Growing up in a small town in Kerala’s Western Ghats, between Kozhikode and Wayanad, Raj faced both financial difficulties and the gradual loss of his vision. His father worked as an autorickshaw driver while his mother was a homemaker. Supporting the family’s daily needs while financing their son’s education was a constant challenge.
But during those difficult years, Raj discovered something that opened up a much wider world for him: books.
When he was in Class 5, he discovered a small library in his hometown. For a child with partial visual impairment growing up in the countryside, the library became more than a place to borrow books.
“Coming from the countryside and due to my partial visual impairment, the library and the books were my sole window to the outside world,” Raj wrote in a personal account in 2022. He said reading widely across different forms of literature began shaping his life.
Around the same time, another ambition began to take shape. Raj dreamed of studying at St Stephen’s College in Delhi, a goal he had set for himself as early as Class 5.
Years later, he achieved that goal, completed postgraduate studies in English literature, worked as a college teacher and repeatedly appeared for one of India’s most competitive examinations.
In March 2026, after five attempts, Raj secured All India Rank 109 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination. His latest result marked a significant improvement from his earlier rank of 730.
But the achievement was the result of a journey that had begun decades earlier.
When His Eyesight Began to Fade
Raj’s eyesight deteriorated when he was around eight or nine years old, eventually leaving him with very limited vision.
His father, an autorickshaw driver, continued supporting the family and Raj’s education despite financial constraints.
For Raj, education was something he had to work hard to preserve. After completing Class 10, his determination to continue studying led him to leave his hometown for the city.
He soon encountered another challenge. Having studied in a Malayalam-medium school, he wanted to enter the CBSE system. The transition was not easy.
Raj recalled that his new school was initially reluctant to admit a student from a Malayalam-medium background into the CBSE stream. Despite attempts to discourage him, he remained determined to join.
The adjustment to a new school and hostel was difficult, but Raj focused heavily on his studies.
His efforts soon began producing results. He progressed from being among the top 10 students to becoming the school’s topper. By Class 12, he had topped the Humanities stream and set a new record at his school.
He also secured the first rank nationally in the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) category and eighth position in the general category, according to his account.
From Kerala to St Stephen’s College
Raj eventually secured admission to St Stephen’s College in Delhi, fulfilling the ambition he had held since Class 5.
College brought a new set of challenges. Raj was passionate about literature, but his visual impairment made reading and understanding lengthy texts particularly difficult.
With the support of friends, however, he managed to overcome many of these difficulties. He went on to achieve a university rank in the PwD category.
His time at St Stephen’s also exposed him to opportunities beyond academics. He wrote about an internship associated with Harvard University and reaching the first round of the Rhodes Scholarship selection process for study at the University of Oxford.
Over time, his ambitions expanded beyond his own education.
Raj developed an interest in public service, both as someone who had benefited from public institutions and as someone who wanted to contribute to society. That interest eventually led him towards the civil services.
The UPSC Journey Was Far From Easy
Raj’s first attempts at the civil services examination did not produce the result he wanted.
At different stages of his preparation, he either failed to clear the preliminary examination or fell short at the mains stage. Financial considerations also meant that UPSC preparation could not always be his sole focus.
He worked as an English teacher and taught cultural studies at a college while continuing to prepare for the examination.
The setbacks eventually gave way to a breakthrough. Raj secured AIR 730 in the UPSC examination and was selected for the Railway Service.
For someone who had grown up in a financially constrained family, the achievement represented a major milestone. But Raj still had his sights set on the IAS.
He decided to appear for the civil services examination again.
And then again.
By the time he reached his fifth attempt, Raj had experienced both failure and success. He had already cleared the examination once and secured a government service, but he continued pursuing his larger goal.
Following his AIR 109 result, Raj described the attempt as his fifth and his third serious effort.
He also viewed UPSC preparation as more than simply a route to a government position.
“I viewed UPSC preparation not merely as a test, but as a journey for skill development,” he said, adding that the skills acquired during preparation could prove valuable even if a candidate did not ultimately clear the examination.
From AIR 730 to AIR 109
Raj’s latest result saw him improve from AIR 730 to AIR 109, bringing him closer to the IAS goal he had continued pursuing even after entering the Railway Service.
He has credited his family, academic mentors and the preparation support he received from an IAS coaching academy in Thiruvananthapuram for helping him through the process.
But his journey began long before civil services coaching became part of his life.
It began with a young boy in Kerala whose eyesight was fading, a father working behind the wheel of an autorickshaw and a small library that introduced him to a world far beyond his immediate surroundings.
Raj had to overcome the challenges of adapting to a new school, moving away from home, studying in a different medium and dealing with visual impairment. Along the way came academic achievements, unsuccessful UPSC attempts, teaching work and eventually his first civil services selection.
Looking back at his journey, Raj had described education as an important means of upward mobility for vulnerable communities.
His AIR 109 result is another milestone in a journey that began with books and a childhood ambition.
The books could not restore his eyesight. But they gave him something equally significant: a way to imagine a world beyond the limits of his circumstances.
