Stepping down the dais, reaching out to audience, speaking simple English laced with Telugu and giving his own example of preparing for the all-India services, Municipal Commissioner M. Hari Narayanan connected to youth with his down-to-earth approach.
Getting down to the basics of preparation, he advised them to be honest with themselves and evolve their own individual method and learn continuously from teachers, elders and experience.
By quoting his experience of chucking architecture practice for civil services examination against seemingly formidable competitors, he dealt with the dilemmas in preparing for any “examination for a job” even if it was civil services.
The jampacked meeting of Centre for Policy Studies and Visakhapatnam Public Library for the career-minded on “Challenges and opportunities for youth,” the second in the series on Tuesday, saw youth coming out with questions, including the state of affairs in the system.
“Compare equals considering the young, democratic India that stepped into industrialisation very late,” he told them. Systematic improvement of systems has made a sea-change in the way people got passports, commodities through PDS or welfare pensions, Mr. Harinarayanan said. Measure success by the way you add to incremental happiness of people, he said.
“Be yourself, be thorough with basics and follow decorum. You can’t be an encyclopaedia,” he told young Uma Maheswari on facing interviews.
CPS Director A. Prasanna Kumar and library secretary D.S. Varma participated.
