Dussehra, Family Time, and a Planned Break From Studying

Not every day of GATE preparation goes according to plan. Sometimes, lectures get completed, notes get prepared, and everything moves forward as expected. Other times, festivals happen, relatives visit, family conversations continue longer than expected, and the study schedule takes a back seat.

Day 37 was one of those days.

Tuesday was Dussehra, and I spent most of the day celebrating the festival and spending time with my family. I had planned to complete some pending DBMS work, but I eventually decided to move it to one of my buffer days.

There was no major academic achievement to report for the day. Still, there were a few things worth documenting.

Finishing the Pending DBMS Notes

Before talking about the rest of the day, there was one academic task I managed to complete: the notes for DBMS Query Language Lectures 5 and 6.

I spent approximately two hours preparing these notes.

The reason it took so long was that some of the concepts were a little difficult to grasp. I didn't want to fill my notebook with sentences that looked technical but meant nothing to me.

Instead, I tried to write only those concepts and explanations that I could actually understand.

This slowed me down, but I felt it was a better approach than simply copying everything from the lecture. After all, these notes are supposed to help me during revision, not become another set of pages that I have to decode later.

Once the notes were finished, I started Lecture 7. However, I couldn't continue with the remaining lectures as planned.

And then Dussehra happened.

Dussehra and a House Full of Conversations

Dussehra is an important festival in Hindu tradition, and I wanted to celebrate it with my family.

Relatives came to our home, and we spent time chatting about different things. One of the main topics was my engagement, which is planned for next year.

We discussed the preparations, how things were progressing, and how the girl's family was approaching the arrangements. These are important conversations because an engagement involves more than just deciding a date or organising a ceremony. There are families to coordinate with and plenty of things to discuss.

I enjoyed spending time with everyone, but there was another thought running in the background.

I kept remembering the study tasks I had planned for the day.

I knew how much DBMS work was left, and I kept thinking about the three lectures I wanted to complete. Even while sitting with my relatives, a part of my mind was calculating the remaining study time.

Apparently, the GATE preparation schedule had decided to accompany me to the family gathering. Nobody had invited it, but there it was.

Making Shivai Kheer While Observing My Fast

I also prepared Shivai Kheer for everyone at home.

It turned out pretty tasty, which was slightly unfortunate for me because Tuesday is the day I observe my fast for Hanuman Ji.

I couldn't taste the kheer myself, even though I had prepared it for everyone else.

In the evening, the family went out for dinner together. I accompanied them, although I didn't eat anything because I was observing my fast.

I could have stayed home and tried to recover some study time, but the relatives had come to visit us, and they don't come over very often. Not joining everyone for dinner could have given the wrong impression and would have meant missing out on time together.

So I went with them.

Sometimes, family life involves participating in things even when you have other plans running through your head. And on this particular Tuesday, I decided that spending time with my relatives was worth it.

We returned home late, at around 11 PM.

Why I Didn't Force Myself to Study at Night

My original plan was to complete DBMS Query Language Lectures 7, 8 and 9.

Each lecture was approximately 2 hours and 40–45 minutes long. Even at 1.5× or 2× speed, watching all three would have required several hours, especially if I wanted to understand the material properly.

By the time I returned home at 11 PM, that plan no longer made much sense.

I also had to go to the office on Wednesday. Staying awake late into the night to squeeze in a few hours of lectures would have affected my sleep and potentially made the following day more difficult.

So I decided to sleep and move the unfinished work to the buffer days I had already included in my October schedule.

I didn't complete the planned lectures. That's the truth.

But I also didn't want to turn one missed study day into a poor night of sleep followed by an unproductive working day.

The Real Purpose of My Three Buffer Days

When I created my October study schedule, I deliberately kept three buffer days at the end of the month.

The idea was simple: I knew that unexpected things could happen. Work responsibilities, family commitments, festivals, illness, or simply a difficult day could interfere with the plan.

Those buffer days were meant to absorb such disruptions.

Tuesday was a practical example of why I had included them.

I wasn't particularly upset about missing the study session because I knew the schedule already had some flexibility. I still have work to complete, but one day without studying doesn't automatically mean the entire plan has failed.

At the same time, buffer days are not magic. They give me room to adjust, but they don't eliminate the work waiting for me. I still need to track the backlog carefully and decide where each unfinished task fits.

The point is to use the buffer intentionally rather than repeatedly postponing work without a plan.

The Growing DBMS Backlog

DBMS Query Language still has several lectures pending.

My current backlog includes two lectures from Chapter 2, three from Chapter 3, and three from Chapter 4.

I also need to keep track of the remaining COA work before moving fully into Compiler Design.

Compiler Design is the subject that worries me the most at the moment. I haven't studied it during either my bachelor's or master's degree, so I will be approaching it as a completely new subject.

With a limited amount of time left in October, I am not entirely sure how comfortably I will be able to cover it before moving into the revision and mock-test phase.

For now, I have decided not to get ahead of myself. I need to finish the remaining COA chapters first and then give Compiler Design the attention it requires.

The uncertainty is still there, but worrying about an upcoming subject won't complete the chapters I have already started.

Tomorrow: Back to COA

My plan for Wednesday, 21 October, is to work on Computer Organisation and Architecture.

I have two Magnetic Disk lectures to complete. They cover the introduction to magnetic disks, access time, and calculating sector addresses.

After that, I plan to begin Pipelining, which is the final chapter of COA in my current schedule.

That gives me three lectures to work through, alongside my office responsibilities.

DBMS remains pending, and I'll need to fit that work into the remaining preparation window. I can't ignore it indefinitely just because another subject is currently taking priority.

Day 37: No Study, But No Need to Pretend Otherwise

Tuesday was not a productive academic day. I completed the DBMS notes for Lectures 5 and 6, but I didn't finish the three lectures I had planned.

I celebrated Dussehra, spent time with my relatives, discussed my upcoming engagement with my family, prepared Shivai Kheer, observed my Hanuman Ji fast, and joined everyone for dinner without eating.

By the time I returned home, it was already around 11 PM, and I chose sleep over forcing a long study session into the night.

I'm recording the day as it happened rather than trying to make it sound more productive than it was.

My October syllabus target is still important, and I have work to do. But the buffer days were included for a reason, and this was exactly the kind of situation they were meant to accommodate.

Tomorrow, the focus returns to COA, starting with Magnetic Disk and then Pipelining.

Day 37 complete. No study session completed, some DBMS notes finished earlier in the day, plenty of family time, and the remaining work carried forward to the planned buffer days.