The heartbreak was so real that Amit almost quit preparing for the civil services exam. Anybody in Amit’s shoes would have gone through the same situation. CSE 2015 result was announced, and a colleague congratulated him for getting selected. Amit looked up the results and saw his name on the list, but the roll number was different. It took him sometime to realise that he was not selected.
To make matters worse, he started receiving tons of wishes and it was getting even more frustrating for him. It came to a point when he almost left preparation. But he was strong and took that failure as an opportunity to crack the goal which he had been working for years. In 2017, when results were announced for CSE 2016, both his name and roll number were on the list!
Going back five years from this day of celebration, to 2012, Amit Verma had then completed his B. Tech from IIT Roorkee. Passing out from the prestigious university, he landed with a good campus placement in Wipro Technologies as Business Associate. However, working in the engineering background wasn’t his lifetime career choice. And the ambitious boy from Bharatpur district of Rajasthan started preparing for a long innings in civil services.
WHY CIVIL SERVICES
Amit grew up in a family where two members were already serving the nation. His grandfather was a freedom fighter and a Gandhian in all ways. Apart from this, his uncle was a civil servant and was serving in his home cadre, Rajasthan. Both these men were a big motivation for Amit. In a blog, he also mentions two instances that made him choose civil services as a career option.
The first instance was when, after his class 12th, he was in Kota preparing for the JEE exam. A boy used to live near his place of accommodation who was also from his native place, Bharatpur. When he mentioned that to the boy’s father, he received blessings in return for the DM of Bharatpur who was doing good work in the district. And the DM was none other than his own uncle.
Another instance was when the same uncle received an award for his work from the President of India. Amit writes, “This made me realise that work done by the civil servant is valuable in a country’s growth and development and also makes a long-lasting impact on people’s lives and minds.”
ALMOST QUIT PREPARATION
Amit sat for the prelims exam for the first time in 2013. Luckily, he cleared the exam in the first attempt and moved on to the next stage which was the mains exam. He chose Public Administration as his optional and took leave without pay from his office to prepare. He shifted to Delhi for preparation but unfortunately failed in the Mains exam.
Due to poor performance in the optional subject, he planned to switch to Anthropology. Apart from UPSC, he and his friend also gave the Indian Engineering Service (IES) exam. In the meantime, he left his job and made preparation a full-time engagement. Both cleared the exam in the first attempt and joined Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE).
However, UPSC preparation still went on, and in 2016, when he returned back from a trek of Beas Kund, the CSE 2015 result was announced. A colleague asked him to see the result and congratulated him that he got selected. Amit saw the result and his name was on the list, but the roll number was different. It took him sometime to realise that he was not selected, and it was heartbreaking.
He received tons of wishes and it was getting even more weird and frustrating for him. He came to a point when he almost left preparing but did not. He started preparing again and took help from a friend and other seniors to make corrections in his strategy. He started practicing and revising more, as compared to reading new content.
In May 2017, the CSE 2016 result was announced and this time again his name appeared on the final list. However, unlike last time, his roll number and name were the same and he had secured AIR 253. He got the IPS grade and was allotted West Bengal cadre. He is currently serving as Additional SP in Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar District.
