This young man from the family of a small-time jewellery shop owner is special among Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) achievers this year despite not securing the rank that usually grabs headlines.

Unlike most other serious aspirants, he is a Telugu film buff, who left a cushy job abroad to fulfil his childhood passion of cracking the Civil Services examination. On the way to achieving his goal, he grabbed the country’s attention in 2011 by topping IIT-JEE.

Meet Immidi Prudhvitej, the 24th rank holder of Civil Services exams this year.

Notwithstanding his entry into IIT-Bombay, his passion for IAS remained undiluted. “My interest is not in IIT or a career abroad, but cracking the Civil Services,” Prudhvitej had told The Hindu in 2011 after his IIT-JEE success. “That’s the best way to serve society,” he had said.

Prudhvitej hails from the temple town of Dwaraka Tirumala in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh and is sure to get IAS, even if it’s not in his native State.

After completing electrical engineering from IIT-Bombay, he received a lucrative offer from Samsung to work in South Korea. While working there, his Civil Services dream kept haunting him.

The two years that he stayed away from India and serious studies were just minor hurdles that he overcame with hard work and guidance of roommates, who were also IAS aspirants. “I came back to India with the sole purpose of taking a shot at Civils and achieved it in the first attempt,” he said.

All along, his father stood by him like a pillar of suppport. In fact, it was he who drilled into Prudhvitej’s mind about the role Civil Servants can play in improving the lives of people and encouraged him to achieve his long-cherished goal.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Telangana / by R. Ravikanth Reddy / Hyderabad – April 30th, 2018