In the conventional sense, she was settled for life. A dental surgeon by profession, she cleared the Civil Services examination in the third attempt in 2009 and was serving in Group ‘A' in the Indian Postal Service.
But 28-year old V.S. Alagu Varsini from Pollachi was not a content person.
Because, her dream was not just to become an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), but to realise the dreams of many from the position of a policy-maker.
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Identified
When Ms. Varsini started her dentistry practice after completing her course in Chennai in 2005, she came across many people suffering from oral diseases due to harmful practices. The main cause she identified was tobacco and the illegal vending of it.
Though she wanted to do something about it, she realised it would be best if she did it from a different position and not that of a dentist.
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She could not bear the thought of people dying from oral cancer.
She visited Hyderabad and Delhi, started preparing for the Civil Services and made her first attempt in 2007.
She failed in two consecutive attempts.
But she was successful in her third in 2009 when she got the 737 rank. Instead of continuing as a dentist and making the fourth attempt, she joined the Indian Postal Service and started serving in Ghaziabad.
It took her two years to make the next attempt.
But she is not unhappy about the delay because she says she used the two years to analyse her weaknesses and also get ample opportunities to interact with IAS officers of her own batch and seniors that helped her do her interview well.
The necessary motivation also came from her father who himself had written the Civil Services examinations years ago.
And, she has exceeded her expectations in that, Varsini who in her last attempt got the 737 rank, catapulted to the 77 rank that gave her the fourth place in Tamil Nadu.
Field experience
“I knew I had done my exams well.
But I was not able to articulate confidently in the interview in the last attempt.
The field experience that I gained in the last two years made me overcome this and I was able to face the interview without inhibitions,” says Ms. Varsini who was not sorry she could not take leave, being an officer trainee, to prepare.
Now that she has entered the IAS cadre, Ms. Varsini hopes that some day she will be in a key policy-making position when she will draft policy notes to put an end to the menace that snatches away many precious lives.