KOCHI: Either one can blame ones fate and resign in life or one can take up challenges head on and become a winner against all odds.Visually impaired Pranjal Patil chose to do that latter. By doing so, the 30-year-old from Ulhannagar in Maharashtra, proved that challenges can’t come in way if one were determined to win. Patil, who aced in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) with a rank of 124, took charge as the Assistant Collector of Ernakulam on Monday.
According Patil, challenges made her more strong. “If we are worried about our physical challenges we can’t achieve anything in life. Though I am visually impaired, I was never worried about it. There are always ways to be successful in life. What we need is to concentrate on our determination instead of our challenges,” Patil told Express on Tuesday.
Pranjal, who was born with a weak eyesight, lost her vision completely at the age of six when her eyes were exposed to direct sunlight. “My dream was to become an IAS officer. Though I it was a big jolt to lose my eyesight, I was not ready to give up on my dreams. I focused more on the dream and finally, I achieved it,” said the young IAS officer sitting in the lobby of Ernakulam guest house.
Though Patil cleared the UPSC in her first attempt in 2016, she could only secure 773rd rank. Even though the Railway offered her a job in the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), they later declined it claiming a visually challenged person wasb for the profession. “I got an offer letter from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) that I have been allotted a job in IRAS in December 2016. But even after several days, I didn’t get any other communication. So I contacted them to enquire about it. But they replied that the Railways can’t appoint a person with 100 per cent blindness. I was disappointed, of course, but I was not ready to give up my fight against my own weakness. I again worked hard to improve my ranking and secured 124th rank in the second attempt,” she said.
According to Patil, her achievement should give a boost to other people who face similar challenges. “I want to motivate them by emerging as a successful person by fighting against all odds,” said the IAS officer who is married to Komal Patil, a businessman.The IAS officer, who arrived in Ernakulam with her father L B Patil and mother Jyothi Patil, is all set to take up her new role. “Things are so different here.
I need to work a lot to understand everything. I am sure that I can do my best,” said the confident young IAS officer whose role models are Japanese philosopher Daisaku Ikeda and physicist Stephen Hawking.
Patil did her graduation in Political Science and earned a Master’s degree in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, in addition to M.Phil and PhD.