Tripti Nath/New Delhi 

Hyderabad-based general surgeon, Dr Syed Mustafa Hashmi, who ranked 162nd in this year’s civil services examination, says that focus and clear-sightedness can guarantee success.  

The eldest among four siblings, Dr Hashmi comes from a family of doctors who survived COVID in the line of duty. During the pandemic, he was on duty for more than a year in the COVID wards. These week-long duties were followed by quarantine of the same period which he used to prepare for the examination. 

While he and his brothers completed their degrees in medicine from Hyderabad’s Osmania Medical College, his sister did from Gandhi Medical College. His wife too is a doctor. His father is a civil engineer and his mother a homemaker. He studied in the Gulf till Middle School.  

Dr Syed Mustafa Hashmi 

His insatiable quest for knowledge beyond the school syllabus got him interested in quizzing. In 2012, when he was only 19 years old, he was the youngest participant on the hot seat with superstar Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. 

He categorizes his preparation as slightly unusual due to his exposure to quizzing and natural interest in reading. He bagged a silver medal for India in the International Biology Olympiad in South Korea in 2010. “ I have been a regular participant and winner of several quiz competitions in different news channels and at State and national levels.’’  

Talking about his preparation, he said that he did not take any coaching for the prelims. “For the Mains, I took a test series. Like almost every candidate, I gave mock interviews at several coaching centers to get exposure to different interview boards. I opted for Medical Sciences as an optional subject in Mains. I was working in King Koti district hospital and quit a week before the prelims in 2021.’’ 

Asked whether he was studying 17 hours a day, he replied, “This is a question I quite dislike. Through my school and college and this examination journey, one principle I have always maintained is that quality matters, not quantity. It is not the number of hours but how focused you are on the time you spend. I had to juggle my job and my preparation. It was important to have maximum efficiency in the time I could give. ‘’ 

Dr Hashmi said that he gave the initial two attempts while doing 24/7 surgical residency in Osmania General Hospital.‘’I did not really regret it because I wanted to get a feel of the examination. It is only after completing my Master's in Surgery from Osmania that I could focus on serious preparation. In the third attempt, I cleared the Prelims but not the Mains. Preparation for this examination has made me a better citizen and a better doctor. Medicine is my passion and will always be close to my heart.’’ 

Dr Syed Mustafa Hashmi showing the medal he has won

Offering a free prescription to civil service aspirants, he said, “be very clear about your motivation for preparation. It requires dedication and a lot of time. It is the toughest examination in the country. Only if you have a clear idea about why you want to do this, you can handle the stress, the psychological burden one faces sometimes, the highs and lows, and the multiple attempts. All these challenges will be surmountable. This examination is not for everyone. People sometimes spend so many years of their youth and should have clarity whether it is not for them. What drew me to civil services is the opportunity to play a role in national progress and ensure good governance and public service delivery to needy people. ’ 

On being complimented for being the intellectual crème de la crème of India, he laughed and said, “I take it all with undeserved adulation as it is a work in progress. It takes years to toil for the examination. You have to broaden your horizons. I know that all these top candidates are competent and bright. I know that there are a lot of smart people out there and I am only one among them."

He says that the online videos on the civil services interviews are dramatized, overplayed, and hyped to catch the eyeballs. 

Dr Hashmi enjoyed recalling his personality test informally known as the interview. This interview in UPSC Bhawan in April is something he remembers as a very pleasant and cordial 30-minute conversation with five panelists. “ These people were very senior but they went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. I was excited and eager. So, I remained calm, The interviewers test your personality, the way you enter the hall, the way you carry yourself, the way you sit, the way you answer questions under stress and they also see if you have officer-like qualities. So, they ask you a range of questions across different disciplines with a strong focus on current affairs and your analysis. Because I am a doctor, they asked me about government policies and schemes on health and malnutrition, the comparison between the Chinese and Indian pharma industries, and the fate of medical students returning from Ukraine. The very first question was something that I did not prepare for. I was given a choice to speak on police reforms, judicial reforms, or electoral reforms. I chose to speak on the challenges of electoral reforms and offer innovative solutions.’ 

He vividly remembers how he and his family members went through an agonizing wait for three days before the results were declared on May 30. “All of us were huddled together. My younger brother was the one who spotted it. That moment was one of foremost gratitude for being blessed with this result and everyone – God, my family, and friends who got me so far.’’ 

He agrees that representation of Muslims is not enough in bureaucracy. 

This Hyderabadi surgeon speaks English, Hindi, Telugu, and Urdu. He has sampled Urdu poetry through oral renditions of the poetry of his maternal grandfather Habib Abdullah, a government school headmaster and poet. ‘’One of the couplets that my grandfather recited to me in childhood and is still etched in my mind is, ‘ Lo jaan bech kar bhi ilm-o-hunar mile, Jisse mile, Jahan mile, jis kadar mile.’ (Put your life on the line for the sake of seeking knowledge and skills regardless of who you get it from, where you get it from, and how much you get.’ 

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He likes traveling, reading nonfiction, long-form journalistic articles, and spending time with his family.  

Dr Hashmi is looking forward to joining the three-month foundation course scheduled to start in Mussoorie on August 29.