What can be more inspirational for a civil service aspirant than witnessing two senior IPS officers, who have served their country for more than two decades, sharing their experiences and talking about various aspects of their journey, hardships, and positive approaches to life. This happened in an interactive session organized by UPSC Guide recently with Dr Ravinder Singal ,Special IGP, Aurangabad, and Mr. Dinesh MN, ADG Anti-Corruption Bureau, Rajasthan. Both are 1995-batch IPS officers, and they enlightened and delighted the UPSC aspirants and others who attended the session with interesting glimpses of their life. Here’s what they said during the session.
THE BEGINNING
Mr. Dinesh MN completed his engineering in Electronics and Communication from Mysore, Karnataka, and cleared UPSC CSE in his first attempt. Dr. Singal is an academician who cleared CSE while working with Gale India. Both the officers cleared the exam in the same year,1995. Dr. Singal said, “The CSE preparation journey is so beautiful, and its charm is the same as it used to be at our time. One should not consider it as a burden. Everyday there will be a war within yourself and conquering that war of self-doubt is important.” Mr. Dinesh said that “If I can clear the exam even without reading my optional ever before, anyone with proper strategy can do it.”
HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED
Both officers shared their experiences on their professional journey. Mr. Singal said, “I try to compare myself with the younger generation to keep myself learning and doing my best. Running, swimming and shooting are my hobbies. Dignity of uniform and personality development always matter for an officer.”
Mr. Dinesh had gone through the bitter experience of suspension due to 7 years of jail for alleged role in encounter killing of a Lashkar-e-Taiba member in 2007. Finally, in 2017,CBI dropped the charges. He talked about motivation as he shared, “I was in jail for 7 years and I realized the fact that we live only once, and one setback cannot decide how I’ll lead the rest of my life.” He quoted Viktor Frankl: “Reacting to circumstances is always in your control.” He was an IPS but without duty, without salary in jail, but accepted that fact and kept himself fit, reading a lot of books, keeping a positive attitude. To do this was under his control. He said, “Jail is like a university for an officer and living with criminals, knowing more about them, later helped me to solve many crime mysteries, especially in mining operations.”
FACE ADVERSITY WITH OPTIMISM
Both officers see adversity as an opportunity. Mr. Singal said: “Life can’t be rosy all the time as it’s a package of work, marriage, love, rejection, hate, success, failure, disease, death and debt. For a blind person, happiness is just getting his vision back. Everyone has different levels of adversities. So, we need to be prepared for battles.”
Mr. Dinesh shared one of his experiences from jail: “A gangster in jail who had a very good physique used to teach us different kinds of push-ups. One day he asked me how I got into this service and shared his desire to make his son an IPS officer. That touched my heart at how a prisoner who’s been in jail for at least 10 years was so hopeful about the future of his son who was just a kid in nursery school.” By citing this example, he stressed on the kind of optimism that is needed not just for UPSC preparation but for every tough time in life.
DO NOT ENTERTAIN DOUBTS
The officers also shared their mantras for a good life. They quoted ‘Sanshyatma Vinashyati’ from the Gita to indicate the adverse effect of self-doubt. They said that imagination is a tool which, if used in a visionary way, can do wonders. But, when one starts to think more about negativity, the fear multiplies in a thousand ways and can destroy him. They advised not to doubt oneself, and if someone is fearful because of the lack of knowledge of a particular topic or subject, he should just get to work.
They went on to say that not only mental, but physical fitness is equally important. They emphasized on the need for stress-releasing activities like running, exercising, playing, yoga and meditation. According to them, enthusiasm is the key to leading an energized life. Mr. Dinesh said, “The only certainty is death. We have a beautiful life to live. As I lost those precious 7 years of life, I understand the importance of working more and working hard. The service is beautiful and provides lots of opportunities to serve the nation.”
WILLINGNESS TO SERVE SOCIETY
On what should be the ideal qualities of an aspirant, Mr. Dinesh said, “The only qualities are concern and willingness to serve people. If you have them, then other qualities will come with them.” If someone badly wants to join the service, then every battle can be conquered with consistency, perseverance and patience, he remarked.
Mr. Ravinder said that he is a die-hard fan of uniform and if someone wants to serve society in different ways, he or she must join it. “The kind of satisfaction one can get by serving as a first responder is unparalleled,” he added. Both the officers wholeheartedly agreed on one thing: that they derive their strength from the fariyadi that comes to them, and the satisfaction on his face is their only motivation.
