“Don’t look at everything as a win or a loss. If we look at life or an exam as a learning, life becomes easier.” These are the words of Ms. Varuna Agrawal, UPSC-2020 topper, who is of the opinion that success comes and goes. Now you have it, then you don’t. However, the times when success eludes you are the times you are giving your toughest exam. And it can be easily passed with the power of faith. That’s exactly how Ms. Varuna Agrawal from Rudrapur in Uttrakhand overcame setbacks in life.
There have been times, Varuna got very close to success, but couldn’t achieve it. Coming so close and not being able to achieve it can be really disheartening. But she didn’t let that happen. Instead, she worked doubly hard. We are talking about UPSC CSE here. She had to make three attempts before clearing it. In the second attempt, she reached till the interview stage, but could not make it to the final list because of three marks only. However, in the next attempt, she topped UPSC-2020, securing 38th rank and became an IAS officer.
Indian Masterminds takes a look at her past and present and tries to piece together her success story.
EARLY LIFE
A resident of Kalyani View colony in Rudrapur town, Varuna wanted to see improvement in the education sector. She felt this could be done through collective efforts and civil service is one of them, through which this change can be made visible. She was also inspired by her grandfather Banwari Lal to become an IAS officer.
Her father Subodh Agrawal and brother Rahul Agrawal are chartered accountants. Her mother Sadhna Agrawal is homemaker. Varuna studied till 12th from Jaycees Public School in the city. She scored 95.4 percent marks in science stream and topped the school. After pursuing her secondary education from the same school, she went to Pune, to study law from Symbiosis Law School.
Varuna had started dreaming about civil service from Class 10 itself. A senior student from the school was selected to the Foreign Service. Later, he came to the school and Varuna heard his speech. Ever since, civil service became her goal.
UPSC PREPARATION
After completing her studies, Varuna went to Delhi to prepare for UPSC exam. She did IAS coaching for a year, and then started preparing at home. She believes that one should never set a time limit while preparing for UPSC exam. “Sometimes setting a time limit is beneficial, but most of the times things get out of control and then the tension increases. So keep working hard and keep yourself positive. Let us assume that we will not get success in the first attempt, even then we will definitely get to learn something.”
SUGGESTIONS FOR ASPIRANTS
Varuna feels that there is lot of confusion among UPSC aspirants. “To remove the confusion in any topic, candidates should rely on only one publication and study from it. Studying from books of more publications will increase the confusion instead of reducing it. Keep revising the syllabus from time to time, so that what you have read is constantly in memory and you can also be sure about your preparation.”
HARD WORK BRINGS SUCCESS
She says that she studied for 8 to 10 hours daily. And all this hard work paid off, when she got selected in the third attempt.
“Don’t look at the exam as pass and fail, but as learning. Learning makes you happy. Even if you fail in the exam or get less marks,your satisfaction remains that you have learned something. When my numbers were low, I used to think that there was something to be learned from it. Today I have better information than yesterday. This gave me motivation.”
ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Unlike most UPSC candidates, Varuna has different views on social media usage. “Social media has many advantages. If you use social media properly, then it is very beneficial. You can connect with many people from whom you will get inspiration, knowledge, and news of the country and abroad.But the information coming through this medium should not be overloaded. Too much of anything is bad.”
KEEP TRYING
There were times when she found this path difficult. Especially, when in the first attempt, she could not clear the preliminary exam. But she did not lose courage. At such times, family and friends encouraged her. Her words of advice are: “Never give up in life. Keep working towards your goal. Keep going step by step. Achieving the goal may take time, there may be many obstacles. But when you give up trying, at that very moment, you choose failure. So just keep trying and success will be yours eventually.”
