“While choosing a career, it is a must to choose what you love the most. We have to do that for the rest of our lives and if we don’t love that or are not passionate about it, then we might not be able to take the best out of us. I had figured out that public service fills those criteria for me, and I am passionate about it,” says Aishwarya Verma.
Mr. Verma, whose roots are in Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), secured AIR 4 in the UPSC CSE 2021-22. He is technically the topper amongst the boys.
It was his fourth attempt and he made it to the single digit rank, which is a huge feat for any UPSC aspirant. Indian Masterminds talked to him and got to know about his journey and his future plans.
ONLY EXPECTED NAME IN THE LIST
Mr. Verma, who hails from a middle-class family with father in banking sector, completed his 10th and 12th from Uttarakhand. Thereafter, he went to GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology and completed his graduation with Electrical Engineering in 2017. Just after completing his degree, he went for UPSC CSE preparation. He gave three attempts, and in the fourth one, he got Rank 4. According to him, his first attempt was kind of a trial and he could not get through Prelims. In the next two, he couldn’t reach the interview round. When asked how AIR 4 feels, he said: “To be honest, I was not expecting this. Already I have had failures, so this was a surprise for me. Since, my interview and Mains both went nice, so, I was just hoping my name would be somewhere in the list.”
PARENTS CAME TO THE RESCUE
Mr. Verma didn’t take campus placement and right after graduation, he went for civil services preparation. He was doing an internship during his final year when he decided to go for the exam. Talking about it, he says, “I realised that civil services is what I am best suited for, and I am going to enjoy working there only. Why am I wasting time if my goal is clear? This was it and everything fell through.”
He mentions that he will be wrong if he said the failures didn’t shake his confidence a bit or he didn’t look for other options. “My resume was blank. I knew if civil service doesn’t work out, then I might have to struggle for a stable career. I was very confident after my third attempt but couldn’t succeed. That was my weakest time but my parents came to the rescue. They always assured me that I should go ahead, and they would support me in all ways,” he said.
CIVIL SERVICES IS AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THINGS BETTER
In 2019, Mr. Verma cleared CAT with around 98%. After his fourth attempt, he was planning to do MBA for an optional career. “I am glad that I don’t have to do that now because that job would never satisfy me. I chose civil services because it gives you an opportunity to do things that are eventually going to make someone’s life better. That itself is a booster for person like me to be passionate about this job,” he said.
Now that he has achieved what he dreamt about, he is all set to go through the journey of working in the field. He wants to learn as much as he can from his seniors and implement it on the ground.
