There were days when Kolape Pravin Uttamrao’s mother spent hours under the scorching sun cutting sugarcane in distant fields, her hands blistered and her back bent with exhaustion. She did not know whether her son would ever become an officer. She only knew that he must never stop studying. While relatives mocked her for “wasting” her son’s youth on a dream that had already failed several times, she quietly carried the burden of poverty on her shoulders so that he could continue carrying books in his hands.
Seven years later, when the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2025 results were declared, she was not waiting beside a phone. She was harvesting wheat in a neighbour’s field to earn her daily wage. Her son finally found her there and uttered the words she had waited years to hear—he had secured All India Rank 584 and was expecting to join the Indian Revenue Service (IRS).
His success was not built in Delhi’s coaching hubs. It was built in a small library in Karad, on plain sheets of paper instead of expensive test series, and on the unwavering faith of a mother who refused to give up.
A BOY FROM A DROUGHT-HIT VILLAGE
Pravin belongs to Mitki, a tiny drought-prone village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district with barely a thousand residents. For most of the year, the land remained dry. Farming offered little hope, forcing many villagers to migrate to cities for work.
Academically too, life did not begin on a promising note. After scoring just 60 percent in Class 12, engineering and medical colleges were never an option. Even agriculture courses remained out of reach. He eventually enrolled for a simple B.Sc. degree at a college nearly 25 kilometres away.
Every day began with a wait for the state’s red bus, fondly called Lalpari. Dust-filled journeys across rough village roads became a routine.
Little did he know those long bus rides were preparing him for a much tougher journey ahead.
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A WORLD CUP MATCH THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE
Pravin remembers the exact day his UPSC journey began—June 5, 2019. That afternoon he watched cricketing icon Rohit Sharma score a patient century against South Africa in the ICC Cricket World Cup. The innings left a deep impression.
Inspired by Rohit’s resilience, Pravin decided to prepare for the Civil Services Examination. He believed he too would score his own century one day. Instead, the innings stretched into nearly seven years.
FOUR PRELIMS FAILURES AND NO PLAN B
The beginning was brutal. He failed the Preliminary Examination four consecutive times.
After every result, he searched the PDF hoping to find his roll number. Every year, it was missing. Knowing his family could not afford endless uncertainty, he appeared for more than 30 other competitive examinations, including banking, Staff Selection Commission and state public service commissions.
He failed every single one. Not one alternative opened its doors.
WHEN POVERTY BECAME HIS BIGGEST OPPONENT
Within the first year of preparation, tragedy struck. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pravin lost his father to kidney failure.
The family had no savings.
To keep both her sons studying, his mother signed a contract with a mukadam to work as a sugarcane cutter. For six months every year, she migrated to distant fields to cut sugarcane. During the remaining months, she worked as a daily wage labourer in nearby farms.
Meanwhile, Pravin shifted to Karad because living in Pune or Delhi was financially impossible. He deliberately chose to stay close to home so he could return on weekends to help his mother in the fields.
PREPARING WITHOUT COACHING OR TEST SERIES
Karad had no famous UPSC coaching institutes. There were no elite libraries or peer groups discussing answer-writing strategies.
Pravin prepared almost entirely on his own. He could not afford expensive Mains test series. Instead, he wrote answers on plain bundles of paper and evaluated them himself. His biggest learning tool became the answer copies of previous toppers.
“For Mains, I used to do a lot of brainstorming. I studied topper copies, thought about different introductions, conclusions and value additions before comparing my answers. If I found something better, I added it to my notes. This exercise helped me immensely,” he told Indian Masterminds.
HOW HE FINALLY CONQUERED PRELIMS
After repeated failures, Pravin realised that knowledge alone would not clear UPSC Prelims. He changed his strategy completely.
Following the 2022 setback, he solved more than 10,000 multiple-choice questions and carefully analysed previous years’ papers. Ironically, he still failed the 2023 Prelims because of CSAT. But the practice paid off.
He cleared the next three consecutive Preliminary examinations in 2024, 2025 and 2026. According to him, solving large numbers of MCQs builds the aptitude needed for the examination.
He also believes candidates often make the mistake of focusing excessively on current affairs. For him, static subjects remained the foundation of success.
THE INTERVIEW THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
Pravin reached the interview stage in his fifth attempt but narrowly missed the final selection after scoring 135 marks in the Personality Test. It was heartbreaking. Determined to improve, he travelled to Delhi with the help of a small scholarship and money pooled by friends.
This time he attended around a dozen offline mock interviews. The biggest change, however, was internal.
“I believe accepting yourself before the interview board accepts you is most important. UPSC values originality, honesty and genuineness. I answered situations with compassion rather than simply quoting rules because that is what I have seen in rural life,” he said.
The transformation was remarkable. His interview marks jumped from 135 to 195. Combined with a strong essay score of 118, they lifted him to AIR 584.
THE WOMAN WHO NEVER STOPPED BELIEVING
Pravin says his greatest source of strength was never a mentor or coaching institute. It was his mother. Even when neighbours questioned her decision to let him continue preparing after repeated failures, she stood firmly beside him.
She constantly reminded him that sincere effort would one day bear fruit. Her belief became his strength during the darkest moments, especially after narrowly missing the final list in his fifth attempt. His brother and close friends also stood by him when self-doubt threatened to overwhelm him.
A VICTORY FOR EVERY SMALL-TOWN ASPIRANT
After the results, the local MLA organised a grand felicitation ceremony. An elephant led the celebratory procession.
Pravin insisted that his mother sit atop the elephant. He wanted the entire village—and everyone who had questioned her—to look up at the woman who had silently made his success possible.
Standing before thousands of people, he gave credit where he believed it truly belonged. “Look at her. Don’t look at me. If you want to learn resilience, learn it from my mother.”
Today, Pravin’s journey stands as proof that success in UPSC is not reserved for those with elite degrees, expensive coaching or big-city advantages. Sometimes, all it takes is relentless hard work, an unbreakable belief, and a mother who is willing to sacrifice everything so her child can dream.
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