Thiruvananthapuram: VM Arya (26) from Balaramapuram was upset when she couldn’t crack the prelims of the civil service exams on her first chance. But that did not stop her. She prepared again for a second round and passed the preliminary exam on the second chance. Her confidence improved and she worked hard to bag the 36th rank in the All India Civil Services exam. Arya studied at the Sree Vivekananda Memorial Public School until class ten. Later, she completed her Plus-Two from Viswabharathy Public School
She did BA English from Government College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram before going to Pondicherry Central University for her MA. A bright student, Arya was the first rank holder for both BA and MA courses. The youngster says that she had been dreaming about cracking civil service since she was a class eight student. She had chosen English as her optional subject for civil service as she did graduation and post graduation in English Literature.
After completing post graduation, Arya worked as a teacher for some time. While training for the civil services exam, Arya kept writing PSC tests and exams for appointment to various posts in central government. She was disheartened as she couldn’t grab good ranks in these exams. But, her perseverance in civil service training finally paid off. Arya says that doing revisions at proper intervals had helped her remember the topics. Meanwhile, she enjoyed watching films to ease the stress of her busy schedules. Arya is the only daughter of Venkiteshwaran Potti and Mini who were both government employees.
