UPSC AIR 9 Nausheen: Academic culture of DU and Jamia inspired me to appear for CSE

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“One panellist asked me to name two historical events that I wish never happened. I told them one would be the world wars and the other is the colonisation of African and Asian countries. The latter is one of my favourite topics and I spoke at length about it,” she said.

The interview was 30-35 minutes long.

Nausheen’s father is a director at the Prasar Bharti and his mother is a homemaker. Her elder brother and sister work at public sector undertakings. Was that the reason she picked the UPSC exam? “Civil service examinations were somewhere in the back of my mind. However, I was not sure about it. It was my peers at Delhi University who were constantly discussing interesting topics, current affairs etc that helped me make up my mind. I realised my knowledge is nowhere close to theirs… Basically, it is the DU culture that inspired me to take up this exam,” she added.

After completing her graduation in 2019, Nausheen appeared for the civil services examinations in 2020 and 2021 and cleared prelims and mains. She could not clear the 2022 prelims. “I would have taken a gap if I had failed to crack the exam this year too. I would have attempted next year,” she said.

Nausheen enrolled at Jamia Millia Islamia’s Residential Coaching Academy, which provides free coaching to civil service aspirants. “I learned a lot from here. Leave aside cracking it, discussions about ranks are so normal that you feel competitive,” she said.

This DU student relied on coaching material in her initial attempts. This time she decided to prepare with the help of newspapers. She religiously read The Hindu and for the interview, she focused on The Indian Express.

In her free time, she enjoys watching science fiction series. “I liked the OTT series Dark,” she said. How about the Bollywood flick 12th Fail, which shows the hardship of UPSC aspirants? “I don’t watch such films that glamourise civil services. It is a serious profession and I do not want to see any fancy portrayal,” she said.

Nausheen is among the few women candidates who have managed to make it to the top 10. In previous years, mostly women bagged the top ranks. The topper this year is Aditya Srivastava.