Jammu

The adage that the family that prays together stays together has found a new version. Going by the success of three siblings from a remote and hilly village of Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir, it seems, the family that studies together becomes successful is as much valid.

Three siblings - sister Huma Anjum Wani, Ifra Anjum Wani, and their brother, Suhail Ahmad Wani - hailing from far-off Kahi Trankhal village of Bhaleesa in the mountainous Doda district of Jammu and have qualified the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services examination the result of which was declared on Friday.

Suhail, the youngest of the three secured 111th rank while Huma secured 117th and Ifra 143rd rank among the 187 successful candidates.

While Ifra did her masters in physics, Huma and Suhail have their master's in political science.

 Munir Ahmad Wani, the father of the three siblings, is proud of the success of his children. He said his children have achieved success without joining any coaching.

 "My children don't have a mobile phone even today. Whenever they wanted to connect to the Internet, they would use their mother's phone," the father said.

Father attributes the success of his children to their hard work and focused study. Huma told the Srinagar-based English newspaper, Greater Kashmir, "Our mother sold her gold and we used the money for purchasing books and other study materials. We have seen so many sacrifices in this journey,"

She said all three studied together and guided each other. “We studied every day and helped each other with comprehension of subjects. “Every day was a new challenge for us," said Huma.

Irfa said, "We had limited books that we shared amongst us at intervals. We guided each other. We conducted our examination every day.”

She said consistency and continuity coupled with proper time management was key to success.

"Initially we feared that we may not be able to compete with the candidates who have joined coaching classes in Delhi and at other places. But we believed in ourselves and worked hard together," she said.

Suhail Ahmad while speaking about his gut feeling about the outcome of examinations, said during his preparation days he had high hopes about his sisters for qualifying the examination

"It is a moment of joy for us that our hard work and our sacrifices have paid off in the end. We qualified for the JKAS exam, fighting many odds and giving sacrifices as well," Suhail said. He said the candidates prepare for the JKAS exams as per their capacity and capability. "Some believe that private coaching can be more helpful but some rely on self-study. In our case, we could not afford private coaching so we had to rely on self-study," Suhail said.

Another story of grit and determination to beat one’s adverse circumstances is of Aabid Hussain Lone who also qualified for the coveted examinations. Aabid who hails from Udhipora Langate in the Kupwara district is the son of a tea seller, who passed away some years ago.

He said his father was a major factor in his success. "I used to visit his kiosk and see him selling tea. I would always prick myself and provoke me to do something in my life," said Abid.

"I started preparations a few years ago as my father, before leaving for heavenly abode, would always tell me to fulfill his dream to qualify for this prestigious exam."

Abid attributed his success to the support of his mother and other close relatives who would always help him financially and gave moral support.

He said his mother made sure that he never missed his father while preparing for the examinations. “My relatives also stood by me and always extended their help whenever I was in need," he said.

Abid is among the four candidates from frontier Kupwara who cleared the examination. Danish Amin Bhat from Ujroo village of Handwara has qualified for the prestigious exam in his maiden attempt.

A total of 20,790 candidates took that examination out of which 4462 candidates were announced. Jammu girl Megha Gupta has secured the first position in JKCCS Mains Exams by scoring 1177.50 marks.