Kandi prison in Sangareddy holds a few pleasant surprises to visitors. At first sight, it is clean, orderly and scenic. The lake next to it looks too picturesque for a prison. The area from gate till the prison gate is lined neatly with trees and flowers. After depositing our cell phones, we peep through another gate that opens into the jail enclosures. On the first floor, we are greeted by Santosh Rai, Additional Director General of Police, Prisons and Correctional Services, district jail in his office that overlooks the prison barracks. The name plate on the Additional DGP’s desk throws up another surprise — its shows his qualification is BE (Electrical).
Santosh smiles as he shares what he calls “a small story”. Santosh grew up in Tandur and after completing his school in Tandur did his higher studies in Hyderabad. After completing his BE (Electrical), he landed a job at a software company in Bangalore. “To get a job in the corporate sector after completing your professional course is a dream come for true for many. The same was the case with me. I was very happy and so was my family,” says Santosh, adding “Before BE I also completed a course in Embedded Systems from C-DAC in Delhi.”
While the going was good on the job front, he was aware of the recession going on. Santosh also wasn’t quite thrilled with the mundane desk job. “After a few years I got bored, I was not enjoying what I was doing. As I always wanted to apply for civil exams, I determined to write my UPSC exams at any cost. So one fine day I quit and began preparing to write my exams. I didn’t waste time wondering about my next steps,” he recollects
While preparing for UPSC, Santosh took coaching for 1 or 2 subjects and prepared on his own for the rest. “I cleared my exams at the first attempt but the wait for the job and posting was a long one. To add to it, parents were looking for marriage alliances and everyone’s concern was the boy still doesn’t have a job,” he laughs.
Though Santosh had wanted to be a Deputy collector (revenue), “Prison department was my seventh preference. The number of seats and ranks decide what and where we land. Post selection I was trained for close to 2 years and worked in both Cherlapally and Chanchalguda prison. After that I came to Kandi as Additional Director General of Police, Prisons and Correctional Services.
Life away from the city and his job are rewarding for him but he needs to face his wife’s wrath at times. “The prison compound is beautiful. We live close to nature but my wife is having a tough time. She remains upset for a while but then in this town I am her only friend whether she likes it or not,” he laughs.
This column features people who dared to give up lucrative career to pursue their dream