From A Waiter To Ranking 156 In UPSC, The Story Of IAS K Jayaganesh

Many civil servants and bureaucrats grew up in sheer poverty. Not every IAS or IPS officer belongs to a rich and settled background and they have to struggle a lot to get their dreams fulfilled. Today, we will tell you the story of one such IAS officer who faced innumerable difficulties and hardships in his journey to crack UPSC.

This story is of K Jayaganesh who was born and brought up in the small village of Vinvamangalam in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore district. Jayaganesh’s financial condition was not very good. His father was a worker in a factory and the sole bread earner in his family.

Jayaganesh completed his studies in the village itself. After this, he got admission to a Polytechnic college. He then studied mechanical engineering at Thanthi Periyar Institute of Technology. Completing these two degrees was also not enough to get a job. After this, he decided to take a job as a billing clerk in a movie theatre where he also used to work as a waiter. Doing this job, he used to earn Rs 2,500 a month. But after some time, he realised that it was difficult to bear the expenses of the family with this salary. On the other hand, he also had a desire to become an IAS officer. Thus, he left the job and started working towards his dreams.

Preparing for Civil Services, he was yet again hit by the financial crunch. To bear his family’s expenses, he started working as a waiter in a hotel. He used to balance his UPSC preparation with the job. He had to prepare for the exam after completing his shift as a waiter. But this was not sufficient as Jayaganesh failed to succeed in the UPSC exam 6 times.

Meanwhile, Jayaganesha was selected for Intelligence Bureau. At this time, it was difficult for him to decide whether to take the UPSC exam once more or whether to stop struggling and grab the opportunity and join IB. Finally, in 2008, he decided to appear for the UPSC exam one more time. And his decision proved right as this time Jayaganesh hit the bull’s eye and secured All India 156th rank in the UPSC and became an IAS officer.