DHEERAJ SAHU
ALL INDIA RANK - 10
CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION 1995
Service : Indian Administrative Service
Cadre : Uttar Pradesh

- MY TRYST WITH THE CIVIL SERVICES -

Getting into IAS was like a dream coming true. Although I'd thought of joining this service much earlier in my school days, my mind kept wavering till few years back. It was in the third year of my engineering course that I firmly decided to take up this examination. Incidentally, I'm a graduate from IIT, Kanpur in Electrical Engineering and I passed out in 1994. I started reading material on current affairs and on other subjects in the general studies paper from that very time. As far as optionals were concerned, I felt Physics and Electrical Engineering as the best bet for me. For the Prelims, I chose Physics. I'd decided not to attempt the exam unless I felt confident about my preparation. So I skipped the 1994 eaxm and took it up next year. By God's grace I made into the service in the very first attempt. I stood 10th in India. 18th June, the day I came to know about the reasult, was the happiest in my life. By the way a funny part of this story was that when I'd first inquired about my Prelims rsult, I was told that I'd failed.

As regard my other personal details, I'm a 24 year old bachelor and hail from a business family of Lucknow. I'm youngest among the four siblings of my family. I'd my schooling in Lucknow in Colvin Taluqdars' College till 8th standard after which I shifted to Mahanagar Boys' Inter College. My hobbies are travelling, particularly to places of natural beauty, and light music. I enjoy playing Billiards and am presently trying to pick up Tennis. My suggestion to future aspirants of this service is that one should try to take one's subject of speacialisation as an optional in the exam. This saves lot of time and labour. The exam requires one year of full dedication provided one has a good base in general studies and good backing of graduation. One shouldn't rely solely on the optionals as G.S. and essay paper along with interview form a substantial portion in the total marks. The syllabus of mains should be finished before prelims so that one may get enough time for revision and updating current affairs before mains.

As regards interview, one just needs to be natural and attentive before the board. The board members are in general very cooperative. Presently, I'm having great fun in the academy at Musoorie. Here the main emphasis is on espirit de corp among various services. Although the routine here is tightly packed, one gets enough time to learn new things and take up new hobbies. We recieved our cadres few days back and I's fortunate enough to get the home cadre.