Brothers from Nalgonda crack civil services in final attempt

Hyderabad: Two brothers hailing from a marginalised family in Nalgonda's Chityala have made it to the civil services in their final attempt.While Velimineti Vikram Simha Reddy secured All India Rank (AIR) 541, his elder brother, Velimineti Vijaysimha Reddy, secured AIR 682. Incidentally, both also received Group 1 appointments from the state govt a couple of months ago.
"The past five years were very challenging for us, as both of us resigned from software jobs and lived on our elder sister's income," Vikram told TOI. "We even stopped going to family gatherings as relatives used to mock us and say we were wasting time on UPSC." The 29-year-old said it was a challenging decision to leave their jobs in 2021, especially right after the Covid-19 pandemic, and pursue their dream. "We thought of leaving our dreams and looking for a job many times. Things started to change only after both of us managed to secure Group 1 jobs," he said. After every failure they worked on their weak areas to put up a better show in their next attempt, said Vikram.Born into a farmer's family, they said their survival and education was dependent on income from their three-acre land in the village. While Vikram studied computer science engineering at Osmania University, Vijay studied the same course at Sreenidhi Institute of Science & Technology."When we resigned, my brother earned 12 lakh per annum (LPA), and I got around 8 LPA. Suddenly, our income became zero. It was our elder sister, working with an MNC, who supported us," said 30-year-old Vijay.Though both passed together, the brothers did not spend much time preparing together, as one prefers to study early in the morning and the other is a night owl. Also, they said their optional subjects were different."My optional was sociology and his was political science," said Vijay. "So, we used to prepare separately. However, we used to discuss during breaks and keep each other motivated."