In this episode I talk about my journey as a young IAS officer posted in the field. I talk about the journey, the challenges, the opportunities and the life. I try to talk about all aspects and give a balanced and fair view of how it is for us. Now, one thing that I’d like everyone to appreciate is, even though all those who are selected through this exam come through a very rigorous selection process, with over a million applicants, lakhs appearing and just a few hundred finally making the list, almost all of them are still very young, many have this as their first job. They are trained for the job but they have in many ways, similar insecurities like any fresher does going for their first job, the are equally scare, nervous, excited and feel all those emotions. They are aware of the responsibilities and they are also aware of that suddenly, overnight, they are at the centre of affairs for a lot of people. It was the same for me and it still is. Once we get selected, we realise that suddenly thins change, people around us change, maybe not the immediate family but everyone else does, they start acting and stop existing naturally. Another thing which happens is that we realise that we are, in a very minute sense, in a very irrelevant way, have become a little famous. This makes a lot of people do a lot of crazy things, many feel they as individuals have become famous, forgetting it’s just the chair or the service they belong to, many start acting as celebrities, many start feeling they are special. All of this happens very fast, like I said, most of the officers are young and they react to it just like most youngsters would to a drastic change in their lives would. While some are able to manage it well, some learn along the way, some just drift in a totally different direction. The journey from an aspirant to a probationer and then to a young officer in field is really something. 

Hope you enjoy it!