When Aarushi Sharma was in the fourth year of her engineering degree, her future seemed headed in a very different direction. Campus placements were approaching, and most of her classmates were preparing to step into corporate careers.
Civil services was not even on her list. In fact, it was something she had firmly decided not to pursue. The idea came from her father, who gently nudged her to at least consider the option.
At first, she resisted. But slowly, the question began to stay in her mind: what kind of life would feel meaningful decades later? When she imagined herself at sixty or seventy, looking back at her life, she wanted it to feel larger than personal comfort or professional success. She wanted the impact of her work to reach beyond her immediate circle.
That reflection changed her decision. Civil services began to look like a platform where that kind of life could take shape.
THE LONELY BEGINNING OF UPSC PREPARATION
Aarushi started preparing during the final year of college, but the serious phase began only after graduation in 2018.
Almost immediately, the contrast between her life and that of her friends became clear. While they were settling into new jobs, weekend outings and professional growth, she was sitting at home studying. The fear of missing out began to creep in.
To deal with the distraction, she took a drastic step. Social media accounts were deleted, and friends were informed that she would disappear for some time to focus completely on preparation.
The shift from engineering subjects to humanities was not easy either. Consistency became a struggle. Revision was weak. Previous year questions were not practiced properly.
But the biggest mistake was overconfidence. Coming from a strong academic background, she believed clearing prelims would be easy.
Then came the shock.
THE FIRST FALL THAT SHOOK EVERYTHING
In her first attempt in 2019, Aarushi failed the Civil Services Preliminary Examination, missing the cutoff by seven marks.
The impact was immediate and overwhelming. For a week, she found herself crying without warning. Even her family did not know how to respond. The disappointment pushed her into a dark phase where the future looked uncertain.
Gradually, support from her mother and close friends helped her regain stability. Long phone calls, constant encouragement and reminders to keep studying slowly brought her back to routine.
But the exam had more surprises waiting.
WHEN FAILURE BECAME A TURNING POINT
Her second prelims attempt also ended without her roll number appearing in the result list.
This time, the reaction was different. Instead of breaking down, she laughed. The failure changed her perspective. The exam began to feel less like a verdict on her abilities and more like a challenge she had to understand better.
For the next attempt, she changed her strategy. Instead of focusing only on prelims, she began preparing for mains simultaneously.
Study sessions turned into daily competitions with friends on online study platforms. The aim each day was simple: study more than yesterday.
SO CLOSE, YET NOT IN THE FINAL LIST
That strategy helped her reach the mains stage. Aarushi wrote every question in the examination and felt confident that she would make it to the final list.
But when the results were declared, her name was missing again.
She had missed the final list by just three marks.
Eventually, the reserve list brought relief. She was allotted the Indian Information Service through Civil Services Examination 2021. Yet the timing created a strange situation. The next prelims examination was only five days away.
Those five days became a cycle of emotions. Study sessions were interrupted by sudden reminders of the missed final list. She would pause, wash her face, and return to her books.
A STRONG COMEBACK IN THE NEXT ATTEMPT
This time, she cleared prelims comfortably, ahead of the cutoff by around fifteen to twenty marks.
There was no celebration. Only one day was taken off to clean her room before beginning mains preparation again. While many aspirants were attending felicitation events and gatherings, Aarushi once again disconnected from social platforms and focused only on studying.
The unpredictability of the examination continued. A paper that felt disastrous later turned out to be her stronger score. Another that felt excellent produced weaker marks. The essay paper also saw a drop of thirty marks compared to earlier performance.
Despite these fluctuations, the journey finally moved forward.
THE MOMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Around this time, Aarushi created her Instagram account for the first time, something she had promised herself she would do after getting selected.
Half an hour later, the reserve list result appeared.
She walked downstairs and informed her parents with a single line that captured years of effort and uncertainty: ‘I am no longer unemployed.’
The happiness on her parents’ faces made the long preparation years suddenly meaningful.
A POWERFUL INTERVIEW AND A NEW RANK
Even after receiving a service through the reserve list, Aarushi continued preparing. This time, she focused heavily on reading. A friendly competition with a close friend pushed her to read more than fifty books.
The reading habit strengthened her confidence and conversation skills.
In the interview stage of Civil Services Examination 2022, that preparation paid off. Questions revolved around philosophy, literature and ideas, areas she had explored deeply during her preparation.
Her interview score jumped from 173 in the previous attempt to 195.
When the final result arrived, Aarushi Sharma secured All India Rank 402 and joined the Indian Postal Service.
LEARNING TO VALUE SMALL VICTORIES
Even today, Aarushi does not describe her journey as finished. There are still ambitions she hopes to pursue and goals she wants to reach.
But she has learned an important lesson along the way. Progress should not be measured only by final results. Every small achievement—every good score, every improvement—deserves to be acknowledged.
Because sometimes the hardest part of the journey is simply continuing long enough to see the day when everything finally begins to fall into place.
