A pleasant surprise, says Renu

Says her perseverance and support of family were of help.

Civil services examination second ranker Renu Raj’s mother Latha offers sweets to her as her father Rajakumaran Nair looks on in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Photo: Special Arrangement

Renu Raj, second rank-holder in the all-India civil services examination, was surprised when the results were declared on Saturday. While she was hopeful of making it to the rank list, this doctor at the ESI Hospital at Kalluvathakkal in Kollam did not expect to do this well, that too in her first attempt. Being a professional, Renu knew that she had her work cut out if she was to prepare for the examination. But her perseverance and the support of her family helped her a lot.

“Seventy per cent of my success can be credited to my family and only the rest to my efforts,” she says. Her parents, her sister and her husband were a pillar of strength, she says.