Birthday of Sri Guru Ramdas Ji

Career n Competition
Where the will
makes its way
BUREAU REPORT
W
here there is a will
there is a way
Where there is determination
there is a way. This was
amply demonstrated by a poor
youngster from the Bhind district
of Madhya Pradesh, who
overcame massive odds to
emerge successful in the allimportant
Civil Services
examinations.
Nirish Rajput (31), son of
Virendra Rajput, a tailor,
failed the civil service examination
three times but never
lost heart. The fourth time, he
passed with a rank of 370 and
was selected for the Indian
Administrative Service in
2013
Nirish’s story is inspiring
not because he did not lose
heart but also because he
comes from a very poor
background. He lives in a 15 by 40 feet
(300 square feet) house in Mau village
of Gohad tehsil in Bhind district and
did odd jobs – even as a newspaper
hawker – to realize his dream of becoming
an IAS officer.
Once, Nirish went with a considerably
rich and respected family friend
to Uttarakhand to help them set up a
coaching institute with a promise they
October 2015
Nirish Rajput
would help him by providing material
to prepare for his Civil Services examinations.
But two years later, after the
coaching institute started paying rich
dividends, he was insulted, disgraced
and literally thrown out.
“What is your worth? You are good
for nothing. We no longer want you”,
that were the last words I heard from
the members of that educated and rich
Punjab Advance
family, said Nirish. “Next moment,
I was jobless, homeless,
penniless and remained hungry
for a week, till help came
to me”, he narrated.
The incident changed the
course of Nirish
“I did not know how to
become an IAS officer but I
knew clearing the country’s
top examinations can change
my fortune”, he said, adding
that poverty cannot be a hurdle
if one has the determination
and is willing to work hard.
One day Nirish left for
Delhi to study. “In Delhi, I
became friendly with Ankit,
who was preparing for competitive
exams. I started living
with him at Delhi’s Mukherjee
Nagar and studied 18 hours a
day. I did not attend any
coaching classes nor pay any hefty
fees. I studied from the books and
notes of Ankit,” he said.
He studied from a government
school and a modest college in
Gwalior. His father and two elder
brothers, who are contractual teachers,
started investing most of their savings,
energy and courage to make Nirish’s
dream come true.
33