by Ibrahim Wani
When Dr Mir Umair came to know of the UPSC civil services examination results, his joy knew no bounds. For him, it was a dream coming true. His name figured at the 368th rank in the coveted Indian civil services final selection list. “My aim stands fulfilled,” he says.
A student of Tyndale Biscoe school, Mir Umair decided on appearing for civil services after he completed his MBBS degree from the Mahatma Gandhi memorial Medical college (MGMMC) in 2003.
Before that, he had even tried his hand at cricket. “I went to England to play professional county cricket with the Cavaliers club,” says Umair, who was a cricket enthusiast and wanted to pursue the game as a career. For his love of cricket, he even left his MBBS course midway.
“I tried my best but it did not take me long to realize that it was too late,” says Umair, who returned to India in 2003. He rejoined the college and picked up from where he had left in his studies. He completed his MBBS degree in 2003.
It was now that his interest in civil services grew. “I realised that I could contribute more to society as a civil servant than as a doctor,” says Umair. Now his aim in life was to crack the civil services examination.
“I had been selected for the postgraduate MD programme, but I opted out of it to pursue civil services,” says Umair.
Now he headed to Delhi. Here he took up work in a private hospital. “I took up this job just to make ends meet. I did not want to be a burden on anyone.”
After working for a year, Umair plunged himself into preparing for the examination. He joined coaching classes and kept studying till the late hours. Then he applied for the civil services 2009 examination.
All his hard work bore fruit when he qualified for the exam. This was his first attempt at the exam. His subjects in the exam were Geography as the first optional and psychology as the second optional.
“I owe it all to my dad,” says Umair, adding, “My dad always stood by my side, no matter what my choice.” His father, Mir Ghulam is a retired Executive engineer.
A resident of Jeelanabad, Peerbagh, Umair feels that perseverance is the only way to achieve success. “Success is a matter of hanging in when others give up,” he quotes. He adds, “Another important thing is to work smart. While preparing for the civil services you should know what to leave. There are topics which you need to give a lot of attention to, and then there are topics which don’t need much attention.”
Mir Umair wants more Kashmiris to appear for civil services exams. “We need to come out of the isolation and have a panoramic worldview.” he says adding that medicine and engineering are not the only career options.
“I would like to emphasize the point that we need more representation in the civil services,” he says. He points out that Kashmiris are as capable of making it into civil services as any other person from the rest of the country. “The problem just lies with our mindset.”
Umair also feels that the need of the hour is to organize more workshops and interactive sessions so that awareness is created and “more and more Kashmiris come forward to give civil services exam”.
