Success Story of Abhinav Bajpai

“Success is the reflection of your inner qualities"- Abhinav Bajpai

Introduction

My name is Abhinav Bajpai. I am 31 years old currently working as a Scientist at Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Department Of Atomic Energy, Government of India. I belong to the beautiful city of Lucknow and did my schooling here itself. Thanks to my family members for giving me support and encouragement during my journey of success and failures. Their persuasion towards the importance of education in one’s life and career since my childhood, had made me aware and capable during the various phases of my career. So, here I would like to share the experiences of my little bit success story with you all. 

My Journey

As a significant memory of my early life, I always had cordial relations with my classmates and teachers as I am generally sociable in personality. I am thoughtful and always try to help others in all my capacity. Since my early student life, I pay special attention towards the development of my thinking manner and always try to broaden my knowledge base. I believe the prime aim of a student should be to gather knowledge in every possible way and from every possible source. I did my schooling from Lucknow Public School, Lucknow, UP securing good ranks in almost all the classes. My special inclination towards science subjects, especially Chemistry has guided me to pursue in this field. I have passed 10^th and 12^th grades with 83 % marks in both classes in 2005 & 2007 respectively. I appeared for the engineering exams in subsequent years but couldn’t be able to score good ranks. However, my hard work paid me off during my selection through NEST exam. Through this, I got into the Integrated Science Education and Research Centre (ISERC), Santiniketan University, West Bengal for pursuing Integrated M.Sc. course. I have been an Inspire fellow for 5 years and got stipend of Rs.80000 per annum during my entire course. This was the highest fellowship for Class 12^th pass out student during that time. In my 5 Years of Integrated M.Sc., I have excelled there. I have got overall 8.5 CGPA in 10 semesters. Due to my academic performance, I also got the opportunity of doing projects in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay for 6 months and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), SSPL, Delhi for 1 year. The charm of knowing the lifestyle of a hostel student along with the glimpses of the rich Bengali culture has affected me as well like most of the others.

It was during my dissertation in DRDO in the final year of my masters, I started my preparation for competitive exams like NET, GATE etc. It was really a challenging task to manage both the things. I’ve had to spend entire day from 9 in the morning till 6 in the evening in the DRDO lab and after that I had to prepare for the exams. It was really tough to come out of the comfort zone I was in for the last four years in college. I had also joined the weekend coaching for NET exam for 6 months which helped me to cover some portion of the syllabus in a short span of time. So in a nutshell, in the final year of my masters, I’ve had worked and studied all the days with full dedication and discipline.

As a result of my disciplined preparation, I qualified and got an All India Rank of 58 in NET exam (CSIR fellowship). Through NET score, I got interview call for pursuing P.hd. in various Institutes like IITs and IISc. Meanwhile, I was also preparing for BARC, ONGC, DRDO exams. As anticipated, I qualified in the written exam of BARC as well and was called to appear for interview. Though nervous but with good preparation, I was confident enough to perform well. Although the interview was lengthy and exhaustive, I managed to secure a seat in BARC. In that year ONGC exam was cancelled due to paper leak though it also went very well from my side.

I chose to get into Central Civil Services i.e. into the Department of Atomic Energy directly under Prime Minister’s Office, Govt. of India in a Group-A Gazetted Post. After undergoing training for 1 year at BARC Training School in Mumbai, I got my posting as Scientific Officer ’C’ in Radiation Medicine Centre, BARC. After serving here for three years and contributing towards the public health sector in the treatment of cancer patients, I got promoted to the higher grade as Scientific Officer ‘D’.

 

Beliefs

I firmly believe in the Carl Pullein saying that “There are no shortcuts to success.” Only hard work and passion towards your goal will help in bringing success. In today’s competitive scenario, working smartly with full dedication and perseverance is the need of the hour. Bringing ‘Discipline’ in your daily routine will help in sailing through difficult times when you have to manage yourself. Apart from this, I also believe that keeping oneself motivated is also necessary. One can pursue his/her own interests or hobbies which will relax the mind and body and is one of the key factor which will contribute to every student’s success.

My Message to All Aspirants

After serving for around 5 years at ground level and in public services, I feel that all those stressful and uncertain days of preparation were really worth striving for. The preparation phase of your career will not only bring knowledge but also turn your personality with positive attitude. Your perception towards looking other things will take a change in a positive way. The hurdles in the journey of beautiful destinations of your dreams will be conquered through hard work, perseverance, smartness, discipline and dedication with patience. With this, I would like to wish good luck to all the aspiring candidates for various competitive exams. Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you.

“Success is not final; failure is not fatal; It is the courage to continue that counts”- Winston Churchill