Reaching the final stage of UPSC CSE and still failing can be devastating. It’s like seeing the finishing line so close and yet failing to reach it. Kushal Jain from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh is one such person who faced failure after reaching the interview stage of UPSC, not once but thrice. The UPSC 2021 exam was his fourth attempt, and after showing phenomenal patience and dedication in the past four years, Kushal finally cleared the exam this year with flying colours, securing a top rank of 40.
Kushal was professionally an engineer prior to the UPSC preparation and was working with Microsoft. He was earning pretty well in the private sector before he quit his job to switch over to civil service.
EDUCATION
Kushal, 29, is the son of Jaikumar Jain who is an engineer in the government department. His mother, Rashmi Jain, is a government school teacher. Kushal did his schooling at Christ Church Boys’ Senior Secondary School in Jabalpur. After taking an engineering degree in computer science from a reputed institute in Bangalore, he got placed in the American multinational technology corporation, Microsoft’s Delhi office, at a good package.
However, MNC life didn’t suit Kushal for long and he started thinking of his roots and his parents who were both government workers. He thought something is missing in his life and even consulted with his parents about choosing the public service.
In 2018, Kushal left his job at Microsoft to pursue his dream of clearing the UPSC exam, for which he had dreamt of during his childhood when he used to watch the then DM of Jabalpur hoist the national flag on Republic Day in school. He took no time in leaving the job.
CLEARING UPSC
During an interview with the media, Kushal said that as his parents were government servants themselves, the atmosphere around the house was always towards community service.
Hence, Kushal took a big step of leaving his Microsoft job to prepare for the UPSC exam. He did not take any coaching for the preparation and focused on clearing the exam through his interest and hard work. He failed to clear the exam thrice and got rejected after going through the interview stage.
Anybody in his shoes would have left the preparation. However, he kept his patience and took failure in a positive way. In the fourth attempt in 2021, his determination worked in his favour as he secured a top rank of 40 in the exam.
He advises other aspirants to consult with successful candidates and study by making a weekly timetable. He also suggests giving mock tests and go through the previous years’ question papers.
Kushal is now celebrating his success with his family at his home and is waiting for the training to start.
