At the age of 22, Hasan Safin became an IPS officer after clearing the UPSC Civil Services exams and securing an All India Rank of 570.
But life was never a bed of roses for Safin and his family. Amongst many other things, he talks about the one extra deed that his parents did to help him achieve his goal.
“My parents gave me the freedom to dream and become whoever I want and that inculcated a sense of responsibility in me,” he says.
“They never asked me to become a doctor or an engineer. When I told them that I wanted to be an officer, they asked me to go ahead and achieve it,” he adds.
His parents – Naseem Bano and Mustufa – worked at a diamond unit and earned just enough to feed their child. There were many nights when he went to bed on an empty stomach.
When he needed extra money for his education, his mother took up the job of rolling out hundreds of rotis at local restaurants.
“I have seen her soaked in sweat even on cold mornings in the kitchen while I studied there,” he says.
He adds how Naseem Bano would wake up at 3 am every day and make anywhere from 20 to 200 kg of medium-sized rotis earning Rs 5,000-8,000 a month.
All that money went into her son’s education. For him, it was his mother’s love and sweat that paved the path to success.
Incidentally, Safin’s dream of becoming a civil servant was inspired by a collector’s visit to his village when he was a child.
“Escorted by armed bodyguards, the collector addressed the entire village, assuring them that their problems would be resolved,” he says.
“I asked an elderly person how to become a collector and was told anybody could become one — all that it required was hard work to crack an entrance test. From that moment, I found the mission of my life,” he adds.
Today, the IPS officer wishes to open a state-of-the-art residential school for economically weaker children to pay back to society.