27/12/2023
Between all the “Ye time he zaya kar rahi hai apna” and “Mujhe pata tha tum ne kar lena hai!” CSS happened!
My journey on this road to finally reaching the destination, is conventional yet astounding. It was the end of my last summer at NUST, and I was about to graduate in a month or two. Not knowing what to do next, I was looking up to the new horizons that might be looking up to me the same way! That was when the thought of attempting for CSS struck me, and struck me real hard. I had always been a well achieved student, even received President’s Gold Medal for best GPA in Bachelors, but that was in “Biological Sciences”. Yes! You heard it right. I was a true scientist. Skimming through the extensive and elaborate subject list of CSS exam, I was dejected to see that “Applied Biology” legit had no place in any of the groups. Soon after I had consulted a few well informed individuals, my high spirited soul was demotivated. Days were passing as I perplexingly watched my friends applying for MS programs and deciding career prospects for themselves. I was already running late and still I couldn’t stick to one decision.
One ordinary day, I looked up to my parents, but this time it wasn’t an ordinary gaze like always. I realized that they weren’t the same as ever before. Meek and old, with the hearts of gold, and their faces depicting the stories untold! That is when I stiffened up my upper lip, held my chin high and stepped into the game. For them or for myself? Who even knows that now?
I joined an academy in July 2017, and the time span was quite less for a person like me who was almost a CSS-illiterate. Each passing day brought a new kind of challenge and a lesson that came within. There were times when things fell apart, there were times when I endured the pain of sleepless nights and there too were times when I would cry myself to sleep. People would mock or ridicule at times, of how silly it is for a person to overestimate herself like that, but this my folks, is how CSS works!
Push yourself through the edge, challenge your aura. Be over ambitious and see yourself soaring up above the skies. It’s not always rainbows and butterflies, but it isn’t hell and beyond, either. Consistency and Perseverance are the decisive factors, even when the days are harsh and the nights; bitter, keep going!
To the aspirants for the CSS 2024-2025; your only competition is YOU! There’s always time to turn the tables over. All you have to do is believe in your abilities. You can start from the scratch and still be on the top. Time is everything, so not tomorrow, not the day after. Start gathering your pieces of life NOW! As Harvey Specter would say “A day has enough hours, you just have too many excuses”, so it’s never too late. So the next time someone tells you that you’ll never be able to do it, tell them to “Never say, Never”.
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. ~T.S. Eliot
-- Mehreen Tahir (IRS, 66th Position Holder in CSS 2018).
