His childhood was full of pain and sorrow. An alcoholic father put the entire burden of looking after the family on his mother, a home maker. But she sacrificed everything to ensure her son received good education. While things had just about started picking up in their life, a sharp object thrown at him by a friend while he was studying in Class IV hit his right eye causing partial blindness.
But the turning point in Lipin Raj's life came when a photocopy shop owner who noticed his plus two marks directed him to study at Mar Ivanios College, Thiruvananthapuram as it had facilities to prepare for civil service examinations. He even put a word to college authorities.
Since then there has been no looking back. Partial blindness could not hold back Lipin Raj from succeeding in civil service exams. He came out with flying colours winning 224th rank in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2012 announced in May this year.
Sharing his experience, Raj told Deccan Chronicle that eyesight had created problems in his first attempt at the exam. For example, while he was sure the correct answer for an objective type question was (a), he would mark choice (b). But after training he overcame this problem in the second attempt.
There were problems during preparation of exams. I could not read books for long hours at a stretch and depended on Braille books and recorded CDs. At that time I was working with a bank and would return home around 8 pm. I used to sit through the night preparing for exams,'' he said.
Raj said he dreamed of becoming an IAS officer right from childhood. The kind of praise and respect showered on the district collector when he came to his village, ignited the desire further. Hailing from an economically poor family, he had to work as a part-time journalist to support his studies.
His dream to enroll in reputed institutions in Delhi for journalism could not materialise because of financial problems. Currently, Raj who has been selected for Indian Railway Service is undergoing training in Gujarat.
