From hi-profile visitors to curious neighbours, a flurry of activity was on at the home of this year’s Civil Service Examinations topper Haritha V. Kumar.
Her family managed to play gracious hosts to the well-wishers, despite being beside themselves with joy with the success of their only daughter.
Awaiting her return from Faridabad where she is undergoing training for the Indian Revenue Service, for which she qualified last year, her family accorded all credit of this achievement to Haritha.
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“She worked very hard and there is absolutely no substitute for working methodically towards that aim,” said R. Vijayakumar, her father. Beaming, he recollected how the 27-year-old had always harboured an unwavering ambition to join the elite rank of civil service officers. She had even expressed her wish to ultimately work in the rural areas of Wayanad.
Since 3 p.m. when the news broke, the quiet neighbourhood had transformed into a carnival of sorts, said her mother C.S. Chitra.
She said that Haritha’s friends had predicted that she would score high, especially as she had attained ranks even in her earlier three attempts. “She is her mother’s daughter,” quipped Mr. Vijayakumar, adding that once she set her eyes on a goal, nothing could distract her from reaching it. So it was no surprise that friends who knew her well, guessed correctly.
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Her mother talked about her impressive repertoire of extra-curricular activities dismissing any assumption that she was the bookish sort, purely into academics. She passed a family album around and in where pages of photographs of a younger Haritha, clad in Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattom costumes. “She sings beautifully as well,” said Ms. Chitra, adding that Haritha was also elected the ‘children’s president’ at the Children’s Day celebrations of the Kerala State Council for Child Welfare when she was in class VII. Haritha was schooled at the St. Therasa’s Convent, Neyyattinkara.
The family may have another achiever, as one of Haritha’s younger brothers, Sadharsh, would be attempting the preliminary examination to be held during the last week of May.
Describing his sister as an ‘inspiration’, he too completed his engineering degree and began training for the highly competitive tests right after. His twin, Sadheerth, is currently in Chennai and with his flair for computer science, he may not toe his siblings’ line.