From waiter to an IAS officer: Read the inspiring story of K Jaiganesh

IAS success stories: For the past few weeks, we have been bringing to you inspirational stories of IAS/IPS officers, who cracked one of the toughest exams in the country - the UPSC exams - and became coveted civil servants. Recently, a web series called Aspirants was aired on an OTT platform which depicted the struggle of three friends who aspired to crack the UPSC exams.

Today, we bring to you the extremely inspirational story of K Jaiganesh, who battled all odds and became an IAS officer. He fought his way up from poverty to secure 156th rank in the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Exam in 2007 after six unsuccessful attempts.

Born in a remote village, Vinavamangalam, near Ambur in northern Tamil Nadu, Jaiganesh K Jaiganesh used to work as a waiter at a small eatery in Chennai to make ends meet. 

Jaiganesh had a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Government Thanthai Periyar Institute of Technology in Vellore. However, he had to do odd jobs to make ends meet. "I had tried unsuccessfully to appear for the civil services examinations thrice from my village. I realised that I needed to be in Chennai to be able to make it. Therefore, I secured admission at the government-run All-India Institute for IAS Coaching at Anna Nagar. Having come here, I had to take up whatever work I could get to pay my monthly mess bill of Rs 600 and travel," he said as quoted by a leading daily.

He initially worked at Satyam Cinemas, but that didn't leave him with enough time to prepare for the exams. Then he took up a job at an eatery, where he used to get some time to prepare and finally in 2007 he became successful. He then went to Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy for Public Administration in Mussourie.