#31 - IELTS Speaking test in India – May 2016

Test # 31

- What is your name?

My name is Ravi Batra.

- How may I call you?

You may call me by my first name, Ravi.

- Where are you from?

I’m from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in the western part of India.

- Do you often use public transport?

Yes I use public transport, but not very often. I have a bike, so I use public transport only when I have to travel long distances in the city.

- Do you use taxis or buses?

I use taxis mostly…the hire-a-cab services like Ola and Uber. Buses are very crowded and I don’t like to be in crowded places a lot. I sometimes use the BRTS corridor though – that’s a route circling my city specifically for buses only….that too I use after rush hours.

- Have you ever taken a long distance trip by bus or taxi?

I went to Mt. Abu once in a hired cab…it took me four hours to reach there…it is a hill station so buses are not so frequent for going up to the top. I felt nauseous and dizzy once we started climbing up the curvy roads…but after reaching the top it was okay.

- What do you think about the public transport facilities in your city?

The public transport facilities in my city are very good…especially after the government introduced the BRTS bus system, it has been a real relief from the crowded dusty buses of the state government. The BRTS buses are a little more swanky and air-conditioned, plus the frequency and timings are very well organized for every corner of the city.

Cue Card

Talk about an article you read recently in a magazine or newspaper. Please say

- What magazine/newspaper it was

- When you read the article

- What it was about

I recently read an article in a newspaper supplement about stress, and ways to deal with it. The supplement was called Ahmedabad mirror, and it comes with Times of India. I read this article just a week back when I was waiting for a meeting with someone in their office lounge. I picked up a paper from a nearby rack to while the time away. Anyways so the article described various reasons of why people get stressed nowadays, and also how some people don’t even realize that they’re stressed. The article also described what our body biologically goes through when we are stressed and when we try to cope with it. It was really a very interesting read, and I got to know about this bodily functions thing that I don’t think I or most people for that matter don’t even think about when we think of stress.  Unfortunately I couldn’t finish reading the entire piece as I was called for by the receptionist. Nevertheless, I got to know a few new things about this subject.

Discussion

- What did you do with that article? Did you cut it out and save it?

No, I couldn’t do anything besides leaving the paper there as it belonged to the office I was visiting. I thought of buying a copy of the paper for myself but it skipped my mind completely until right now when I had to answer this question.

- Do people read magazines in your country?

Yes they do! People in my country are fond of reading a variety of topics, like lifestyle, automobiles, business, economy, Bollywood, fashion and such…and therefore the magazines are also published in almost all the vernacular languages for people to enjoy reading.

- What type of magazines do people prefer?

If I categorize people into age groups, I think children prefer comics and magazines which have puzzles or other such fun activities that they can do…youngsters prefer to read magazines on fashion, health and beauty, Bollywood, bikes and cars, and maybe some eroticas…middle aged people prefer business and economic magazines, health and beauty, and lifestyle as well….and the elderly prefer magazines with more of spiritual content.

- Is there any negative impact of magazines on young generation?

The only negative impact magazines have are the type of adult magazines that are published…a renowned name like playboy is very popular among youngsters for its adult content…generally youngsters read such magazines in secret so definitely it has a negative impact on them.

- Is there any difference between an article published in a newspaper and a television show about the same issue?

Definitely there is a vast difference in both…the video representation makes the issue easier to understand an visualize as to how exactly it might’ve happened…we can link the text to the visuals and grasp the story in a better manner…and it also has a better impact…for example reading about a notorious robbery, and seeing the whole enactment on a crime related TV show makes the people feel more connected towards the issue than just having read it…

- What are the benefits of showing news on television?

The benefits are that we get updated news by the hour, as the TV news channels run for 24 hours now…we also can realize the intensity of the news topic based on the narration of the reporter…this makes a better place in our memory than the text we read…

- Are the journalists doing their job well?

I'm not too sure about this answer as I feel some journalists nowadays are not really aware of the meaning of journalism…I mean they just spice up any form of news with fake enthusiasm and over the top description…also some news pieces are so ridiculous that you start to question the reasoning of the person who actually invested his time in creating such an irrelevant news story…I do agree that some senior journalists of my country take journalism very seriously, but the sad part is that the sincere ones are much lesser than the amateur journalists we have today…