From selling eggs at Delhi’s Vasant Kunj bus stop to working as a peon and guiding students to appear for Civil Service examinations, this UPSC aspirant has done it all. Manoj K Roy, who is a resident of Supaul district in Bihar, has secured rank 870 despite all odds and feels hardships have made him more determined to make it big in life.
Roy was here in the city on Sunday to attend the felicitation ceremony organised by MAEER’s MIT School of Governance.
“When my father retired as a peon in 1992, he used to get a pension Rs 1,000. Making both ends meet was difficult for him as we were eight siblings. Though I was the youngest of all, I had to discontinue my studies after passing High School. I went to Delhi in 1995 in search of work and started selling eggs at Sector A bus stop of Vasant Kunj. It was followed by selling vegetables and fruits,†said the 32-year-old Roy who has cracked the UPSC examination after four attempts since 2004
While he was working as a peon for a chattered accountant in Pahargunj in Delhi, on the advise of some friends he enrolled for an evening course in BA at Aurobindo College in 1997 after taking a break of two years from academics. Later, he joined a class for studying geography, but did not take any regular coaching for UPSC.
He feels that battling for even the basic necessities of life from a very young age has made him tough. “I have seen our village house being washed away in Kosi river and I have also swept floors of offices. While I would dream of becoming a district magistrate one day, I was forced to earn just about enough to arrange for two meals a day.â€