Everyone who triumphs in the UPSC Civil Services Examination go through their own fair share of struggles. But there are some for whom the journey becomes very difficult to continue, yet they still trudge along. Such is the story of Ms. Aparajita Sharma, who secured AIR 40 in CSE 2017. She lost her mother just before the interview round, but she still gave the interview strongly and cleared the exam with a good rank, coming in the top 50.
Currently, posted as the SDM, Ballabhgarh in Haryana, Ms. Sharma is an inspiration for everyone who is preparing for civil services. Indian Masterminds presents her UPSC success story – a journey marred by tragedy.
MATERNAL GRANDFATHER’S ROLE
The only child of her parents, Ms. Sharma hails from Varanasi. Her father is an ex-IRS officer while her mother was a professor and had always pushed her to gain as much knowledge as she could. Since childhood, she was very pampered by her extended family, especially her maternal grandfather.
In an article written by her, she says, “My grandfather had a great influence on me, and he took many decisions regarding my education. It was he who sent me to a Hindi medium school so that I could get command on the language.”
According to her, when she didn’t even understand the meaning of ‘officer’, her grandfather would inspire her to become one. Today, she is an IAS officer.
Ms. Sharma did her Chemical Engineering from BIT, Mesra, and took up a job. She describes her job as the turning point in her life. She was posted in a small plant in North UP. Being the only female employee there, she faced many challenges which pushed her to prepare for UPSC.
OWNING UP FAILURES
After making up her mind, Ms. Sharma came to New Delhi for preparations. “That was really a difficult time for me as I was not able to make use of coaching classes. I did take a class for my optional subject, history. But to be honest, my preparation before the first attempt was really scattered.”
She made the first attempt in UPSC in 2015 and then again next year. In her second attempt, she could not clear her mains due to ineffective time management. According to her, she was ignoring this aspect all the while, but when she saw failure in the second attempt, she made serious attempt to sort herself out.
APPEARED STRONG DESPITE SETBACK
However, there was no immediate end to her struggles. Before her interview in the 2017 exam, she lost her mother. She was shattered and was not able to seriously prepare for the interview. She was in deep emotional trauma, but she could not afford to waste her last chance. Gathering all her courage and mental strength, she went for the interview and was selected to the final list of successful candidates, with AIR 40.
