Sarah Rizvi IAS (Rank 86) Interview
The Mumbai girl Sarah Rizvi has created history by getting through IAS exam, ranking 86th among 734 successful candidates.
More remarkably perhaps, she has achieved the feat with Urdu literature as one of her optional subjects. “Urdu is my mothertongue. I learnt Urdu and Persian from my late grandfather, Khalid Hussain Khan, who was a lawyer in Uttar Pradesh. I have read Urdu poems and novels since childhood. My Urdu writing speed was bad but I wrote a page a day and that improved my pace of writing,’’ Sarah said.
Mohammed Iqbal was, for her, the most difficult poet to understand. “But his shayeri is fabulous,’’ she said of the Kashmiri poet who wrote Sare Jahan se achchha, Hindustan hamara. After finishing BCom from MMK College in 2003, Sarah attended a lecture on competitive exams by K M Arif, educationist and chairman of Alliance Foundation. That inspired her to go for the IAS. She tried twice but could not clear even the preliminary stage. This was her third attempt. The 25-year-old Sarah said that her success was the outcome of 10-12 hours of study a day. While doing her BCom, she also completed her foundation course in chartered accountancy. “I wanted to become a CA but Dr Arif suggested I study for the IAS exam instead. I was clueless about the exam procedure and the requisite study material but my family supported me,’’ she said.
Sarah was also awarded a scholarship by MESCO, an NGO. Sarah is now posted as section officer in the Haryana Accountant-General’s office. Her father, Afzal Ahmed, a science graduate, and mother Nigar, an arts graduate from Aligarh Muslim University, run a small garments business.
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