Gunjan Dwivedi of Lucknow could not believe her ears when her friend broke the news that she had secured ninth rank in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examinations, the results of which were declared on Friday.

“A friend of mine called me and broke the news. It was hard to believe. I was in a state of shock for a while and then checked the results. Did not comprehend that my name would figure among the top 10,” said Gunjan who did not clear the first stage in her previous two attempts.

“To secure the ninth rank in the third attempt was incredible,” said Gunjan, an alumni of Loreto Convent who graduated with Political Science Honours from Delhi University’s Daulat Ram College.

The daughter of retired IPS, Ashok Kumar Dhar Dwivedi, it was naturally her childhood dream to be a civil servant. Her sister Umang Dwivedi is posted as a commercial tax officer in Saharanpur. “They were my role models,” she said.

She converted the chamber of her elder brother, Samanvaya Dhar Dwivedi, a lawyer into her study room and practiced mock tests. For recreation, she often took to painting.

She spent a lot of time watching interviews of previous year toppers to keep herself motivated. “There was one topper Megha Arora whose story was quite similar to mine. She too could not clear the first stage of the exam in her first two attempts. She also cleared it in her third attempt,” Gunjan said after coming out of a Hanuman Temple where she had gone to seek blessings of God. “It would not have been possible without his blessings,” said Gunjan over telephone after offering prayers.

First Published: Apr 06, 2019 07:11 IST