When UPSC declared the consolidated reserve list of Civil Services (Main) Examination 2020 on 31 December, the list included the names of 75 candidates who were selected to fill up the remaining posts based on the 2020 examination. The list was a pleasant surprise for the 75 candidates as they finally made it to civil services.
Among them is a young boy from Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district who cleared this tough examination in his second attempt and brought honor to his village and its people. Anubhav Dimri, who secured 37th rank in the reserve list of UPSC 2020, is a resident of Dimmar village in Karnaprayag block of Chamoli district.
EARLY LIFE
Anubhav’s father Mr. Chandrashekhar Dimri was an army man and after retirement, he joined Defense Security Corps (DSC). While speaking with Indian Masterminds, Anubhav said “My childhood was spent in various places like Uttarakhand, Meerut, West Bengal, Arunachal etc. due to my father’s posting but I studied in Meerut Army School from seventh grade till I completed my high school.”
After completing schooling, Anubhav went to the national capital to pursue engineering in Computer Science from Indraprastha University.
CLEARING UPSC
Coming from an army background, Anubhav considered other options as his career choice rather than choosing the corporate life after college. He reminisced, “In May 2017 when I was in third year, I consulted my childhood friend from Meerut named Mintu about various career options after graduation. He was preparing for the SSC exam at that time and asked me to start studying for the UPSC exam as I was still in my third year. It was at that time when I got to know about UPSC, and I started preparing for it.”
He added that during the third year, he could not give much time to the UPSC exam due to college work. But in April 2018, when his fourth year began, he simultaneously started preparing for UPSC in a full-fledged manner. “I sat for the UPSC prelims exam in June 2019 but could not succeed. Some of my friends and seniors motivated me to not think about the failure and start preparing for the exam again.”
After graduation, Anubhav had all the time for focusing on the UPSC exam. He started preparing for the exam again and sat for his second attempt in October 2020. This time he cleared the prelims exam and scored 113 marks after some questions were dropped from the paper. He then gave his Mains exam and successfully cleared it. After appearing for the final interview stage, he was not selected in the first list. However, UPSC released the reserve list on 31 December which included his name at 37th rank.
He said, “I am excited to join a road to serve the public and while experiencing the journey of joining any service which I am allotted I will appear for the exam once again and aim towards scoring better.”
INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE
Anubhav took weekend coaching on general studies (GS) in 2018 but chose to prepare for the essay and his optional subject, Sociology, on his own.
While speaking about the experience he gained from appearing in the interview for the first time, he said, “It is mostly said that questions are asked upon your Detailed Application Form (DAF). However, it was a totally opposite experience for me as the very first question which was asked was who I support between Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh. I was shocked as I was not expecting this at all. Many such random questions were asked but as soon as I picked up momentum after a question or two, I started answering their counter questions.”
Anubhav is of the view that one should not expect anything before appearing for the interview and prepare well to answer any type of questions the panelist might ask.
