She was in Class 10 when she decided to become an IAS officer. She was so driven by the dream of becoming a civil servant that she started her UPSC preparation even before she went to college.
Her passion and determination were so much that she cleared the UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE) at the age of 21. While it takes attempts after attempts and years after years of preparation, she cleared it when she was only 21.
Yes, we are talking about IAS Surabhi Gautam, one of the youngest IAS officers the country has ever produced. Not only Civil Services, she has also cleared several competitive government exams including GATE.
Hailing from Amdara village in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, her father in an advocate at the Civil Court in Maihar and her mother is a teacher. Initially, during her school days, Surabhi attended a Hindi-medium school in her village. She found it really hard to cope up with English.
She committed herself to learning 10 new English words everyday to improve her communication skills. After her intermediate, she went on to pursue Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bhopal. Despite being weak in English, she topped the University and also received a Gold Medal for her Excellence.
After college, she joined Bhabha Atomic Research Centre as a nuclear scientist for a period of 1 year. She then appeared for several exams like GATE, ISRO, MPPSC, Delhi Police and FCI and showcased her excellence everywhere.
In 2013, she secured AIR-1 in IES exam and AIR-50 in UPSC exam 2016. Surabhi has proved that if you have the will to achieve something, no obstacle can stop you from achieving it.