Poonam Singh

Cracking the UPSC exams is no child's play as it is one of the toughest exams in the country. A lot of hard work along with patience is needed to clear the Civil Services exam. Today, we will talk about IPS officer Manoj Sharma, who failed in class 12, however, it could not stop him from achieving his goal of clearing the UPSC exam. 

Manoj Sharma failed in all subjects, except Hindi, in his 12th board examination. He had secured third division in his 9th and 10th standard examinations. 

Following this, he started driving a tempo to support himself and his family for a while. However, his tempo got confiscated by the police once. He went to the SDM office, and when his turn came, he just asked the officer one thing, “How to become an SDM like you?” The surprised SDM asked him to prepare well for MPPSC and secure a good rank to become an officer.

From then onwards, Manoj started giving competitive exams serious thought. He then came to Gwalior and enrolled himself in a graduation course. 

His financial condition was so bad that, at one point of time, he did not have a place to live, and had to sleep with beggars on the roadsides.

They say destiny favours the brave and so it was in his case as he soon found a job as librarian-cum-peon. He took advantage of it to read books on eminent personalities, whenever he could. The library proved a turning point in his life as it opened a whole new world of ideas for him.

Following this, he was determined to crack the UPSC exam, which gradually became a fixation. However, another thing that also motivated him to crack the exam was his promise to his girlfriend, now his wife IRS Shraddha Joshi.

During his preparation for Civil Services in Delhi, he secretly fell in love with a girl. But he could not express it for a long time as he feared that the girl might reject him if she found out about his ‘12th fail’ background. 

Finally, Sharma mustered up the courage to confess his love to her, and also promised her that if she said ‘yes’ to him, not just UPSC, he would turn the whole world for her! 

And guess, what she said... She said "yes" to him and became a rock-solid pillar of support for Sharma when he couldn’t qualify for the UPSC on his first two attempts.  

During this difficult phase of his life, she continuously motivated and supported him and finally, in 2005, Sharma cleared CSE and became an IPS officer setting an example for all who dream big in life.

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