Janmabhoomi or the land of birth determines our identity while gifting us a legacy owing to certain geography and society. Karmabhoomi on the other hand is the land where our actions and duties determine who we ultimately become in life. A combination of the two combine to give us a rear-view mirror reflection of our personal as well as professional life. And a life of an IAS officer is no different.
So when I first landed at RGIA Hyderabad on 2nd September 2022, as I had come to join as Assistant Collector (Under Trainee) Karimnagar, it was a special moment. Rather, a paradigm moment if I may say so. Because having been allocated Telangana cadre for my career in Indian Administrative Service it was the beginning of many ‘firsts’ in my Karmabhoomi.
Growing up in a family which always pushed me to dream big and aim high in life made me competitive enough to pass the UPSC- Civil Service Examination 2020. All the aspirations, hopes, and motivations of an aspirant like me got manifested through the first district posting and everything associated with it. The exposure to almost all government departments at district level made me appreciate the beauty of administrative machinery and the people who are behind it. The realisation of actually living a professional life that I had always wanted became a source of motivation for me to step out daily. I shall always be indebted to my experiences from Karimnagar in nascent stage of my career for carving out a trajectory ahead. I went through varied emotions while experiencing many things during work, but all those emotions had one common thread- novel learning.
First things first. Despite joining the district as Assistant Collector (Under Trainee), you won’t feel the anxiety of a fresh recruit who undergoes training elsewhere. Large part of it is because of your proximity to the District Collector and the bonhomie which the IAS fraternity invariably share. The other part is due to the knowledge asset which you proudly own as a virtue of once being a UPSC aspirant. The first reason makes you eligible for all sorts of formal/informal invitations. And the second reason justifies every query that you may have in the guise of “learning mode”. Also, as a new officer (just an infant in the service hierarchy, if I may use that expression) one doesn’t cause much discomfort to the old guard in the district despite parachuted arrival because of the sanctity in the process of selection. And also because of the immaculate reputation which the Union Public Service Commission of India has managed to uphold over the years.
And when I started to blend into the ecosystem put in place since many decades, my admiration for the same also grew stronger. What we see during the discussion in meeting halls, ground inspections, official reports or public events is just a tip of an iceberg. The amount of work, rework and co-ordination which goes into the success of any ‘every-day job’ for an IAS officer can be appreciated only by being a part of the backstage team. I got the opportunity to be a part of such backstage team for many official duties while my stint in Karimnagar. The thing which stood out for me was commitment and dedication of all district level officers in getting the work done. And this comes from deeper sense of team spirit at two levels- among officers themselves and between officer and his/her own office staff.
At the first level of team spirit lies the ‘sense of duty’ between all the district-level officers. Here the individual as well as collective responsibility acts as a moral compass for all the officers and so they work without any complaint despite some discomfort. At the second level of team spirit is the co-ordination between the staff of all the district-level officers. From Mandal-level officers to all the drivers, camp clerks, computer operators, attenders, etc. all may gladly burn the midnight oil if the situation so demands. The successful implementation of several Central government and State government schemes at the lowest tier of governance hierarchy (gram panchayats) is made possible only through such ‘sense of duty’ mentioned above. And what greater reward in a professional life than seeing the result of team efforts translating into better quality of life for our countrymen.
Other reward in the personal sphere is the joy of living a life separate of one’s professional identity. So when I return to my home town or home state during leaves or vacation, I come as a son, brother, friend, and a relative wearing multiple hats. My professional identity neither dictates my mundane routine nor does it carry the weight of public scrutiny. The simplest forms of joy make a comeback through gardening, leisure reading, relaxed meals, sharing laughs with family, and socialising with people I grew up with. Coming back to the Janmabhoomi also acts as watching oneself in the mirror- a reminder of who you really are and why you need to stick to those ethos which have always stood beside you.
Such has been the life experience in first ever district posting of my career. Life, from here is going to traverse in many different roads. Some may be straight while others of meandering or steep in nature. But the perfect mix of experiences from both the Bhoomi shall make sure that whichever road may come, the path of righteousness will always be the guiding light.
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