Feet firmly rooted on the ground, Civil Services 66th rank winner G.S. Sameeran believes it isn't bookish or all-encompassing knowledge that gets one through the tough examination.
What helps is getting the right idea, the right material and making the right choice, all at the right time.
A medical graduate, whose IAS aspirations began long back but took a serious shape only recently, Mr. Sameeran says he began his preparations only after he started practicing at the community health centre at Muthukulam near his home in Kayamkulam.
“Maybe what I saw and experienced during my work had a role in fuelling my ambition to climb the ladder of the system. During my work, I realised health issues were not just health issues,” he says.
Clearing the preliminaries in June 2011 and the mains in November the same year, the graduate from the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College juggled his preparations and work at the same time, and even got married in between.
His wife, Resmi, also a doctor, has been extremely supportive, and so have been his parents T.K. Suresh Kumar, a senior superintendent with the Education Department, and M. Geetha, who is with the KSFE, and brother Adithyan.
Interview session
Thanks to the role the Navodaya Vidyalaya, Chennithala, and the teachers there played in forming his character, Mr. Sameeran feels the civil service interview could pass off more as a conversation than a formal meet, with him totally relaxed.
The interviewers discussed with him a book he had authored on late cinema maestro Padmarajan, a favourite subject of Mr. Sameeran.
Not just books
His interests in Malayalam literature, his optional subject along with medical science, too were discussed.
“I could invest only little time in academically preparing for the examination. What helped me more were the experiences I gathered from life, from my travels, from friends. It is important to select your options based on your own tastes and aptitude. Bookish knowledge can be a waste,” he says.
“You have to be open to everything. Mine was a collaborative adventure in that sense,” he smiles. “This is just a beginning, there is going to be a lot of power and lot of responsibility from now on. I hope my clinical skills along with the other experiences my medical education gave me, crisis management for one, will help me in future,” he adds.
