Kanya Pujan, Work From Home, and Four DBMS Lectures

Monday was a little different from my usual working days. Since Tuesday was a holiday for Dussehra, I decided to work from home on Monday as well. This gave me some flexibility to manage my office responsibilities, spend time with my parents, and continue my GATE CSE 2027 preparation.

The day included family traditions, a relatively quiet workday, a short afternoon nap, and four DBMS lectures. I made good academic progress, although I couldn't finish all the notes I had planned.

A Special Day With My Family

Monday was the ninth day of Navratri, and we performed Havan at home with my parents.

My parents were observing their fast, and we also organised Kanya Pujan at home. We invited nine young girls to eat at our home as part of the tradition.

It was a lovely experience, and I'm glad I could participate in these family activities.

Since I was working from home and Tuesday was already a holiday, I didn't have to deal with the usual office commute. That made it easier to manage both my personal responsibilities and my preparation.

Work From Home: A Quiet Day at the Office

Monday turned out to be relatively quiet professionally.

Many of my colleagues had taken leave to enjoy a long weekend. With Saturday, Sunday and Monday off for some employees, followed by Tuesday's Dussehra holiday, it made sense that the office was quieter than usual.

I had some monitoring work to complete, which took approximately two to two and a half hours. I also attended two meetings.

After around 2:30 PM, I was completely free from office work.

That gave me a decent amount of time for studying. However, before opening my books, I had lunch and felt a little sleepy afterwards. I took a quick nap of around 10–15 minutes and then got started.

My priority was DBMS because I still had unfinished lectures from the previous day.

Four Lectures of DBMS Query Language

I started with the third lecture of DBMS Query Language, which I had left pending on Saturday's study plan.

After completing it, I continued with lectures four, five and six.

By the end of the session, I had completed four lectures in total.

That was the main academic achievement of Monday. I was able to clear the pending third lecture and move forward through the chapter instead of letting the unfinished work carry over yet again.

However, there was a catch.

I had also been preparing notes alongside the lectures. I managed to complete the notes for lectures three and four, but the notes for lectures five and six remain unfinished.

Each lecture was approximately two to two and a half hours long. Watching at 1.5x or 2x speed helped reduce the actual viewing time, but it didn't remove the effort required to understand the material and prepare notes.

By the time I reached lectures five and six, I was getting exhausted.

I could continue watching the lectures, but making detailed notes at the same time was becoming increasingly tiring. So I completed the lectures and left the remaining note-making for another session.

DBMS Feels Relatively Comfortable

Compared with some other subjects in my GATE preparation, DBMS feels relatively comfortable to me.

I didn't identify a particularly difficult concept or a major new realisation from Monday's lectures. The main challenge was the amount of material I was trying to cover and the fatigue that came with it.

Still, completing four lectures helped me make progress.

The remaining tasks are clear: finish the notes for lectures five and six, then complete lectures seven, eight and nine.

Having a specific list of pending work is better than simply feeling that a chapter is unfinished without knowing exactly what remains.

The Difference Between Completing Lectures and Completing a Chapter

One thing I need to keep in mind during my GATE CSE preparation is that completing lectures and completing the associated study work are not necessarily the same thing.

I completed four lectures on Monday, but I still have notes pending for two of them.

If I count only completed lectures, the progress looks straightforward. But if I ignore the unfinished notes, I could eventually end up with another backlog that becomes difficult to manage during revision.

This is particularly important because my October target is to complete the syllabus by the end of the month. I still have other subjects to cover, including the remaining COA chapters and Compiler Design.

I need to be realistic about the time required for lectures, notes and revision rather than planning as if watching a lecture is the only task involved.

Tomorrow's Plan

Tuesday is a Dussehra holiday, so my immediate priority is to continue with DBMS.

My plan is to:

• Complete the notes for lectures five and six.
• Finish the remaining Query Language lectures seven, eight and nine.

That is the target for the day.

I also need to keep track of my wider syllabus schedule. COA still has pending chapters, and Compiler Design is approaching. Since I haven't studied Compiler Design before, I need to account for the time required to understand unfamiliar concepts.

For now, the sensible approach is to focus on the tasks already in front of me rather than worrying about every upcoming subject simultaneously.

What I Took Away From Monday

Monday was a combination of family time, office responsibilities and studying.

I performed Havan with my parents, participated in Kanya Pujan, completed my office work, and still managed to finish four DBMS lectures.

At the same time, I couldn't finish all the notes. That is an important part of the day's record, too.

I don't want to count only the things I completed while ignoring the work that remains. Tracking both will help me understand my actual progress and prevent small pending tasks from accumulating into a larger backlog.

For Tuesday, I have a clear target: finish the pending notes and complete the remaining Query Language lectures.

Day 36 complete. Four DBMS lectures finished, notes for two lectures completed, and a clear plan for the Dussehra holiday.