Mumbai: Govandi celebrates as its son enters IES

On Sunday Govandi the sprawling cluster of slum settlements near the Deonar dumping ground saw a unique celebration The Govandi Citizens Welfare Forum felicitated the first boy from their neighbourhood to crack the Union Public Service Commission UPSC examShafiuddin Siddiquirsquos entry into the Indian Engineering Services IES is being celebrated as a victory for Govandi whose boys are known more for performing stunts on local trains than for academic excellence The M East ward in which Govandi falls is the most neglected one in Mumbai It has the lowest Human Development Index HDI with life expectancy the lowest and infant mortality and number of TB patients the highestShafiuddin SiddiquiYet it is from this settlement that 28yearold Shafiuddin fulfilled his dream Though he had already passed two government competitive exams the railwaysrsquo exam and the Maharashtra Public Service Commission MPSC the UPSC had always been Shafiuddinrsquos goal This was his third attempt and he scored the secondhighest marks in the interview stage He hopes to get into defence engineeringAfter completing his SSC from the Anjuman Falahul Islam Urdu High School in Govandi and Std XII from Swami Vivekanand Junior College Chembur Shafiuddin went to M H Saboo Siddik College to study civil engineering It was here that he heard about the engineering branch of the UPSC and was tempted to try his luck ldquoThe atmosphere in Govandi was not conducive to long hours of study but I used the TISS library and finally went to Delhi for a year to prepare for the examrdquo he saidHis focus helped him get a job in the Railways where he worked as a section engineer for three years in Nerul Navi Mumbai After he cracked the MPSC he was posted in Asangaon in December 2022 as an assistant engineerProud parentsldquoWe knew from his school days that he would go farrdquo said Shafiuddinrsquos proud father Shahabuddin Interestingly his father the son of an army man was the only one in his family not to enter college he ran away from home in UP to Mumbai in 1990 and tried his hand at various businesses before settling in Govandi as a civil contractor But he and his wife Rahila Khatun who also studied only till school made sure their children went far Shafiuddin is the eldest one sister is an Ayurvedic doctor the other a CA his other siblings are studyingNow on a fiveday fast that she had vowed to keep if her son made it Rahila reveals that unlike others they rarely visited their village because that would have affected the childrenrsquos educationNo discriminationHas Shafiuddin faced any hostility as a Muslim at work Not at allrdquo he replied ldquoI was a bit apprehensive but all my perceptions turned out false People in Maharashtra are so warm Whether in the Railways or now in Asangaon therersquos absolutely no feeling of caste or religion among us We eat with each other Actually without my senior engineersrsquo help I wouldnrsquot have been able to prepare for the UPSC while working I feel really sad about leaving this jobrdquoShafiuddin feels students should be told in Std IX about the myriad avenues available to them in government service ldquoThey may not think it useful at that stage but the idea will germinate in due time and guide themrdquoAn inspirationSaid Govandi Citizens Welfare Forum convenor Faiyaz Shaikh ldquoMost students in Govandi donrsquot study beyond Std X or XII Some lack the financial resources to train for competitive exams most are just not aware as therersquos little career counselling We want to project Shafiuddin as an inspiration to our studentsrdquo