A smart person once said, “You will not reach your goals in life until you leave your comfort zone.” This idea stuck with Aditya Srivastava from Lucknow while he was working at the world’s second-largest financial bank. He stepped out of his comfort zone and did something risky that might have changed the rest of his life. The universe also works together to make things happen if you really want them to. Aditya quit his well-paid job at a multinational company because he was impressed by the public service. Now, on his second try, he passed UPSC CSE-2022 with AIR-236.
Aditya made a lot of mistakes and had to make tough choices along the way, but he never gave up on his goal.
“I would say that there is a lot to be learned in this journey,” Mr. Aditya told iasbio.com. There were also mistakes. For example, when I failed my first preliminary exam, life taught me a lesson. It was really hard for me to decide to quit my job to prepare.
Aditya’s father works for CAG as a junior audit officer, and his mother lives at home. His father was the reason he set out on this trip.
CMS, Lucknow was where he went to elementary school. After that, in 2019, he got his bachelor’s degree (B.Tech.) in electrical engineering from IIT Kanpur.
After that, he went to Bengaluru to work for Goldman Sachs, an American investment bank. He only worked there for 15 months. In 2020, he quit his job and began getting ready for the UPSC CSE. Everything he did to get ready took place in Lucknow. Aside from test sets and mock interviews, he never goes to any coaching. His plan was to solve question papers from past years (PYQs) and write as many test papers for the mains as he could. Electrical engineering was his choice. He looked at the papers from last year and used that to guide his study for both the preliminary and main exams. He wrote down notes on everything on the list.
He admitted he was wrong and said, “On my first try, I was only gathering information.” I didn’t look into PYQ’s because that’s how UPSC makes the question to see how analytical you are. How does UPSC mix up right statements with false ones to make candidates confused, and how should that be analyzed? It was more hard work than smart work for me. This is what I learned on my first try.
The topics of his interview were a mix of DAF and recent events.People asked him about his interests, dinosaurs, and ideas about how species evolve. “What does he know about the dinosaur DNA that was found a while ago? What does it mean?”
There were also some strange questions, like does he believe in ghosts. “That was an interesting question, and I answered, “Yes, I think so.” After that, they asked why? I told you that I believe in God, who is good force that leads us to light. We’ve also seen that where there is positive energy, there is a good chance that there is also bad energy. So I also believe in bad energy.” There was also a question about how to deal with other countries. “What did India get out of the deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran?”
Advising everyone, Mr. Aditya said, “Always following your nose is not a good idea.” Listen to what older people and experts have to say. Work smarter instead of harder. Think about PYQ’S as your god as you get ready. Plan your plan around that, and look over your syllabus carefully.”
