When I joined the Indian Police Service, I was in for a big disappointment — I was assigned to serve in the Kerala cadre for the rest of my life.
Folklore says that for the Civil Services, the north Indian states are ‘good cadres’ — good facilities, nice houses, and ‘more power’, whatever that means. In this paradigm, UP cadre would be everyone’s envy.
On top of it, UP being my home state, it was supposed to be even more of a prized thing.
Naturally, when I got assigned to Kerala, I was dejected. It was supposed to be the opposite of UP, in every sense.
Looking back, Kerala was my luckiest break. Here, corruption is relatively lower, people are decent and tolerant, and I had a great tenure – I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
In Kerala, doing the right thing was easier — as an ASP, I once said ‘no’ to my IGP, and nothing happened. Elsewhere, the consequences would have been swift.
In my life, many ‘lucky’ things have turned out to be a disaster, and ‘bad luck’ turned out to be a boon.
The truth is — life is unpredictable. We have no idea what life would have been like had it taken a different turn.
You can’t change the cards life has dealt you — you can only play them well. Chances are, you already have the cards you need.
– Rajan