First off – Hearty Congratulations to all those you’ve been short listed for interview in IBPS PO IV! Hard work and dedication pays!
And those of you who haven’t cleared the written – have heart and keep faith, your day will come too; keep your eyes on the goal and keep preparing – the next one will be yours!
And for everyone in general, on either side of the today’s results – the battle is still on – don’t rejoice, don’t sulk, don’t expect victory, don’t give up, don’t throw your pens in excitement, or you books in frustration – yet – ‘cause the battle is long and tough and it is still on…
I am suddenly feeling very poetic and dramatic…maybe so…because our topic for today in Reasoning is – Blood Relations!
This chapter never fails to amuse me – not because of the chapter itself – but the title of the chapter!
It sounds like some Bollywood movie title: Blood Relations – The khooni rishtey! Starring You, Me and our Grandfather, with guest appearance of Dad’s second cousin!
It sounds like some Bollywood movie title: Blood Relations – The khooni rishtey! Starring You, Me and our Grandfather, with guest appearance of Dad’s second cousin!
Now, I say – each and every one of us Indians are deep rooted in ‘family system’ – we have mamas/mamis, chachas/chachis, buas/phuphas, nana/nanis, dada/dadis, our own and cousin bhais and behens and their wives and husbands…and…them…and theirs …and woah!
What I mean to say is, we have our own Rajshree productions (the people who make huge family wale movies like Hum Saath Saath Hain – Hum Apke Hain Kaun!) at our own homes! Blood relations should be a sure thing for us – we are experts!
And in such huge families, with confusing relations we need to carve our own niche and identity and herein lies our trick to solving ‘Khooni Rishtey’!
What I mean to say is, we have our own Rajshree productions (the people who make huge family wale movies like Hum Saath Saath Hain – Hum Apke Hain Kaun!) at our own homes! Blood relations should be a sure thing for us – we are experts!
And in such huge families, with confusing relations we need to carve our own niche and identity and herein lies our trick to solving ‘Khooni Rishtey’!
1. The Generations
There are four generations -
2. Who are you? –‘ Main kaun hoon?’
Solve every question from your point of view. Identify which person you want to be – or be the person from whom the question starts.For example:
(i) She is the daughter of my mother. Who am I?
Consider yourself the ‘my’ in the above statement; then your mother’s daughter is the ‘she’.
(ii) Meenu is the sister of Anup’s mother. Sid is the only son of Anup. Who is Meenu to Anup?
In this question, you be the mid generation person, Anup – that way – your (Anup’s) mother’s sister is your Aunt (Meenu mausi) and Sid is you only son. There for your aunt is your son’s grandmother!
3. Who is that? – ‘Who kaun hain mera?’
Now that you’ve started the question being someone – the next follows the relations given in the question. Identify them from the point of view of ‘you’ again – who is that person in relation to you?Your brother? Your sister? Your father-in-law? Your daughter?
As per that – put them in their respective generations – you children/niece/nephew will come below your generation, the brothers and sister and cousins in your generation, your parents and their siblings in the generation above yours and your grandparents above your parents’ generation!
4. Pencil se likho nayi kahani…
…you can use pen too … best way to do is – jot down the names and generations in an arrow/flow chart manner in the rough sheet – you will never go wrong!If you can mentally solve the question then great! But be sure of the answer – and always better to solve it on the paper in the flowchart format.
5. Don’t be like pk…
or ‘Peekay’ and confuse between male and female!When you have identified beyond doubt that someone is Male (M) or Female (F) – then write a small M or F beside their names – that way you’ll avoid unnecessary confusion and silly mistakes.
Sometimes – you might see that you’ve created the entire family tree and identified ‘Nandu’ as your sister’s child! Awesome. So is Nandu you niece or nephew?
Neither! Because you don’t know if ‘Nandu’ is male or female! Your correct answer will be – ‘Can not be determined’.
6. What is in a name? ‘Naam mein kya rakha hai?
Kuch nahin!In blood relations, ‘Manoj’ does not have to be male and ‘Keerti’ does not have to be a female.
Never – I repeat – NEVER – assume male/female gender on the basis of the name; gender to be identified according to the clues in the question.
And if after solving the entire question, the gender still cannot be gauged – then answer will be – in most cases – ‘can not be determined’.
7. First Direct – then the Indirect
First use all the direct information and then the indirect ones when more information on it is available, to solve the question.For example: Sam is Emily’s father. Emily is Lola’s mother. John is Carla’s brother.
Here,
The first two sentences show direct relations.
Sam(m)
|
Emily(f)
|
Lola (we do not know Lola is male or female! So write nothing)
But who is John and who is Carla? – these are indirect information as of now and keep them aside for the time being for more information.
Now suppose the question says, Carla is Lola’s only Aunt – Aha! Now we solve it!
Sam(m)
|
Emily(f) – Carla (f) – John (m)
|
Lola (still gender confused!)
Thus, this shows, Sam has 3 children, Emily(f), Carla(f) and John(m) and one grandchild Lola. John is Lola’s Uncle and brother to Emily and Carla.
8. Use Mother Tongue!
Maaaaaa!
How much more dramatic can we possibly go!
Well this is the last one in our family drama – and trust me when I say – this is probably the most important tip of all.
Solve questions in your mother tongue – because we’ve been calling our aunts - mausis and buas all our lives and it is never confusing.
This will really help those candidates who are not comfortable with English – especially when it is given in confusing, roundabout manner in blood relations! I get confused too – so I solve it in Hindi!
I usually go something like this, “Mere chachaa…ki wife …chachi…ki mother in law …saas …matlab…daadi…!)
Are you getting the train of thought?
Try it in your native language – and I guarantee you’ll never falter with Blood relations questions.
Well that is all folks…
Congratulations again to the successful candidates and support and comfort to the ones who are preparing for IBPS PO V!
Keep going people! May the power be with you!
Solve questions in your mother tongue – because we’ve been calling our aunts - mausis and buas all our lives and it is never confusing.
This will really help those candidates who are not comfortable with English – especially when it is given in confusing, roundabout manner in blood relations! I get confused too – so I solve it in Hindi!
I usually go something like this, “Mere chachaa…ki wife …chachi…ki mother in law …saas …matlab…daadi…!)
Are you getting the train of thought?
Try it in your native language – and I guarantee you’ll never falter with Blood relations questions.
Well that is all folks…
Congratulations again to the successful candidates and support and comfort to the ones who are preparing for IBPS PO V!
Keep going people! May the power be with you!
