Until last month, sisters R. Anamika and R. Anjali were proud that they had pursued electrical engineering from reputed institutions, just like their father and senior IAS officer Ramesh Chand Meena did during his college years. But, when the UPSC declared results a few days ago, they realised that they would soon follow their father in his career choice too.
Twenty-nine-year-old Anamika and 26-year old Anjali, who secured all-India rank 116 and 494 respectively, have another thing in common too — both secured admission into the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Ahmedabad.
It so happened that both of them left their jobs in private companies for the very same reason.
“Both of us realised that there was no social impact on the lives of people through our jobs. We wanted to make the lives of people around us and people in the grassroots better and so we started preparing for the services,” says Ms. Anamika. Incidentally, both the sisters were employed in Mumbai during their brief stint in the private sector. “During my school days, I have been to my dad’s office and have seen him at work. Though I had not decided anything, it was always there in the back of my mind,” recalls Ms. Anjali.
The sisters went to Delhi in 2017 to undertake coaching classes for clearing the UPSC examination. While Ms. Anamika chose geography as her option, Ms. Anjali handpicked her favourite subject mathematics for the same. This year was Ms. Anamika’s fourth attempt and Ms. Anjali’s second. “Our father cleared his exam in his third attempt and he encouraged us a lot,” recalls Ms. Anjali.
During their preparations, the sisters would sit together and correct each others’ papers and their father would clear their doubts. “Our mother always motivated us when I had a self-doubt and reassured me to believe in myself. My family and friends kept us motivated,” recalls Ms. Anamika. Both the sisters acknowledge that the preparations for clearing the civil services could be a long and ardent task.
Mr. Meena could not have asked for more, as both his daughters cleared the exams together the same year.
Mr. Meena, an alumni of IIT- Delhi is the Member Secretary of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Ms. Anamika completed her B. Tech from National Institute of Technology in Tiruchi and Ms. Anjali completed her M.Tech from IIT-Madras.