She got engaged at 15, lost her father, and ...: How this woman rewrote her destiny and cracked UPSC with All India Rank-9

The wedding cards had almost reached the printing stage. Relatives had begun discussing dates for the wedding. Neighbours had already started referring to her as someone’s future bride.

In the small village of Chandrapura in Madhya Pradesh, there was nothing unusual about a girl getting engaged in her teens. Girls studied if they could, married when they had to, and rarely questioned the script written for them.But one girl did. And one mother stood beside her.

Today, Anjali Sondhiya is an IFS (Indian Forest Services) officer after securing All India Rank 9 in the UPSC Indian Forest Service examination 2024.

Yet the journey from a village where early marriage is common to one of India’s toughest examinations was never simply about books, ranks or exams. It was a fight to choose her own life.

The girl who topped her district but was engaged in Class 10

Anjali grew up in Chandrapura village in Madhya Pradesh. Her parents worked as farmers. Education was important to her, but for many around her, marriage remained more important for girls. She studied till Class 8 in her village school before moving to Biaora town for higher studies.

There, she excelled academically and emerged as the district topper in her Class 10 board examinations. But around the same time, another decision had already been made for her.Her marriage had been fixed. “So much so that my marriage was fixed when I was still in Class 10. I was 15 at the time. My family had decided early on that I should be married off as soon as possible,” Anjali recalled.For many girls, that would have been the end of the story.

For Anjali, it was the beginning.

A journey full of ups and downs

Anjali had always been a bright student. The more she studied, the clearer her dreams became. After completing Class 12, she moved to Indore to continue her education and began preparing for the UPSC examination. She had seen girls around her give up their education. She knew the pressure that came with every passing year. Marriage conversations were around her every day. Determined to escape that fate, she immersed herself in studies.In an interview with Indian Masterminds, Anjali said, “My journey has been full of ups and downs, with many unexpected turns. But I remained adamant about my dedication, and my focus never shifted from UPSC. I think that single-minded determination is the real reason behind my success.”

Three failures and a mountain of pressure

Anjali had planned to take her first UPSC attempt in 2020. The Covid pandemic however delayed those plans. When she finally appeared for the Civil Services Examination in 2021, she could not clear the preliminary examination.

The same result followed in 2022. And again in 2023. She had failed three times.In many households, repeated failures invite advice. In others, they invite pressure. For Anjali, they brought back the question she had spent years avoiding: When will you get married?

The hardest year of Anjali's life

She remembers 2023 as the hardest year of her life. “I failed the prelims again, and the pressure to get married became unbearable,” she told Indian Masterminds.

At the same time, tragedy struck the family. Her father passed away in 2023, leaving her mother and brother to manage the farming responsibilities back home.And yet, at the lowest point in her journey, one person refused to let her give up.

The mother who changed everything for her

Sometimes, success stories have one turning point. For Anjali, it was her mother. As relatives questioned her decisions and social pressure mounted, her mother took a stand that would alter the course of her daughter’s life.“My mother stood like a wall between me and the world,” Anjali says. “She told me, ‘Now you will study, and you will not get married until you choose to.’ That was the biggest struggle of all but it became the turning point in my journey.” She broke the engagement and gave Anjali the one thing every girl deserves: the freedom to choose.

The fourth attempt that made her an officer

After three unsuccessful attempts, many aspirants decide to move on. But Anjali decided to fight once more.

In her fourth attempt, she appeared not only for the Civil Services Examination but also for the Indian Forest Service examination. Years of preparation, failures, self-doubt and sacrifice finally bore fruit. This time, she succeeded.Anjali cracked the Indian Forest Service examination 2024 with an impressive All India Rank 9. The girl who had once been expected to become a bride in her teens was now an officer. Looking back at her journey, her words capture the weight of everything she overcame:“They tried to write my destiny when I was just 15. But I rewrote it, with courage in my heart, tears in my eyes, and books in my hands.”Anjali Sondhiya's achievement is not just about cracking one of India's toughest examinations. It is about a girl who refused to accept the future chosen for her. It is about a mother who stood between her daughter and an entire system of expectations. It is about every young woman who has been told to compromise her dreams because the timing is not right, because society expects something else, because marriage cannot wait.