What is the difference between Intelligence and Common sense?

I will analyse it using an unfolding story!

Yahoo (and Lycos, Alta Vista..) made a search engine much before Google did. That’s first-mover intelligence.

All of them failed to see Google’s inherent strength when they could have smashed it - that’s lack of common sense and wisdom. And very bad luck.

Google decided to plod on, and build on it. That’s tenacity coupled with intelligence.

Some early investors made a killing. That’s foresight, intelligence and luck combined.

Yahoo still did not see any value in it. That’s a total lack of common sense.

Google kept building on its success. And then launched social media tools (Wave? Buzz?). That’s ambition, and tenacity. But with little wisdom.

Facebook romped home with a much better strategy and product. That’s intelligence.

Google continued fighting. Continues to. With G+.

Facebook trampled it. That’s tenacity coupled with intelligence.

Whatsapp emerged. That’s super-intelligence. Yahoo - the employer - misses again.

Yahoo got hammered in the long run.

What do intelligent people do with their phones?

• They do not allow the phone to become the master. It remains a slave, serving a purpose & not becoming the purpose.
• Sleep is very essential for all. The phone too gets adequate rest each night.
• Literally, Deus ex machina? Nah.
• The phone is taught manners early on. It keeps quiet largely.
• The phone helps relationships by staying out of sight on crucial moments.

Long live the well-mannered phone!

A comprehensive, topic-wise and useful collection of my various posts and answers can be found here. Enjoy.
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What did the British East India Company do to India?

The Brits came, they saw, they were amazed, they plundered, rendered the local economy rootless, they left. A single statement that summarizes the British East India Company's (and later the British Raj's) stay in Indian sub-continent from 1700s to 1947.

When trade and politics are completely intermixed, there is no way a trader can remain solely one, and a politicians can afford not to trade. The brutal death of Indian economy under British rule is a proof of the above axiomatic truth. The East India Company found India very rich, and left it poor beyond imagination!

Despite the Company officers' blatant corruption, genocidal tendencies and ruthlessness, the British Monarch and Parliament allowed it to continue so for decades, as it was fuelling their Industrial Revolution. Thus, the East played the biggest role in enriching the West.

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Various pointers to what actually happened -

• It is important to understand the background of Europe in the 15th century. All the newly emerging nation-states were assuming that the only way they could stay ahead of the rest was for them to hoard as much gold and silver as they could.

I don't want to go to Delhi to prepare for IAS exam. Can I make it?

Can you clear IAS exam without going to Delhi? Yes.
Can you stay at home and prepare for IAS exam? Yes.
Do people go to Delhi and crack the IAS exam? Yes.
Do people go to Delhi and fail to crack the IAS exam? Yes.
I started with the range of possibilities we witness every year. So it is safe to say that you can prepare well for the UPSC IAS exam, even while remaining at home (or while working), if you are disciplined enough to stay focussed, sincere enough to prepare structured notes daily, and intelligent enough to realise what's important and what's not. And this discipline + sincerity + intelligence has to be sustained, and not sporadic or spasmodic.

We're with you, even at home

You can also try and get hold of a comprehensive solution for Self Prep that can help you go step-by-step in this long and arduous journey. Such a solution has to go way beyond being just a "collection of books, newspapers and internet content". It has to be a comprehensive solution.

Now coming to the broad and generalised "Delhi-jaoon-ki-nahin" conundrum, here's what I feel:
A complete answer to your question depends on knowing certain things about you:

1. Is this your first attempt? (from the question, it appears so)
2. What is your reading background so far?
3. What is your educational background?
4. How much do you know about the demands of the UPSC exam?
5. Which location do you hail from?

I asked the first question to judge your present state of exposure to the various dynamics of UPSC preparations. If you have written the exam even once, then you surely come to know about (a) the names of top classes in India, (b) the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly about perceptions of people regarding the exam, the teachers, the course materials, and the Optionals, and (c) your own standing vis-a-vis what is needed to crack the Test. So, if you have no idea about what the UPSC prep is all about, going to Delhi is not a bad idea, if you can afford it. A lot of well-intentioned people on this forum and on the internet may aggressively advise you against it because it did not work out for them. But it does work for many people who may not write any answers here! So, it is not proper, IMPO, to totally depend on someone's personal experience of Delhi. That "someone" is not you, and does not share your constraints or resources.