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This is the verbatim 2023 UPSC essay prompt; the topper's full essay on this exact line gives a student a directly reusable structure, thesis and example bank.
Key learnings from their answer
- ›Opens Essay 1 not with a definition but with Buddha's renunciation narrative, resolving it in one pivot line - the prince 'was now not lost but found a destination' - which directly births the Madhyama marga / golden-mean thesis -> Use a story whose ending IS your thesis: the anecdote should mechanically deliver your central argument, not just decorate the intro.
- ›Builds a deliberate 'ladder of wanderers who paid a price' - Socrates lost his life, Alexander lost his army's morale, Columbus was seeking India - turning 'Not all who wander are lost' into an explicit cost-benefit meditation rather than a one-sided celebration -> Stack examples that complicate the prompt; a graded series showing both gains and costs proves you have weighed the statement instead of merely agreeing with it.
- ›Reaches for contemporary, verifiable examples on a philosophical topic - Virat Kohli's retirement and Djokovic conceding to young Alcaraz & Sinner - to illustrate 'knowing when to stop wandering and reroute' -> Anchor abstract themes in current, checkable events; living examples signal awareness and freshness where most candidates default to the same historical stock.
What they cited: Gautama Buddha — the young prince leaving home, penance/fasting, finding the 'golden mean' (Madhyama marga) and founding Buddhism · Socrates — wandered for democracy but lost his life · Alexander — wandered for expansion but lost his army's morale · Columbus — wandered seeking India · Virat Kohli (retirement) and Novak Djokovic vs young blood Alcaraz & Sinner — knowing when to stop · Robert Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' — two roads diverging, taking the road less travelled
Quotes used: “Essay topic / leitmotif: 'Not all who wander are lost' (J.R.R. Tolkien — author not named in copy)” “Paraphrase of Frost's 'The Road Not Taken' — 'I took the road less travelled and it changed all' (poet not named)”