We often hear some stories which becomes the stepping towards the foundation of our own success. Many time in out lives we come across people who show you how to play the game named life. how to make our weakness our strengths. One of these people is Ummul Kher who has cracked UPSC exam in her first attempt and have got 420 AIR.
Seema Pujani, a native of Faridabad, is the youngest daughter of Mr Amar Nath Pujani, a retired SDM of Faridabad and currently a legal consultant. She did most of her schooling from Faridabad. During her school life, Seema participated in a lot of extra-curricular activities in the school like quiz, elocution, art, etc. However, academics was the main priority in the house. Both her elder sisters are doctors. Pujani wanted to be an engineer, so she chose the science stream after class X to realize that her interest lies in social sciences and languages. So after class XII, she appeared for law entrance exam and got admission in one of the top law school of India, National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.
Success is an aim to accomplish. It is not just created in a day. Once started need focus, determination, will power and innovative ideas to achieve it.
A story about achievement of a startup company CultureAlleys, that developed an App Hello English which became number one educational app in India on Google Play Store. CultureAlleys is a tech startup company Co-founded by a couple Nishant Patni and Pranshu Patni.
Nishant Patni is an IItian and also did MBA and was placed in an MNC. Also Pranshu Patni was also working in an MNC but for this project to get accomplished and soon before getting married they launched this app in October 2014.
The idea of this project started when Pranshu Patni’s husband Nishant Patni who got relocated to Shanghai, China for an exchange program. Being a vegetarian he was worried about how to communicate with locals for food. So he tried learning Mandarin through online courses, tutorial books and also attended learning classes, but due to his hectic schedule had to give up during that time. Pranshu realised many other wanted to learn some other languages but due to their hectic schedule they are not able to do so. Because of this thought she left her job as an analyst at Pitney Bowes in Gurgaon, to start working on CultureAlley. Pranshu came back to her city Jaipur. There she started working on it.
At first they started with a website that could teach languages including English, Hindi, Mandarin and Spanish, through multiple trainings. Soon it became famous and more than 500 startup company started to use it in their module. These couple didn’t stopped their effort. They started developing app Hello English which will be supported by android, IOS and windows. After it was developed in October 2014 in 8 months one million people downloaded the app.
This app has very interesting catalog to start with.
Firstly user has to pass one test and according to results he gets assigned with course which suits him best. Onwards, each course has it’s unique design to developed users language capabilities. Also user can connect with teachers for further queries on skype with minimal amount. There is also a feature of complete course with the payment of the required amount. As this app is having this much features which is very helpful to the beginner as well as for experts, it began to be downloaded rapidly and became India’s number one educational app by Google play store.
They were awarded many times from 2015 for creating so useful educational stuff. This wasn’t achieved in day one. They have put lots of effort in it and maintained their consistency. Now a days it is very important to know that if a dream is to be fulfilled, the person should be fast and consistent about there work.
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
-Harriet Tubman
This quote fits perfectly for Suruchi Chaudhary, who had a dream and the passion to fulfill that dream, despite of the challenges that came in her life. A mother of two boys, Suruchi was working with Edelweiss Group as a Financial Research Analyst when she started preparing for the civil services examination. She quit her 7-years long job at Edelweiss and with just 2 attempts in hand, she began her preparation.
Meet Suruchi Chaudhary
Suruchi Chaudhary did her graduation from Shri Ram College of Commerce and an MBA in Finance. She also cleared the Chartered Financial Analyst exam. Suruchi had been married for 8 years before she sat for the civil services exam.
Suruchi began with just two attempts in hand due to age limit. She barely had any idea about the exam. In 2015, she could not even clear the prelims exam because of the changes in the CSAT pattern. She doubted her ability to return to studying after a gap of 7 years, to study her optional subject after a decade, and to write with paper and pen after 10 years of being in front of laptops.
Prelims score card- Suruchi Chaudhary
“Most scary was the constant fear of facing the last attempt which had the first Main and the first Interview.”, says suruchi
Suruchi sat for her second and last attempt for the CSE exams in 2016. Not only did she cleared the exam but got an amazing rank of 152 AIR. Her optional subjects were Commerce and Accountancy given her academics and work experience in the same field. The fact that she had no idea about the exam made her success even more special for her.
Mains score card – Suruchi Chaudhary
CSE Preparation
When Suruchi started preparing, she had returned to study after 7 years, and with 2 kids to take care of, her biggest achievement was time management. She believes that from fulfilling a parent’s responsibilities to preparing notes and giving mock tests, all these things could not be possible without a well thought plan.
Success comes to those who dedicate everything to their passion in life. The journey of CSE is long, and can only be sustained if one has lingering desire to succeed.
“I studied even on the day my younger one was born, inside my hospital room!! This is how badly I wanted this to happen.”, says suruchi
Topper articles and Success stories used to keep Suruchi motivated. Her role model was Mary Kom as she could relate to her. She felt that if Mary Kom could return to boxing even after having 2 kids and do well in boxing, then there was no reason that her kids could be a hindrance in her studies. She even had the poster of the movie Mary Kom near her table to keep her motivated.
Suruchi says that she had limited her resources- selected books, newspapers and test series. She even says that revision is the deciding factor in the exam and is very important during the preparation. She focused more on writing that reading for the exam.
“The ride was very rocky, but I enjoyed every bit of it.“, Suruchi says after topping the cse 2016.
Chaudhary opted for IRS(IT) as her first preference and ended up getting the same. Suruchi is a mother of two toddlers and is aware of her role in her children’s upbringing. She took a sentient decision to maintain the balance between her family and work life. Suruchi’s journey is an inspiration to all those mothers and women who want to restart their career. Not only that, she is an epitome of will power and passion. Her journey is an encouragement to the youth to achieve their dreams.
Most stories should not be unheard. The inspiring stories should be heard by the masses so that more people could get motivated and inspired by their stories. Such stories should be well publicized and luckily enough, the technology has helped us do the same. Nowadays, people can share and trade their success stories through Social Media or through writing blogs and contents. Luckily enough such blogs do get the required recognition and henceforth increasing the publication of such content.
Among such success stories, it is the IAS success stories that get the most recognition in India. India is known for frequently hosting and conducting the UPSC exams, Union Public Service Commission is one of the prime ways for getting a central government job in India. Students or People who take part in this examination often go through a lot to participate and consequently succeeding in the exams.
The said people live a normal life just like us, instead, they have more determination. As said before the IAS examination is categorized as one of the most challenging exams. This competitive exam is followed by a round of interviews and group discussion sessions. It takes a lot of hard work and determination to crack this particular exam. Here is a short write up of three such people whose story is worth being heard around the world. These stories will surely make up your mind to stay determined and focused.
Ansar Shaikh- Yougest IAS Officer, Son of Ricksaw Driver
Ansar Shaikh was just another determined student whose aim was to be an IAS officer. The reason why this young man’s accomplishment is worth sharing is that of his tremendous effort for securing the IAS exam in the first attempt itself. Moreover, this young man did not “buy” the skills that pay the bill. Ansar is a son of an auto rickshaw driver and his desire for IAS position made him the youngest IAS officer at the age of just 21 years.
Since Ansar came from a financially backward family, he used to work as a waiter when he was studying so as to earn and collect money that he used to pay for his classes and computer tuition. Even though Ansar could only secure a 70% on his 10th board exams, he bounced back with a great result in the IAS exam. Being the only graduate of his family, Ansars accomplishment is undoubted, a proud moment for his father.
Vivek Chauhan – Cleared IAS in 6th Attempt
Ok, Vivek Chauhan’s story is completely different and honestly a bit more motivational as well. Vivek Chauhan is a resident of Ghaziabad and his life took a challenging beginning. The younger Chauhan used to wake up at 5:00 AM to catch a train for traveling all the way to the capital city Delhi to do his schooling. This was his daily routine till he finished his 12th standard. Out of the total 24 hours, Vivek used to spend around 6 hours for traveling alone.
Unlike most of the other aspirants, Vivek’s dream was to be a doctor. Being categorized under General category it was hard for him to pursue and accomplish his dream. He would then take up teacher training. After going through a lot of coaching and training Vivek got temporarily posted on a school at the age of 19. He followed the path for a normal life of a teacher and got married when he was 25 years old. His desire for being doctor slowly faded away and his new desire was to take up civil services.
The Hardships he went through
Back then, general candidates had 4 attempts to write the civil service exams. As a busy family guy who had a lot of responsibilities and duties, it was hard for him to prepare and write a challenging exam like that of civil services. He lost his very first attempt due to his negligence for preparation. After slowly achieving his responsibilities as a family man, Vivek got back to his preparation. This time around with a determined mindset.
The reason why he thinks being a teacher helped him in his long run towards IAS officer is when he was elected as one among the representatives of teachers association. He would then become the General Secretary. Being the General secretary, Vivek had a lot of responsibilities but all of this work helped him to get a better determination for pursuing IAS officer. This determination was tested when he appeared to take on civil services for the second time. After appearing for the 2010 prelims, he was disappointed with his results as he was short of just 7 marks to get a spot. CSE 2 Vivek 0
After a disappointing defeat, he prepared even harder for the third attempt. With a huge support base, Vivek was optimistic this time around. This optimism turned into something like overconfidence as he failed to secure the third attempt as well. CSE 3 Vivek 0
His success
All this time marks were a problem for him to clear the prelims, but it was different for the fourth and final attempt. Even though he cleared the cutoff mark for prelims, CSE changed the cut off scheme, which led him to fail for the fourth and final time.
Luckily Vivek got an additional 2 attempts with which he successfully completed his desire. All this hard work and determination handed him an All India Rank of 300.
Govind Jaiswal – Son of Rickshaw Puller
Govind Jaiswal is known for his tremendous achievement of bagging the 48th rank in the Civil Services examination. The story behind such success is truly inspiring. Govind is a son of Rickshaw puller. He dealt with a lot of hard times on the way to achieving his aspiration. One among the challenges he faced was that of lack of money.
Living together in a congested rested home was never easy for him. Moreover managing to get space was studying was hard. On the road towards achieving his dreams, his father got ill was no more able to pull rickshaw again. This was a huge blow to him and his family, However, all these challenges made him stronger as he studied hard and got an All India Rank of 48 in 2007. Truly Inspiring!
It is not important for all UPSC aspirants to be financially wealthy, all they need is a huge amount of knowledge. This is proven by the highly inspiring story of one such person who cracked the UPSC exams with ease. You might have heard women empowerment, the true power of women can be easily analyzed from the determined and inspiring lady IAS officer. If you are one amongst those who ardently follow current affairs and reads the paper, almost every day, then you might have identified the person with ease.
Story
The great and inspiring person that I’m talking about is, none other than the IAS officer C.Vanmathi. Based out of Erode, Vanmathi came from a family where happiness and joy always beat the financial income. From a not so wealthy family, Vanmathi actively helped her parents out in herding. Even in her early age, she had a dream of pursuing IAS. The said dream was an outcome of yet another lady IAS officer, but this time a reel IAS officer from the teleseries, Ganga Jamuna Saraswathy. Except for the reel IAS officer, she was also inspired by the real, district IAS officer at that time. She was inspired by his actions and kindness. All this made her decide and picture her career as a district IAS officer.
During her early teens, she was a normal girl who started her college and pursued higher studies. Even though her family was not financially wealthy, her family were always with her and would give her enough resources such as books and most importantly she was given a good support. This can be well understood with her parent’s decision to let her study further, even though it is a part of their tradition to marry off the girl as soon one completes 12th standard.
After successfully completing the undergraduate, Vanmathi had excellent results and she would then go on to pursue post-graduation. After completing her post graduation in computer applications, she pursued a job in a private bank. Even though she was well placed, her determination to achieve her dream took over the reality. She then appeared for the UPSC exams in the year 2015. All of her hard work, sweat, and tears were all tested in that UPSC examination. As a determined lady, she still had high hopes for better results.
UPSC exams
Her intuition was true and she was elected as one among the 1236 to attend the final exams. After being shortlisted for the next stage, Vanmathi gave her level best to pursue her dreams. She gave her interview sessions and hoped for the best. By the time the results were about to go live, Vanmathi was living a normal life, in fact, was facing hard times, as her father Chenniyappan was diagnosed with a spinal injury. It did not take much time for his scars to heal as the news of his daughter’s accomplishment was enough to spark a smile on his smile.
C. Vanmathi bagged 152nd position in the exams. Hailing from a cattle rearer family, C. Vanmathi proved that nothing is impossible once you have a determined heart and mindset. Her story is a true epitome of success and is guaranteed to inspire more women or people in general to achieve their dreams and to celebrate the success in style. She is now serving as a district IAS officer and promises for the betterment of the district as well the country as a whole. We need more people like C. Vanmathi so that more people could easily inspire.
If this story does not inspire you, I doubt that you even have a sense of developing inspiration. C. Vanmathi proves that money is not all, that is required to pursue a better way of living and consequently for pursuing your dreams.
“WHEN SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS, YOU HAVE THREE CHOICES.YOU CAN EITHER LET IT DEFINE YOU, DESTROY YOU OR STRENGTHEN YOU.”
When depression hit Alankrita, she did not let it destroy her life. She fought against depression so bravely that she topped the UPSC exams. Alankrita Pandey, a Kanpur girl, battled depression before she made her mark in the civil services exam. Not only did she pass the exam, but achieved 85th rank in her first attempt itself. Here’s all that you need to know about the inspirational story of Alankrita Pandey.
Alankrita Pandey
Alankrita’s life through depression
Alankrita belongs to middle class family from Kanpur,Uttar Pradesh. She did engineering from MNIIT-Allahabad and worked in an IT company in Bangalore. But unfortunately, she went through a personal crisis and had to rely on anti-depressants. She even had to take anger management sessions for her depression. She had decided to give the IAS exam of 2014, but could not even write the prelims exam that year. This situation remained till October 2014, after which her life took a better turn.
‘Your thoughts become things. Make them good.’- ALANKRITA
Alankrita’s strategy to crack CSE 2015
Alankrita then decided to take control of things and make her life better. She stuck a piece of paper on the wall that said, “I want a 2-digit AIR in CSE- 2015”. Alankrita had already achieved her goal in her mind, and now she just had to achieve it physically. She then started her preparation for CSE 2015. Her day began at 6 A.M. in the morning with jogging and yoga. Only after jogging, she would start studying. According to her, jogging and Yoga help her a lot to focus on studies. Whenever she felt demotivated, she wrote on a paper that why she started preparing for IAS exam.This would take away all her fears and she felt motivated again.
She planned her preparation first at macro level and then at micro level. Alankrita completed the full mains syllabus by May 2015, then reduced it to topic wise scheduling and then hour wise every day. She would rather read a single book 4-5 times rather than reading 4-5 books for one subject. Newspaper played an important role in her preparation. She also relied on the internet for information and strategy.
The process of examination took a whole year, she studied keeping in mind that it might be asked a year later in their interview. Her strategy was to be able to retain the points in long term memory.
“The power of positive thinking cannot be emphasized enough. I think it was my most important asset throughout the preparation.“, says Alankrita
Her motivation throughout the journey
Alankrita says that her father always used to encouraging her. He made her believe that she is going to achieve her dreams. This belief and faith that her father showed always kept her positive. She also thanks her friends who counselled her during her depression and motivated her to fulfill her dreams. Alankrita secured 85th rank in UPSC exams while she was active on social networking sites throughout the preparations.
From fighting depression to getting a 2 digit rank in the Civil Services exam, Alankrita Pandey’s journey is an inspirational one. She not only overcame depression but also achieved her dream to crack the UPSC exam. Alankrita is an inspiration to the youth, giving a message that attitude is much important than aptitude. One’s will power and determination leads to success.
Komal Pravinbhai Ganatra’s dream came true when she learned that she had secured 591st rank in the UPSC exam 2013. She joined the Indian Revenue Service and has been working as an IRS officer since then. However, her story is not an ordinary one. Once thrown out of her in-laws house for not fulfilling their dowry demands, now an IRS officer, her journey to success is as inspirational as it could get.
Abandoned after 15 days of marriage
Komal Ganatra was married at the age of 26, to a New Zealand based businessman in 2008. However, within a fortnight the marriage broke as Komal’s parents could not meet the dowry demands of her in-laws. Her husband abandoned her and flew away to New Zealand. She reached out for help from the police but they didn’t take any action. She then went to her parents’ house in Savarkundla, Gujarat. Even there she had to face many problems and the taunts from relatives and neighbors. To save her family from humiliation, she decided to leave her parents’ hometown and moved to a remote village of Bhavnagar district, 40 kilometers from her hometown. She took a job at a primary school with a salary of merely Rs. 5000 per month.
“I wrote to every department but no one responded and then I decided to get into the government and try to bring a change in my own small way,” says Komal.
No help from the government and the taunts from people around ignited a fire within her to get into the system and get justice for herself. She started preparing for UPSC while teaching at the primary school. It was a tough time for her as the village lacked facilities, the irregular power supply, unavailability of an English newspaper and no proper guidance. However, she did go to the Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA).
Finally in 2012, Komal cleared UPSC in her 4th attempt. The hard work, persistence and determination paid off when Komal became one of 11 candidates who cleared civil services exam conducted by the UPSC from Gujarat. She made it to the civil services in her last attempt at the age of 30.
“God has answered my prayers. I did not have any inkling about civil services exams. But, I wanted to get into the system to improve the system,” says Komal
Komal Ganatra with family
Komal gave the credit of her success to her father and brothers, who supported her during her 5 years long journey of cracking UPSC. She did her diploma in engineering from Rajkot Government Polytechnic. She also acquired a BA degree from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University.
“My parents and brothers encouraged me a lot and made sure that I do not quit. I already had failed three times,” says Komal
Daughter of a retired primary school teacher at Savarkundla in Amreli district, Komal is now determined to fight a legal battle with her NRI husband, Shailesh Popat, who is now settled in New Zealand. She could not seek justice earlier because of the weak financial condition of her family. But now she says,”I will definitely initiate legal action against my husband and in-laws now for what they did with me just because I came from a poor family and could not meet their financial demands,”.
Komal has been an inspiration to the women out there. She was not let down by the hardships in her life, in fact, she got into the system to change it, and get justice for herself as well as hundreds of other people. Komal wants to work for the welfare of people especially women and children. She is a huge inspiration for the youth of the nation with her never say quit spirit.
