The great struggle for a government job

RTC Cross Roads in Hyderabad is considered as the Ayodhya of Group 2 services aspirants. It is full of coaching institutes housed in cramped multistoried buildings, book stalls teeming with many young aspirants and roadside paper and magazine vendors. One can see tired aspirants rejuvenating themselves at road side tea stalls that serve multiple varieties of beverages ranging from ginger tea to plain milk.

Though the ambience doesn't look suited for studies with a lot of traffic and consequent pollution , the thousands of students aspiring for various state and central civil services bring it a look of an educational hub with their mere presence. Small groups of three to five people discussing about national and international issues of importance can be seen on the narrow lanes of this famous area from dawn to dusk. However, this bustling place is also witness to many travails of poor and middle class youth aspiring for a government job.

I landed in this area in the winter of 2015 with a hope of becoming a civil servant. My search for a nice accommodation made me realise that the journey isn't going to be a walk in the park. Decent rooms were exorbitantly pricey while low cost rooms were incredibly shabby. It took me seven days and the assistance of three friends to find a suitable accommodation. Finally, I settled down in a luxury room of 12×6 feet that sheltered two other people along with me!!

Food was another source of worry as the hostels mostly served sub-standard food. Sambar looked as if dal had accidentally fallen into rasam and one had to conduct a combing operation to find chicken pieces in a cup of chicken curry. I could see the sad plight of thousands of young aspirants queuing up before rupees 5/meal vehicle with steel plates in their hands and under a furious sun.

Chikkadpally central library was the nerve centre of the area . Thousands of students would sit in rows under the shade of trees , deeply immersed in preparation, oblivious to the heat and dust around them. They would chain their study chairs to the trees when they went to their hostel rooms. Fortunately, the coaching centre I enrolled in provided me a free study hall and I was spared of the hardships of my less fortunate brethren. I used to study till 2 A.M or sometimes till dawn when disturbance from traffic snarls and co-competitors would be less and sleep during the day.

After a year of my preparation the notification for group 2 services was released in the year 2015. The exam was conducted in the following year. So far so good. The actual cinema started after the exam was over. Some aspirants knocked the doors of Hon'ble High Court over some key mistakes and the usage of whitener by some candidates. Some said that the exam would be re-conducted while some others opined that the exam would be cancelled altogether.

It was very anxious wait for all those who took the exam even as the case moved from a single judge bench to a division bench . The case dragged on for almost three years before a division bench of the high court cleared the commission of all charges. The good news from the court itself made me feel as if I had actually landed in a job. Interviews were held in 2019 August and finally I got selected as a Group 2 Officer on October 24,2019!

Cut to the present, I am a highly relieved man after one year of announcement of results, having bagged a government job and an opportunity to serve the society. Every groups or civil services aspirant undergoes more or less the same experiences, whether in New Delhi or Hyderabad. I fervently hope that all the successful candidates remember their struggles and serve the society with the same fighting spirit with which they cleared this prestigious exam.