"...if you must dream, surely you should dream to be Elon Musk or Mukesh Ambani. Why did you dream to be Joint Secretary?”
Above are the words from the man I have the utmost respect and admiration for. A member of the PM's EAC, an established historian, an adept economist, one who has authored several bestsellers that have now become a great resort for extracting gold out of the lost treasures of Indian history, and yes, last but not least, a wonderful human being.
UPSC Civil Services examination has been a soft target for every second person out there. From the subliterate roadside shabbily attired men and women, to the highly successful ones adorned top to bottom with luxury; from the professionals in non-govt spheres (especially those having artistic prowess); to not-so-erudite political executives, everyone has bashed UPSC Civil Services as and when they wanted.
With few Chief Ministers and many illiterate, and immoral MPs, MLAs lashing out at the honest officers every now and then as if they are some obstinate school-going kids, and the political executives, typically known as 'leaders of masses' hoarding the officers' credit by shamelessly blowing their exemplary works' trumpet, these white-collar personnel have often been at the receiving end of unwanted misery.
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| Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash |
Having prepared for the exam for quite some time and delved deep into the intricacies of the realities of the profession, I partially agree with what he wanted to say (and not what he actually said), especially considering his intellectual stature. But yes, I do strongly reject his comment that I have mentioned in the beginning of this post.
Thousands of utmost sincere aspirants (yes, utmost sincere – reason why I didn’t use lakhs) leaving their all behind, struggling through all kinds of downs, dealing with personal, professional, and emotional insecurity on an everyday basis, facing the societal indirect mockery, confining themselves within the emotionally suffocating four-walls especially when the world outside rejoices, and sacrificing much on leisure to make a cut to the services find all their motivation ruined the moment there comes one nonsensical opinion belittling all their stupendous efforts, deteriorating their condition, and further obstructing their road already loaded with gigantic step blocks.
People have also looked down on aspirants absurdly attaching them to preparing for the exam only in the lure of a litany of rewards. These erroneous claims have already been vociferously rejected by the top officials highlighting the innumerable difficulties that the profession brings with itself. In fact, who doesn't want a safe, secure, and decent (using decent as the lavishness that an uncorrupt bureaucrat will be having in his life would be way lesser in comparison to a business mogul, an IIT-IIM alumni, or even these days - the (many) clumsy, uncultured, and unsophisticated ones doing the shittiest things possible, aka social media influencers) life for family and self?
Why do people quest to get into IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other top-notch institutes? Why do they spend lakhs and crores of rupees and devote tens of hours to studies just to get admission in some prestigious Ivy League, or any other well-known college abroad? Besides learning the subject from the best professors in the world, grooming themselves in a state-of-the-art environment, and becoming absolute masters in their field, aren’t they also running towards a successful, safe, secure and easy life ahead? Then why on earth do all the armchair philosophers get mental orgasms making ludicrous comments on the UPSC exam only?
Last evening, as I was having dinner with one of my colleagues after a long day at work to bring some curves of smiles to our long faces, I saw the SDM madam having dinner with her family in the far right corner. I had met her once when she had graced the Raising Day celebrations in the office as a Special Guest. We exchanged informal greetings and asked each other’s ‘howabouts’. Before I could take a sip of the tempting tomato soup right in front of me, my colleague, a little high on booze, started bashing her verbally in a feeble tone. “Look at the way she is boasting Anant, as if she’s the only successful woman in this world. She looks in her early 30s only, you are an engineer na, you won’t be able to count the number of zeroes in her bank account in the next 10 years from now…Man!!! her driver and personal security are standing outside, and Madam SDM is savoring the mouth-watering delicacies here. Doesn’t LBSNAA teach them some generosity towards their subordinates” She resented.
Instead of dirtying my mouth engaging in a rubbish argument with this now-turned cantankerous girl having her senses already compromised, I preferred to keep my mouth shut and unwillingly get myself engaged in ‘hmm ahhmming’ while blessing the chef and paying heed to the witty IPL commentary of Jatin Sapru in the back of my mind.
When a multi-talented girl born & brought up in an upper-middle-class family in a metro city, and being an alumnus of the topmost social sciences institute in the country has such skewed thinking about the profession, what else could we think about the others? Little did my colleague know that the young lady she was calling down was recently awarded by the Hon’ble CM on Republic Day for her stupendous efforts towards promoting the cause of education in the district and is known for her exemplary and valorous attitude of battling corruption through anyone and every one no matter how high he or she's on muscle and money power.
I wish, one of the most minded men in India, instead of deteriorating the already disturbed mental state of serious aspirants, would rather have made some sincere efforts towards suggesting measures to raise the number of seats in the exam and making the gruelling cycle of exam a bit easier for the candidates.
I still can't get my mind over his say thinking - 'why would one aspire to become an Ambani or Musk if one actually wanna become a Joint Secy? Let students go ahead with their personal choices and work in their desired direction. Stop poisoning it with your absurd thinking and kindly refrain from imposing your ideal way of life on them. Also, becoming an Ambani or Musk is what, a cakewalk?
On a scale of 100, I still have 99.9 admiration for Sanyal sir, but somewhere in my heart that lost 0.1 is gone out to all the true aspirants and honest civil servants of India.
“Madam SDM finished her dinner. Made the bills offering a handsome tip to the waiter. Took food parcels from the counter and handed them to her driver and security.
“So kind of you ma’am for arranging a five-star feast for our entire family. We will certainly have a wonderful time with our family tonight.”
“Bye Anant.” Madam SDM waved off...
And waved off all the toxicities in my colleague's mind.