Success Story - A Reality

8/2/2019 Success Story - A Reality

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K Jayaganesh'Awe Inspiring story from waiter toan IAS Officer


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If you don't succeed the first time, try, tryand try again

K Jayaganesh's story is similar. He failed the civil serviceexamination six times but never lost heart. The seventh time -- hislast chance -- he passed with a rank of 156 and has been selectedfor the Indian Administrative Service.

Jayaganesh's story is inspiring not because he did not lose heart butalso because he comes from a very poor background in a village inTamil Nadu, and though he studied to be an engineer, he worked atodd jobs, even as a waiter for a short while, to realise his dream of

becoming an IAS officer


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Childhood in a remote village

I was born and brought up in a small village calledVinavamangalam in Vellore district. My father Krishnan,who had studied up to the tenth standard, worked as asupervisor in a leather factory. My mother was ahousewife. I am the eldest in the family and have twosisters and a brother. I studied up to the 8th standard in

the village school and completed my schooling in anearby town.

I was quite good at studies and always stood first.Coming from a poor family, I had only one ambition in life-- to get a job as fast as I could and help my father in

running the family. My father got Rs 4,500 as salary andhe had to take care of the education of four children andrun the family, which you know is very difficult.


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Childhood in a remote village

So, after my 10th standard, I joined a polytechnic college because Iwas told I would get a job the moment I passed out from there.When I passed out with 91 per cent, there was a chance for me toget entry to a government engineering college on merit. So I decidedto join the Thanthai Periyar Government Engineering College tostudy mechanical engineering. My father supported my desire tostudy further.

Even while doing engineering, my ambition was still to get a job. Ifyou look at my background, you will understand why I didn't haveany big ambitions. Most of my friends in the village had studied onlyup to the 10th standard, and many did not even complete school.They worked as auto drivers or coolies or masons. I was the only

one among my friends who went to college.

I understood the importance of education because of my parents.My father was the only one in his family to have completed school,so he knew the value of education. My parents saw to it that wechildren studied well


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In search of a job

Four days after I completed my engineering in 2000, I went toBangalore in search of a job and I one without much difficulty. Mysalary was Rs 2,500 at a company that reconditioned tools.

It was in Bangalore that I started thinking about my village and my

friends. I wondered sadly why none of them studied and worked ingood companies. Because they had no education, they alwaysremained poor. There was not enough money to buy even properfood. There was no opportunity there; the only place they could workwas the tannery in the nearby town. If they didn't get work at thetannery, they worked as auto drivers or coolies. In short, there wasno one in my village to guide the young generation.

I thought would I be able to help my villagers in any way?


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Getting interested in the civil serviceexamination

Till then, I had not even heard of something called the civil servicesexamination. It was only after I went to Bangalore and saw the worldthat I was exposed to many things. I came to know that a collector ina small place could do a lot. At that moment, I decided that I wantedto be an IAS officer.

I resigned and went home to prepare for the examination. I neverthought resigning was risky because I had the confidence and knewI would do well.

My father also supported me wholeheartedly. He had just got abonus of Rs 6,500 and he gave me that money to buy studymaterial. I sat in my village and studied from the notes I received bypost from Chennai


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Failed attempts

In my first two attempts, I could not even clear the preliminaryexamination. I had no idea how to prepare for the exam, whatsubjects to opt for and how to study. There was nobody to guide me.

I had taken mechanical engineering as my main subject. That's

when I met Uma Surya in Vellore. He was also preparing for theexamination. He told me that if I took sociology as an option, it wouldbe easy.

Even with sociology as the main subject, I failed in the third attempt.But I was not disappointed. I knew why I was failing. I didn't haveproper guidance. I started reading newspapers only after I startedpreparing for the examination! So you can imagine from what kind ofbackground I came from.


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To Chennai for coaching

When I came to know about the government coaching centre(external link) in Chennai, I wrote the entrance examination and wasselected. We were given accommodation and training.

Because I got tips from those who passed out, I passed thepreliminary in my fourth attempt. We were given freeaccommodation and food only till we wrote the main examination.After that, we had to move out. I didn't want to go back to the villagebut staying in Chennai also was expensive.

I tried to get a job as an engineer but my efforts turned futile. I thendecided to look for a part time job so that I would have time to study


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Working as a waiter in Chennai

I got a job as a billing clerk forcomputer billing in the canteen atSathyam Cinemas. I also worked as the

server during the interval. It neverbothered me that I, a mechanicalengineer, preparing for the civil

services, had to work as a server. I hadonly one aim -- to stay on in Chennai topass the examination.


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Attending the interview in Delhi

After I got the job at the SathyamCinemas, I was called for the interview.

As counselling was my hobby, a lot ofquestions were asked aboutcounselling. I was not very fluent inEnglish but I managed to conveywhatever I wanted to. Perhaps I did notarticulate well. I failed in the interview.


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Preliminary again, the 5th time

Once again, I started from the beginning.Surprisingly, I failed in the preliminary itself.On analysis, I felt I did not concentrate onstudies as I was working at Sathyam

Cinemas. I quit the job and joined a private firm to

teach sociology to those preparing for theUPSC examinations. While I learnt the othersubjects there, I taught sociology. Manyfriends of mine in Chennai helped me bothfinancially and otherwise while I prepared forthe examination.


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Sixth attempt

I passed both the preliminary and the main inthe sixth attempt but failed at the interviewstage.

While preparing for the interview, I hadwritten an examination to be an officer withthe Intelligence Bureau and I was selected. Iwas in a dilemma whether to accept the job. Ifelt if I joined the IB, once again, mypreparation to be an IAS officer would getaffected. So, I decided not to join and startedpreparing for one last time.


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Last attempt

I had to give the last preliminary just a few days afterthe previous interview. I was confused and scared.Finally, I decided to take the last chance and writethe examination. Like I had hoped, I passed both the

preliminary and the main. The interview was in April, 2008 at Delhi. I was asked

about Tamil Nadu, Kamaraj, Periyar, Tamil as aclassical language, the link between politics andTamil cinema etc. I was upset since I did not wish the

interviewers at the start and they did not respondwhen I said thanks at the end. Both the incidentswent on playing in my mind. I just prayed to God andwalked back.


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The day the results were out

I was extremely tense that day. I would knowwhether my dreams would be realised or not.I used to tell God, please let me pass if youfeel I am worthy of it.

I went to a playground and sat theremeditating for a while. Then, I startedthinking what I should do if I passed andwhat I should do if I didn't.

I had only one dream for the last seven yearsand that was to be an IAS officer.


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156th rank

Finally when the results came, I couldn'tbelieve myself. I had secured the 156th rankout of more than 700 selected candidates. It'sa top rank and I am sure to get into the IAS.

I felt like I had a won a war that had beengoing on for many years. I felt free andrelieved.

The first thing I did was call my friends inChennai and then my parents to convey thegood news


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Warm welcome in the village

The reception I got in my village wasunbelievable. All my friends, and the entire

village, were waiting for me when I alightedfrom the bus. They garlanded me, burstcrackers, played music and took me aroundthe village on their shoulders. The entire

village came to my house to wish me. Thatwas when I saw unity among my villagers. Itwas a defining moment for me


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What I want to do

I worked really hard without losing faithin myself to realize my dream. My realwork starts now. I want to try hard to

eradicate poverty and spread themessage of education to all people.Education is the best tool to eradicate

poverty. I want Tamil Nadu.


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What we learn from Jayaganesh

1) not to lose hope- After failing five times hestill sat for the exam the sixth time.

2) Tremendous self belief- Any ordinaryperson would have grabbed the chance to

become the IB officer after the 5th attemptbut Jayaganesh wanted to be a civil servant.

3) Passion- Jayaganesh did not hesitate towork as a waiter in spite of being a mech.

engineer in his quest for the final goal. These are my learning's please add your

learning's in the comment column below


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If he can do it , why can't we, If he can do it why can't we : Imagine a person from ruralKarnataka walking bare foot to school. He gets admission into a new military school just openednearby and went into the army. After six-seven years, he felt constrained, quit and with PF of Rs6000 came back to the village to find the whole village submerged because of the dam being built.The land allotted as compensation is barren and several miles away. He bought his relatives landwith his PF money as down payment. He opened a silkworm farming with great financial andphysical difficulties and made it a success.

He was playing squash with a fellow friend who was unemployed and was a pilot. He was

shocked to know that this pilot friend has taken the job as a security in charge. Then he thought ofoperating a helicopter to connect remote places. Nobody was willing to finance him till heconvinced a Japanese lease company to finance a helicopter. The Japanese companybacktracked when Vajpayee government fell after 13 days.

Every success in whatever field starts from a few hundred grams of mass sitting on our shoulderscalled mind. It is like a muscle use it or it will wither.

The Asian currency melt down had a lot of helicopters idle/grounded in Malaysia. He again

convinced the same Japanese MD to lend one helicopter and started the aviation firm. And thusfollowed his dream of connecting remote places and enabling common man to fly.

His name if you have not guessed it is Captain Gopinath- founder of Air Deccan.


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Success Story - A Reality

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