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| Topping KAS was not enough for me | | |
Raghav Langer
IAS 2008 ( Rank 21)
Till now it has been a long journey for me and what carried me along through all was the never say die attitude, sustained hardwork, the temperament to carry on without haulting and the impulse inside me to achieve my ultimate goal. Though I even qualified the KAS 2007 with the top rank but the sense of contentment was never there. I always aspired for IAS. My first attempt for IAS though bagged me an entry into the Indian Revenue Services (IRS) but anything other than IAS could not satisfy the fervor and the dissonance inside me pushed me harder to achieve my ultimate aspiration. Though even after achieving the top rank in KAS and appointed as an Under Secretary in the Department of Health and Medical Education I thought of moving ahead towards my goal. Though it is always a pleasure serving for the home state but I always aspired for IAS. But even this is not the end to my aspirations rather it’s a beginning of a new era for me. I have got the final profession I wanted to be in. I further aspire to become a good efficient IAS officer; will like to serve the people of this country and work to bring about people friendly changes.
The decision to jump into the uncertain world of competitives after leaving the secure profession of a doctor was always difficult to take. Further I even suffered the drawback of being from the medical background as the aspirants from the Arts stream have a broader horizon because their subjects deal with Current Affairs, General Knowledge, History and such other subjects which are helpful to them in the General Studies. In comparison to this the six years exhaustive study of medical sciences make you a specialist of human anatomy but you are not left with much general knowledge and current affairs updates and that is a reason that you don’t find many Administrative Services aspirants from medical stream but my instincts drove me towards my goal. Somewhere my studies in MBBS played a very important role in my success as it taught me dedication, hardwork, scientific temperament, perseverance to work for hours and hours and further it taught me the value for human life and people. Even my schooling had a very important role to play as those budding years were formative and the temperament attained in that period carried a long way along with me and paid me at the end. At Nagabani we were made to work up hard and it was there where I learnt the role of determination in success. Even my Family played a primary role in my success story as their support and guidance always kept my spirits high and further they always played an important role in all my decisions.
I had Medical Sciences and Psychology as my subjects in the Competitives and was advised by many not to opt for the Medical Sciences as my optional subject as the success rate with it is not good and even I personally feel that UPSC tries to demoralize specialists professionals like Engineers and Doctors. But as such I took a calculated risk by keeping Medical Sciences as my optional subject so as to remain in touch with my subject and in case I don’t find success I may switch back to my medical profession.
My fiancée Remia Mahajan can be considered the Woman behind the Success story as she always stood along me in all my important decisions. It was after a thorough discussion with her that is decided to take Psychology as my optional subject for IAS. She is a lecturer of Psychology in a Government College in Jammu. I took coaching from S.R College of Competition and also from Genesis and have all regards for my teachers Mr. Parveen Sharma and Mr. Rahul Jamwal for their exceptional guidance. I took coaching for Psychology from Wagi Ram and Ravi Institute, Delhi. Coaching plays an important role especially when you start preparing for the competitives in a later age but at last it is the personal effort which makes all the difference.
As such there is not much difference between KAS and IAS in terms of preparation. I established my base for IAS on KAS itself. The style of coaching and the preparations are the same the only difference is the magnitude of competition but what all is required to overcome it is the temperament and the impulse to move further. Many of KAS aspirants are quite talented and capable of clearing IAS but most of them are contented with KAS and do not wish to try for IAS.
On my social aspect no doubt I had remain secluded from my friends and social circle for last 3 to 4 years but as such I m not a bookworm. Versatility is my basic nature and I m a jolly character. I love to play cricket and basket ball. I love music and play guitar, have already participated in two college festivals where I played my original compositions. Now the mood swing is back to socialization and planning to disturb the stings of my guitar again. Celebrations are all around now I m just about to turn 28 on May 16 and going to get married to the love of my life the month following.
Once again many aspirants of Civil services will be appearing in the competitives soon I would like to wish them all success and will suggest to remain committed to what ever venture they take up in life, have perseverance towards their goal, faith in the almighty and be patient, hard work always pays.
As told to AD Singh for ET
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