The Man Who Once Dreamed of Service
At 23, I stepped into my PhD journey, full of questions and curiosity. There, I met a man who is 32 years old, married, and living what society might call an “ordinary” life. But behind his eyes, I sensed a heavy burden. He told me about his past—how he was once a topper, a bright mind with endless passion to serve others. His dream was to become a civil servant through TNPSC examinations, a path thousands in Tamil Nadu aspire to. For years, he poured his heart into it. Days turned into months, months into years, and before he knew it, he was 30, still chasing a dream that kept slipping away. “Competition is too heavy,” he said. “And luck was never on my side.” At 30, he gave up. Not because he didn’t have the ability, but because society’s timeline—and his own—made him feel defeated. Today, he no longer dreams for himself. He wakes up each day simply to fulfill the needs of his wife and parents. In his own words, he is “unsuccessful” according to society’s defi...