Column | The chicanery of Uncle-hood
The author reflects on his personal journey from nearly becoming an IAS officer to becoming a journalist, while critiquing the public's contradictory attitudes toward bureaucracy. He explores the societal pressure and complex sentiments surrounding India's elite civil service exams.
Why it matters
It provides cultural insight into the prestige and public perception of the Indian Administrative Services within the Indian middle class.
Column | The chicanery of Uncle-hood Tricktionary: Episode 40 left Old man and a boy by Italian painter Tintoretto WikiCommons https://th-i.thgim.com/public/society/m08lyb/article71610939.ece/alternates/FREE_1200/The%20chicanery%20of%20Uncle-hood Years of lessons in integrity, undone by one uncle with a favour to ask Dear readers, you may find this hard to believe. But you are currently reading words written by a man who once almost became an officer of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). And when I say “almost became”, I really mean that I applied for the exam, obtained a registration card, spent several weeks preparing for the exam, and then decided to never take the exam. This was some time in 2002 or 2003. My memory fails me. But yes, one day, in a fit of fury, I ripped my registration card into shreds and flung it out of a window in my maternal grandfather’s house. Instead, I applied for an MBA entrance exam.
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