She did not allow herself any other option. “If I do a job, it has to be as a civil servant. Nothing less than an IAS officer, I told herself when I was still in school,” recalls Muskan Jindal, a small-town girl from Himachal Pradesh who achieved the 87th rank in the UPSC exam. “I was sure I will crack UPSC. That it’s going to happen as early as at the age of 22 and in my first attempt—this only god knew. I just followed my childhood dream.”
Born in a modest business family at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh’s industrial belt, Muskan proudly declares that behind her success are “two gentlemen—my 72-year-old grandfather Sadhu Ram Jindal and my father Pawan Jindal”. “If someone asks me to name my role model, there is no third name,” she adds. Having lived in a joint family, she says: “Anyone can come and take a lesson on how happily the children—total nine in our family—live their dreams. The joint family system taught me values, which are going to guide me in discharging my duties impartially as a civil servant.”
What adds to her credit, Muskan says, is that she achieved the...
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