Kuttiyadi (Kozhikode) , KERALA :

“It was quite unusual in our community (for girls to be educated and independent) but my father was different.

“For him, education was of utmost importance.

“I wanted to be a part of the nation building process and I felt I would be able to contribute positively if I became an IAS officer.”

Atheela Abdullah, 29, talks to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com about how she achieved her dream.

Atheela Abdullah (pictured left) grew up in a small village in the Malabar region of Kerala where Muslim girls were not generally encouraged to study or work. Her father, however, encouraged his wife to work and his daughters to study and pursue their dreams.

He worked in the Middle East and her mother, a school teacher in the village, took care of their children.

Although Atheela studied medicine, she wanted to become an Indian Administrative Service officer. Her husband, who was her classmate at medical college, encouraged her to follow her dream.

Thus began the inspiring story of a young mother — Atheela has two small children — and her single-minded pursuit of her dreams, discovers Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com.

Growing up in a village

I grew up in Kuttyadi, a small village near Kozhikode in Kerala.

My mother was a school teacher and, till Class IV, I studied at a primary school there. After that, my father sent me to a boarding school in Kozhikode because he wanted his children to study in a good English medium school. My elder brother and sister were already in boarding school.

My father wanted both his daughters to grow up into independent women. This is quite unusual in our community (for girls to be educated and independent) but my father was different. For him, education was of utmost importance. He used to tell us how he met a German lady in the seventies who advised him to give his children the gift of education.

My father never differentiated between his son and his daughters.

The atmosphere at the boarding school helped develop my interests like reading, elocution, essay writing, participating in quizzes and debating.

A passion for nation building

In school, I used to scratch the letters ‘IAS’ on the desk; it was the only way I revealed my hidden desire.

I wanted to be a part of the nation building process and felt I would be able to contribute positively if I became an IAS officer.

Sometimes, I thought of becoming a scientist instead and contributing to the nation like Abdul Kalam but I knew I didn’t have the scientific temperament that is needed. So, I decided to be an administrator.

It was unusual for a girl from a middle class Muslim family in a small village, who had never seen an IAS officer, to dream of becoming one.

The options available to me as a student were to either become an engineer or a doctor. I chose the latter as I felt I would be able to do something for the community as a doctor.

Joining medical college

I joined the MES Medical College in Perunthalmanna. Believe me, I would scribble ‘IAS’ on the desk here too, perhaps to remind myself that it was my ultimate dream.

Though I was studying medicine, my reading involved a wide range of topics. I spent a lot of time in the library reading magazines and newspapers.

Meeting her husband

I became friends with Rabeeh, (the man she would marry, Dr Rabeeh V) who was studying medicine in another college, because of the interests we shared. He used to write, while I was a public speaker.

I was 23 and doing my house surgency (internship). My parents were looking for a match for me. Rabeeh and I thought, why not get married? After all, we were from the same community and shared the same interests. Our relationship started off as a literary bond, we became good friends and, after four years of knowing each other, we got married.

By then, I realised that my interest did not lie in giving injections and prescribing medicines. My passion lay in working for the community; at the same time, I knew I did not want to study community medicine.

Even as a medical student, what interested me was talking to patients, understanding their background and needs, and their socio-economic condition. I felt there was a gap somewhere that needed to be filled.

In January 2011, I completed my studies.

From medicine to IAS

My husband was extremely supportive of my desire to become an IAS officer. He told me that though we had not seen anyone from our community achieve such a dream, if I were to achieve this, I would motivate more women to become IAS officers. Both of us want women from our community to come to the mainstream and be independent.

It was at that time that one of Rabeeh’s friends got selected as an IPS officer. We went to meet him to take his advice on how to prepare for the examination. He asked me a couple of questions and I could answer them so he asked me to go ahead and write the exam.

I went to Delhi to attend a three-month coaching class. Rabeeh came along to help me find a place to stay. He was with me for 10 days. He was preparing for his postgraduate entrance exam then.

When I returned, I took up a job as a pathology tutor in a medical college. This time, I decided to support the family as Rabeeh was preparing for his examination.

I didn’t have much time to prepare for the preliminary exam but I didn’t find it difficult; in fact, it was easier than my medical examinations. Here, I was studying subjects I really liked — English, social science, etc.

I knew I was risking my career in medicine but I was prepared.

Luckily, I got through in the preliminary examination in the first attempt itself. For the next two months, I prepared for the main exam. I was in Delhi for a month to prepare for the public administration paper; the other optional paper was medical science which I had studied in medical college.

This time, I stayed at the Hamdard Study Circle, which the government had started for the minorities in India; it is a free study circle.

While I wrote the mains, my husband wrote his PG exam.

The Attapadi community centre

As we did not have children then, we decided to work at the Attapadi community centre, which is a rural tribal area. The experience was an eye opener; we were exposed to a government system that didn’t work. We also understood some of the deficiencies in the system when we saw a tele-medicine unit worth Rs 4 crores lying unused.

We felt really helpless when we were unable to treat emergency cases. Nobody wanted to work there. At times, when you needed a workforce of 60 people, you had only six people to work with.

The mains hurdle, cleared!

While I was at Attapadi, the mains results were announced; I had cleared it. It was time for another trip to Delhi for another round of coaching. This time too, I stayed at the Hamdard Study Circle. The coaching, which lasted for a month, was quite helpful.

Though I was pregnant and had all the uneasiness connected with it, I tried to forget the difficulties and concentrated on the preparation. I didn’t want to waste an opportunity. I wanted to prove to the family that I could achieve whatever I want to and also do what was expected of me as a daughter, wife and daughter-in-law.

I knew was charting a new course for someone like me in our community. As the first one, I had to work hard to prove myself so that, tomorrow, perhaps my daughter will have it easy. There was no question of my complaining about anything as I liked taking up challenges and coming out victorious.

Facing the interview board

My interview was scheduled in April 2012. I was four months pregnant then.

They asked me a lot of questions on the kind of work I was doing at Attapadi and also about the tribes there, their lifestyle, their traditional occupation, the common health problems they face, etc. They also asked me about the role of technology in medicine, my opinion on euthanasia, etc.

They wanted to know why I wanted to be a civil servant when I was comfortable with the profession I was in. I told them that I always wanted to be a civil servant; it was a dream that I had carried with me from the time I was in school.

I was quite hopeful after the 30-minute interview.

When the results were out, I had secured a rank of 230.

I think I am the first Muslim woman from the Malabar area to become an IAS officer.

Becoming a mother

Shobha Warrier / Rediff.com

source: http://www.rediff.com / rediff.com / Home> Getahead / by Shoba Warrier / September 30th, 2015