Love for Kerala bonded this young IAS pair
S Karthikeyan and K Vasuki however are disappointed in the direction state is headed
By : cynthia chandran
Update: 2014-10-12 05:57 GMT
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When IAS couple Sr. S. Karthikeyan and Dr. K. Vasuki decided to work in Kerala, their friends from the IAS academy tried to dissuade them by highlighting the State’s notoriety with strikes. But their love towards Kerala braved all odds and even named their little son as ‘Samaran’ meaning warrior in Tamil, though it was coincidence that they named so. The doctor couple belonging to Erode and Chennai in Tamil Nadu is currently working as Thiruvananthapuram sub-collector and Suchitwa Mission executive director respectively.
Under normal circumstances, both of them would have taken some super specialty in the medical stream as Dr. Karthikeyan’s family of two sisters and brother’s -in-law are all doctors. In fact Dr. Karthikeyan recalls how his engineer father, M. K. Sellappan was shattered when he revealed that he wanted to be a civil servant as his father had plans to construct a hospital in Erode. Though Dr. Karthikeyan topped with third rank in the State Board medical exams, he had already set his eyes on civil service. During their stint at Madras Medical College, they helped each other to prepare for the civil service exams and Dr. Vasuki scored 97th rank and Dr. Karthikeyan unfortunately managed to get in to the lucrative Indian Foreign Service scoring 127th rank.
“Unfortunately I lost to IAS by one mark and usually one can’t write the civil service again after being in IFS. It was a peculiar case and usually people don’t reject IFS and there was no precedence. We had taken a mutual decision that family comes first and I refused to go for IFS training. There was a long court battle and every day I would be advised by the top officials at Ministry of External Affairs about the merits of being in IFS”, said 32 year Dr. Karthikeyan who has got a fancy towards numbers.
But finally the bespectacled man conquered all odds and the elusive IAS came calling on him in 2011. By then Dr. Vasuki joined Madhya Pradesh cadre in 2008 who stood by him like a pillar helping him with notes for his second attempt in civil service. Though the couple has known to each other since 2000, they decided to get married in 2010. Apart from Samaran, they have a three year old daughter Sayuri which means Little Lilly in Japanese.
Recently Dr. Vasuki courted news when CPM loyalists gheraoed her and didn’t realize that it would be big news until they saw the next day’s newspapers. An all rounder in studies, bharatnatyam, western dance, painting, singing and what not, Dr. Vasuki has a vision charted for the long standing vexatious issue of waste management disposal.
“If waste management issue can be done anywhere in India, Kerala is the first State to have it. We have a very vibrant recycling market where the Government should link the people to promote it. Our top priority should be towards dry waste than biodegradable waste”, said Dr. Vasuki, daughter of K. R. Subramanian, a bank manager and homemaker K. R. Sarala.
However, Dr. Karthikeyan is a tad bit disappointed with the way in which Kerala is heading, especially Thiruvananthapuram city where he daily gets petitions from senior citizens that they are not being looked after.
“I get an average of 30 petitions daily from senior citizens as old as 95 years which is a huge surprise to me. With joint family structure disintegrating, there has been a rise in such cases and it gives me immense pleasure when I am able to provide instant justice to old people”, added Dr. Karthikeyan who wishes to be given the mantle of health secretary in future.