“Whenever you find breakers on the road, just slowdown, but never stop. Breakers show that you are on the right track. There will be many bad days in your life. But you have to work harder in those days and bounce back. The capability of bouncing back will put you ahead of everyone,” said Mr. Satwik Srivastava in an exclusive interview to Indian Masterminds.
At one point, he quit a Railways job to chase his dream. And even then, he failed to clear UPSC to join his dream service.
However, he kept his focus on his dream and now, he is going to become a SDM. Coming from rural background, Satwik’s story is an example of how determination and ambition can help you achieve your goal.
JOURNEY: FROM NIT to SDM
Till graduation, he never thought of Civil Services and focussed only on engineering. But during the Covid pandemic in 2020, he changed his mind after seeing the layoffs in the private sector.
Then, in July 2021, he started his preparation for UPPCS. He made three attempts at UPPCS and in his first and second attempts, he could not crack even the prelims.
But, in his third attempt in UPPCS-2023, he cracked the exam with Rank 3.
In the meantime, he had cleared GATE exam in 2022 and got a job in the Railways as Junior Technical Associate. But, he chose not to join it.
BACKGROUND
Satwik originally belongs to Hardoi district in UP. His father Jagdish Srivasatava is a document writer in the Registrar Office in Hardoi, while his mother is a homemaker. He is the only child of his parents.
He studied till 12th in Saint Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Hardoi. After that, he completed his B. Tech in Civil Engineering from NIT, Jaipur in 2020.
CIVIL SERVICES PREPARATION
In his third attempt of UPPPCS, he prepared more strategically. He joined an online coaching in Lucknow, and focussed on syllabus and PYQs specifically.
He never counted the hours while studying, but still made sure to study a minimum of 5 to 6 hours daily with a focussed mind.
He said, “I made many mistakes in 2022 attempt and could not focus properly on prelims exam due to my Railways job procedure.”
For mains, he says that the examiner don’t want you to be a perfectionist. They just want to see how beautifully you write your answers. Hence, one should practice answer writing daily.
He completed his 70 per cent of mains syllabus before the prelims exam so that after his prelims, he can give time to revision for the mains exam for 3 months.
He urges aspirants to fully devote almost one and half year to the preparation of this exam. “If you want to clear this exam then, please don’t do anything apart from it. And, make your plan carefully. Take 15 days for planning, but do it well and strategically.”
THE INTERVIEW
His Interview was more situation based. He was asked various questions from his background to and from current affairs. He was asked a question on ‘One Nation, One language.’
One member asked him: “If you are a SDM and in your area, Internet has been shut down in a girl’s institution due to anti state activities, what will you do?”
Some questions were asked on ethics, like: “Those who do not learn from history, become history. This had to be answered in the current international context.” To which he replied with the example of Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia conflict and the UN’s failure in these matters. “If they had learned from India-Pakistan conflict, then they would not have repeated the same mistake again.”
One more interesting question he was asked was about the importance books have in our life. He said that this might seem like a simple question, but it came from the board after much deliberations.
He had replied, “Just as a child is brought up by his parents, similarly, books fulfill the desires of a person who is seeking knowledge. Later, we have to go out to get practical knowledge and make some observations too. But, at the initial stage, this work is of books.”
SUGGESTIONS
He advises everyone, not only those in Civil Services, but all who are seeking to achieve certain goals to be focussed on these. “It is human nature to get distracted after some time. But, you have to tell yourself that without achieving your goal, life will not be meaningful for you.“
He added that one should never break consistency. “It would be blunder. If any given day, you don’t want to study, then still study for an hour. It will give you further motivation and boost your morale, as although you did not want to do it, you still did it!”
