Good decision taken is like a sunrise, it clears our path for our future endeavors and this was the message we drove home after we interacted with the witty, a living legend, his excellency Sir Rakesh who is an IITian an IAS Officer for over 30 years and presently is the CEO of CSC which is a GOI undertaking in the electronics and IT sector.

Sir Rakesh mainly focused his wisdom laden words to explain us how to take good and responsible decisions as accountable members of the society. He said that in order to make good decisions we need to have the guts to accept the challenge and take the right decision. We also need the quality of analyzing long term consequences of decisions we take, he emphasized. A backup plan was what made a decision worthy of being acted upon, he said. After he gave us the algorithm to take effective decisions in life, Sir gave his own life journey giving us lesson from his rich and priced experience.

What ensued then was a very inspirational and captivating story which went as follows…

Sir Rakesh Kumar had a very humble financial background supported by his elder brother and his father. Sir grew up with a dream of becoming an administrative serviceman and throughout he worked towards his goal. After his 10th he secured an admission into Bihar Science College and he was introduced into an ocean from a well. When he started preparing for admission to the Bihar Engineering College Sir became aware of IITs where he believed people went to prove their worth, so he faced a dilemma-whether to prepare for IIT to prove his worth or to go ahead with preparation for Bihar Engineering College as it would be easier to prepare for the civil services exam. He decided that he would take an intermediate path preparing simultaneously for both the IIT Exam and the Bihar entrance as they had completely different syllabi. As set out on journey that was very unprecedented that needed passion and great witty decisions to be taken. As the exam approached Sir Rakesh was diagnosed with TB and was bed ridden for almost 2 months and he made friends for life during these 2 months who looked out for him in his compelling times. Sir answered the IIT Exam the very year he contracted TB and he successfully cleared it entering the prestigious IIT proving his worth. After he began his tenure at the IIT Kanpur in the Electronic engineering as it was relevant in   the civil services examination. At the end of 4th year there were many other opportunities to potential bright minds like Sir’s, like a chance of settling in the USA in management. However, Sir decided to go ahead pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a civil serviceman. After he passed the then, ISC Exam he was posted in Agartala as a DC, his salary was not that impressive hence at a point in his life he actually wanted to quit his govt. job because of the same. But he was stopped by his family as his job and position had brought pride and recognition to his family, which comforted them so he decided to go ahead with the job and serve the country. Throughout his tenure he also assumed many important positions in the Government he was the   FORMER JOINT SECRETARY MINISTRY OF IT, FORMER ADDITIONAL CHIEF SECRETARY OF TRIPURA. The years passed by, here he is, after 30 years of the world of politics and policy the CEO of CSC a GOI under taking that promotes digitization and develops tech for the same.

Once we had known his inspiring story Sir used it to deliver the most crucial lesson which was– “Never look back on the decisions that did not give the desired results and don’t fret or cry over spilt milk and most importantly never blame anyone or any circumstance for our conditions, we have to assume the responsibility of our own lives and accept our flaws, shortcomings improve on ourselves.”

Many of us – the students asked Sir question regarding seemingly inevitable CORRUPTION IN INDIA to which Sir only said that prosperity could solve such an entangled system and the corruption.

As we concluded the session, I had the privilege to propose the Vote of Thanks. And surely this was yet another very motivating session that boosted us, the students into pushing ourselves.

Nandini S Rangnekar

11th REG