11 October: repair the roof in sunshine
Sunday 11 October 2026
Essay · 1000 to 1200 words · 125 marks
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
(UPSC Mains 2022, Essay, Section B)
Set a timer for 80 minutes: 20 to plan, 60 to write. Write by hand if you can, then type it in below.
The form of this topic
| Form | A metaphor |
| What it asks you to do first | Rewrite it as a plain claim before you plan |
| A plain version | Prepare for a crisis in good times, when you have the money and the calm to do it |
| Where the line comes from | John F. Kennedy, State of the Union address, 1962 |
Your essay argues the plain version. Do not spend paragraphs on roofs and weather.
Four questions to plan with
- Why do people and governments put off preparing while things are going well?
- Where in India has preparing in good times saved lives or money?
- What happens when the repair waits for the storm?
- When is it wrong, or impossible, to prepare in advance?
Open only after you have written
How to approach this topic
Read it closely. The roof is anything that protects you. The sunshine is a good period: growth, calm, spare money. The claim is about timing. Prepare when you can afford to, because in a crisis you cannot.
Take a position. Agree, and say where the claim stops being true. You cannot repair every roof, so the real skill is choosing which one.
Choose a frame. Go by sector: disasters, public money, health, water, and personal life. Then give one paragraph to the objection.
Answer the strongest objection. In good times nobody can see the leak. Preparation costs money now for a benefit that may never be visible. Say why the claim still holds.
| Mistake | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Three paragraphs on the metaphor | One line to translate it, then argue the plain claim |
| Writing a disaster management essay | Keep every paragraph on timing: why now, while it is calm |
| Only agreeing | Give a paragraph to the cost of preparing and the risk of preparing for the wrong thing |
| Kennedy's quote as your conclusion | End on what should happen next |
A model plan
Thesis. Preparation is cheapest and most effective in good times. Good times also remove the pressure to do it. Societies that build preparation into rules and budgets do not have to rely on foresight.
Introduction. Odisha in October 1999 and October 2013. The super cyclone killed about 10,000 people. Cyclone Phailin, a very severe cyclonic storm, killed fewer than 50. Odisha spent the years between building shelters and an evacuation system.
Paragraph points.
| # | Point | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preparation saves lives when it is done in calm years | The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority, set up in 1999. Cyclone shelters and evacuation drills before Phailin |
| 2 | Public finance works the same way | The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003. Low deficits in good years leave room to spend in a downturn |
| 3 | Health systems are built before the outbreak | Kerala's primary health network and its response to Nipah in 2018 |
| 4 | Water is stored in the wet years | Tamil Nadu made rainwater harvesting compulsory for buildings in 2003. Chennai's water crisis in 2019 showed what happens when systems lapse |
| 5 | Heat and climate risk are planned for in cool months | Ahmedabad's Heat Action Plan of 2013, written after the 2010 heatwave |
| 6 | Why good times breed neglect | Prevention is invisible. A government gets credit for relief, rarely for a disaster that did not happen |
| 7 | The objection: you cannot repair every roof | Money is limited and risks are uncertain. Use risk maps and past data to choose. India's National Disaster Management Plan prioritises by hazard |
Conclusion. Return to Odisha. Preparation lasted because it became a rule and a budget line. Name what should follow: a fixed share of every budget for prevention, and drills held when nothing is wrong.
Why this plan works. It turns the metaphor into a claim in the first line. Every point has an Indian example with a year. Point 6 explains why the claim is hard to follow. Point 7 answers the objection.