Srinagar, Aug. 15 -- While preparing for an exam, especially the life-altering ones like UPSC, something peculiar happens. You enter a world where everyone is in some form of preparation - a world full of borrowed books, PDF files, online lectures, and aspirations whispered between pauses. It becomes a quiet community of invisible battles. Along that path, I came across someone - a fellow aspirant - who, like me, was learning from the same educator online. We connected, nothing dramatic, just casual messages and polite check-ins over time. But what stayed constant through changing seasons and changing lives was that this person, year after year, was still preparing for the same exam. There's something unsettling about seeing time stay sti...