Komal Ganatra’s UPSC journey is a journey of self-discovery, self-respect and pride of every young and innocent girl who marries and tries her best to settle down in her new family but gets cheated and abused instead. Since childhood, most of these girls are groomed to get married, manage house, and take care of the family, and advised to put everything else, including studies and career, on a backseat.
Komal Ganatra, too, grew up believing her priority in life is getting married into a good household, until she was jolted back to reality by her husband abandoning her and she realised that she was cheated.
However, unlike most, she chose to chase her career instead of chasing her husband. She focused on rebuilding her self-respect and pride instead of trying to mend a broken marriage. She made UPSC her goal, cleared it, and today she is an administrative officer in the Ministry of Defence.
Today, Indian Masterminds takes a look at her inspirational journey till here – a journey filled with hard work, self-confidence and steely determination to build a life for herself on her own.
FIGHT FOR IDENTITY
Ms. Ganatra had graduated in three subjects (English, Sanskrit and Hindi) and had also done her engineering from distance. Her father was a teacher who always supported her and taught her to be ambitious. She grew up with two younger brothers. After completing her studies, she started preparing for competitive exams while working as a teacher.
She cleared the mains exam for Gujarat civil services but got married to an NRI soon after. She was happy and in love with her husband, looking forward to a new life when suddenly her seemingly-fairy tale world came crashing down on her. Just 15 days after the wedding, her husband left for New Zealand and never came back.
This sudden desertion left her in shock. She even tried to go to New Zealand to look for her husband and tried for a visa. While doing all this, she realized that one can’t be brought back forcefully. Echoing that thought, she had said in a video conversation: “I asked myself if following somebody is the only purpose of my life. The answer was no. I left my GPCS interview because my husband didn’t want that. But that was the time to focus on my career. Everybody had different suggestions for me, but I had decided to first build my career.”
She decided to appear for UPSC to make a career for herself. It was not just about clearing the exam and becoming a civil services officer, but it was also her fight to get her identity and self-respect back.
DON’T FOLLOW ANYBODY
It was not easy to start the preparation. Ms. Ganatra didn’t have any financial support. She took up a government job of teaching and shifted to a small village which was 40 km away from her parent’s home. “There was no internet connection and no English newspapers were available. I was away from the competition world and was preparing in peace and silence. I never took off from the school, and on every Saturday and Sunday, travelled to Ahmedabad for coaching. This continued till I cleared my exam”, said Ms. Ganatra.
After continuous effort for four years, she finally cleared the exam in her fifth attempt. She gave the exam in Gujarati medium and was the topper of Gujarati literature in UPSC CSE 2012.
COURTING SUCCESS
The officer firmly believes in charting out one’s own path and following it to reach one’s goals. She strongly advocates against following anybody blindly with the hope of having a successful life. She went after what she wanted the most and achieved it in style. She did not let a bad marriage and sudden adversity pull her down. Neither did she indulge in self-pity. Instead, she emerged stronger, focused on building her life on her own, and cleared India’s toughest exam to become a civil services officer.
She remarried and got second time lucky as she found a supportive and loving husband. Today, Komal Ganatra is a successful officer, a successful wife, and a successful mother.
