guilford’s creativity model, Gestalt psychology on perception, Gandhian simplicity.
Constitutional Values: Article 51A (h) promoting scientific temper and spirit of inquiry.
Data: 80% of frugal innovations in India arise from rural settings solving everyday problems (NIF Report).
Conclusion Techniques
Vision-Based: “A truly innovative society is not one that waits for genius but one where every individual can glimpse magic in the smallest of moments.”
Return-to-Intro: “Just as Newton found a universe in a falling apple, each of us can unlock creativity by seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary.”
Philosophical: “The mundane is not void of wonder—it is only our eyes that must learn to see.”
2.“A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity”.
1.Objective of the Essay
This essay explores the relationship between justice and charity, arguing that a truly just society minimizes the need for charitable acts because fairness and equity are embedded in its structures. It examines how social, economic, and legal justice reduce systemic deprivation, contrasting this with charity as a temporary, unequal remedy. It highlights the ethical, political, and developmental dimensions of justice as the foundation for sustainable human dignity.
Focus:
Difference between justice and charity
How inequality fuels reliance on charity
Role of governance and social institutions in delivering justice
Ethical and constitutional underpinnings of distributive justice
Global and Indian examples of shifting from charity to justice-driven policies
Understanding the Topic
Key Terms:
Justice: Fair distribution of resources, rights, and opportunities; includes social, economic, and legal fairness.
Charity: Voluntary giving of help, usually in form of money or aid, to those in need.
Society: Collective of individuals and institutions bound by social contracts and laws.
Guiding Questions:
Does charity address the root causes of deprivation?
How does a just society proactively reduce inequality?
What role does law, welfare, and affirmative action play in this context?
Are there dangers of over-reliance on charity?
Introduction Techniques
Anecdotal: “When Ambedkar advocated for reservations, he was not seeking charity but institutional justice to correct centuries of oppression.”
Quotation-Based: “Aristotle said, ‘The highest form of charity is justice.’”
Historical Hook: “From medieval almsgiving to modern welfare states, societies have grappled with the choice between relief through charity and transformation through justice.”
Structuring the Body (Thematic)
Theme 1: Distinction Between Justice and Charity
Charity as a symptom-oriented remedy; justice as systemic correction
Charity relies on goodwill; justice is rights-based and enforceable
Welfare schemes like MGNREGA, Right to Education aiming at structural upliftment
Land reforms and labour rights reducing poverty without charity
Empowerment of marginalized (Dalits, women, tribals) through affirmative policies
Justice promoting social cohesion and reducing class-based charity dependence
Theme 3: Political and Legal Institutions
Judiciary ensuring fairness via PILs and landmark rulings (Kesavananda Bharati, Indra Sawhney)
Rule of law protecting vulnerable groups from exploitation
Role of independent commissions (SC/ST Commission, Women’s Commission)
Administrative justice ensuring equitable access to resources
Comparison with charity-based social service approaches
Theme 4: Global Perspective
Nordic countries: High justice via universal welfare → minimal need for charity
UN SDGs focusing on justice-driven development over donor aid
Historical failure of colonial charity vs. post-independence social justice models
Amartya Sen’s capability approach emphasizing justice and freedoms
NGO-to-policy transitions (e.g., food banks leading to Right to Food laws)
Theme 5: Path to a Justice-Oriented Society
Strengthening institutions for distributive justice
Education and health as rights, not charitable favors
Tax justice and progressive redistribution
Empowering local self-governance for participatory justice
Building a culture of equity, reducing dependence on elite philanthropy
Building Arguments
Examples: Reservation policy, Universal Basic Income debates, Nordic welfare model, social justice reforms by Periyar and Ambedkar.
Theories: Rawls’ Theory of Justice, Gandhian trusteeship, Ambedkar’s social democracy.
Constitutional Values: Preamble’s “Justice – social, economic and political”.
Data: Nordic countries’ poverty rate <8% due to welfare systems; India’s CSR contributions (<2% GDP) cannot match needs of systemic upliftment.
Conclusion Techniques
Vision-Based: “A future where every individual has rights and opportunities leaves little room for benevolent charity but vast space for human dignity.”
Return-to-Intro: “As Ambedkar envisioned, justice empowers the weak to stand tall—where charity would have only offered a crutch.”
Philosophical: “Charity may soothe, but justice transforms. A truly just society makes charity nearly obsolete.”
Important Quotes
WISDOM
The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” —Socrates
“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” —Aristotle
“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” —Albert Einstein
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” —Oprah Winfrey
“Wisdom begins in wonder.” —Socrates
EDUCATION
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” —Nelson Mandela
“The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” —Malcolm Forbes
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” —Benjamin Franklin
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” —John Dewey
“The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” —Aristotle
LEADERSHIP
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” —John C. Maxwell
“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” —Ronald Reagan
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” —John F. Kennedy
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.” —Ralph Nader
CREATIVITY
Creativity is intelligence having fun.” —Albert Einstein
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” —Maya Angelou
“Creativity takes courage.” —Henri Matisse
“To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” —Joseph Chilton Pearce
“An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.” —Edwin Land
SUCCESS
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” —Henry David Thoreau
“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” —John D. Rockefeller
“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” —Thomas Jefferson
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” —Winston Churchill
“The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.” —Colin R. Davis
PERSEVERANCE
It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” —Confucius
“Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” —Julie Andrews
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” —Japanese Proverb
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” —Confucius
TECHNOLOGY AND FUTURE
The best way to predict the future is to invent it.” —Alan Kay
“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people.” —Steve Jobs
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” —Arthur C. Clarke
“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” —B.F. Skinner
“We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that works.” —Douglas Adams
SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.” —Jawaharlal Nehru
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke
“Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.” —Oscar Wilde
“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” —Mahatma Gandhi
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” —Native American Proverb
MORALITY AND ETHICS
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” —Edmund Burke
“Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.” —Potter Stewart
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking.” —J.C. Watts
“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.” —Thomas Merton
CHANGE AND ADAPTATION
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” —Albert Einstein
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” —Charles Darwin
“Change is the only constant in life.” —Heraclitus
“Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.” —Max McKeown
“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” —Jim Rohn
JUSTICE
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” —Theodore Parker
“Justice delayed is justice denied.” —William E. Gladstone
“The more laws, the less justice.” —Marcus Tullius Cicero
“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
“Equal justice under law is not just a caption on the façade of the Supreme Court building; it is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society.” —Lewis F. Powell Jr.
“The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a duty of the living to do so for them.” —Lois McMaster Bujold
“Where there is no justice for all, there is no justice at all.” —Cornel West
“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.” —Theodore Roosevelt
“The highest virtue of the law is the public good.” —Cicero
LAWS
The law is reason, free from passion.” —Aristotle
“Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.” —Otto von Bismarck
“Ignorance of the law excuses no man.” —Latin Maxim
“Where there is no law, there is no freedom.” —John Locke
“If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.” —Louis D. Brandeis
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” —Tacitus
“Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.” —Oliver Goldsmith
“Laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught.” —Honoré de Balzac
“It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” —William Blackstone
“A law that is not just is a law that is not a law.” —St. Augustine
DEMOCRACY
Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.” —Winston Churchill
“The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government.” —Thomas Jefferson
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely.” —Franklin D. Roosevelt
“In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility.” —Norman Cousins
“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living.” —John Dewey
“The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” —Abraham Lincoln
“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” —H.L. Mencken
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” —Wendell Phillips
Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed—and no republic can survive.” —John F. Kennedy
ENVIRONMENT
“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.” —Native American Proverb
“The Earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell Berry
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” —Albert Einstein
“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”—Mahatma Gandhi
“In nature nothing exists alone.”—Rachel Carson
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” —Robert Swan
“Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” —William Ruckelshaus
“The environment is where we all meet; where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share.” —Lady Bird Johnson
“To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.” —Wendell Berry
“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” —Thomas Fuller
GENDER AND WOMEN
One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”—Simone de Beauvoir
“I raise up my voice—not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.”—Malala Yousafzai
“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”—Gloria Steinem
“We should all be feminists.”—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“I am my best work—a series of road maps, reports, recipes, doodles, and prayers from the front lines.”—Audre Lorde
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”—Maya Angelou
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” —Ruth Bader Ginsburg
“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: It’s a girl.”—Shirley Chisholm.
“Gender is a story we tell ourselves over and over again.” —Judith Butler
“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.” —Lois Wyse
