Waikhom Nydia Devi proved the saying, ‘Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached’, true when she successfully cleared UPSC CSE this year, and that too with a good rank of AIR 180. For this young girl from Manipur, the road to UPSC was filled with setbacks. In her last four attempts to crack CSE, she couldn’t even clear the Prelims. Yet, she didn’t stop trying and in her fifth attempt, she aced the exam. In a candid conversation with Indian Masterminds, Nydia Devi says that when the approach to a goal is right, then half of the work is already done.

NEVER SAY NEVER

For Nydia, clearing UPSC CSE was the sole purpose in life in the last five years. Hailing from Kakching district of Manipur, she had been continuously appearing for the examination from 2016 but could not even clear the prelims examination. But, with a never-say-die spirit, this young feisty Manipuri girl learned from her mistakes and kept on trying till she achieved her goal. She cleared all three rounds in the 2020 exam and went on to get a high rank of AIR 180. Nydia showed that if one doesn’t give up and keeps trying, any goal can be reached. What is needed is patience and perseverance.

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FAILURES SPURRED HER ON TO TRY HARDER

Nydia believes that a good understanding of what the examination is all about, and then approaching it in the right manner, is very important for an aspirant. It was the knowledge gap, the lack of know-how about how to approach the exam, that was the reason for her past four failures.

There were times, she admits, when she did fall prey to negative thoughts. When she almost felt like giving up. But she was soon able to take control of her thoughts and direct her mind towards positivity. She says now that those negative thoughts triggered in her the zeal to try even harder. She analyzed her mistakes, rectified them, and restarted her studies with fresh strategies and enthusiasm.

She took Political Science & International Relations (PSIR) as her optional subject. “The syllabus of PSIR overlapped the GS-II syllabus, which was a plus point,” she explained.

COVID WARRIOR PARENTS INSPIRED HER

Nydia always wanted to make her parents proud of her. And she succeeded! She revealed that her parents were her constant motivational source during her weak phases. Her father recently retired from his job as an ambulance driver at the Thoubal district hospital, while her mother is still a nurse there.

“My parents are my inspiration. My mother’s a nurse and my father recently retired from his ambulance driver job at the Thoubal district hospital. I saw them driving up and down to the hospital during the height of the pandemic. They never compromised on their duties. Seeing this, I thought, if they never give up and do what is needed to be done, why should I give up when something doesn’t turn out as expected?” Nydia told Indian Masterminds.

Apart from crediting her parents for her success, she would also like to credit “each and every person I’ve met so far in my life, from whom I’ve learnt something or the other that has shaped me into becoming the person I am today.”

HAPPY TO WORK WHEREVER SHE IS POSTED

Nydia does not have any preference when it comes to a place of posting and said that she would give her best wherever she is posted.

However, given a chance, she would like to work in the field of child education. She would also like to start an initiative to guide UPSC aspirants, based on her past experiences.

FOCUS ON THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION

Nydia’s brief message for aspirants is: “Focus more on the journey of the exam, rather than the outcome.”

Indeed, this young achiever’s story has proved beyond any doubt that ‘failures are the stepping stones to success’, and it is important to keep moving over them, even if one baby step at a time.