The sun hadn’t fully risen, but the polling booth was already alive with activity. Elderly voters wiped sweat from their brows as they leaned on walking sticks, young first-timers clutched their voter slips nervously, and security personnel kept a watchful eye as the line steadily grew. Amid the din of announcements and shuffling feet, Rishika adjusted her ID tag and checked the voter list one more time.

She wasn’t just managing the queue; she was managing the weight of two lives. A government school teacher by profession and a UPSC aspirant at heart, Rishika had been assigned 24-hour election duty just 20 days before her prelims. The physical exhaustion, the mental strain, the fear of slipping behind in her preparation — it all came crashing down under the harsh fluorescent lights of the polling station.

“I had election duty in the General Elections. We had to report at 4 am and only got home by 2 or 3 the next morning. It was definitely a valuable exposure, but also immensely taxing at the same time, especially because I had prelims just two weeks later. I felt my obligations to election duties might hinder my performance in the exam, and all my efforts might go to waste because of these conflicting responsibilities,” Rishika recalls.

Despite the exhaustion and the looming pressure of the exam, Rishika’s spirit remained unbroken. She had faced setbacks before, including two failed attempts and the challenges of balancing her job with her studies.

Still, she pressed on through all three stages of the demanding examination and navigated through the chaos, squeezing in study hours whenever possible, even if it meant sacrificing sleep.

And when the

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