THIRUVANANTHAPUAM: Dr Renu Raj and her family is on cloud nine. She had won second rank in the UPSC examination. And with the kind of efforts and energy both Renu and her parents had put in towards achieving this focused goal, the success was expected.
A native from Changanassery , Renu Raj had joined for training at Civil Service academy at Thiruvananthapuram just six months prior to prelims. She could come out in the flying colours in the first attempt. “ I expected my name in the first ten,” she said.
Latha V N, her mother was all smiles when she said that their efforts also did went in vain. “We used to shift to those places where she studied. First, we shifted to Thrissur where she was doing her plus two. Then when she got admission in Kottayam Medical college, we shifted to Kottayam and now we came to Thiruvananthapuram where she had done her civil service coaching,” she pointed out. Her father M K Rajakumaran Nair who was a retired conductor from the KSRTC was happy on his daughter's success and said that it was tough to teach his two daughters amid financial strain . “ It has been months since I got pension. My second daughter is doing her fourth year MBBS in Ernakulam Medical college, Kalamassery. All along, there were huge financial strain. We had no one to guide. Still she could achieve it,” he pointed out.
Dr Renu Raj's husband Dr Bhagat L S is currently pursuing his PG in Mangalapuram. Her optional was Malayalam for the UPSC examination. “ I was strong in CSAT. So I did not waste my time on it. We just got a short period of two months after clearing the prelims. For mains examination, it was self study. I did practice writing for it was the foremost
thing, if you have to pass the mains. We had a mock interview before the actual interview and it was very helpful,” she pointed out. Dr Renu Raj is currently working at ESI dispensary at Kalluvathukkal, Kollam.