Udharbond's Vikram Chasa, son of a tea garden worker who lost his father in childhood is now an ACS Officer; given a warm reception by CM Sonowal

Often stories about people who succeed in life inspire us but the ones who deal with real hardships and shine become ingrained in our minds forever with their exemplary perseverance and a courage to deal with come what may. A brilliant example is Vikram Chasa, the newly qualified ACS officer who ranked 24th in the Assam Civil Services Examination. The ACS Officer’s father died while he was in the first grade, so his mother started working in a tea garden for giving her sons a bright future. After securing the 24th rank in Assam Civil Service Examinations the Chief Minister of the state, Sarbananda Sonowal himself welcomed him. Recently, Vikram Chasa spoke about his life story in an exclusive interview with Barak Bulletin. He is the first one to achieve such a rank within his community.

Speaking to us, Chasa said his father used to drive an Ambulance in Dolu Tea Estate and suddenly one day passed away leaving his family in deep trauma and grief. His mother was forced to run the house with her two children and joined the tea garden. Although both the children studied in a Government school, they scored well all along the way in their academic career. The hardwork done by their mother left an indelible mark in their minds and determined them to score well in the exams. Vikram passed Higher Secondary from Dolu Higher Secondary School and studied Economics at Cachar College. He later went to Guwahati for post graduate studies and started preparing for the Civil Service exams there. His first attempt was in 2015, followed by a second attempt in 2017, eventually hitting the bullseye in the third attempt by ranking 24th in the civil services in the entire state of Assam. The civil servant’s younger brother is an employee in Assam Police. After getting a job back in 2013, Vikram Chasa refrained his mother from working in the Tea garden.

Post the demise of her husband, Chasa’s mother fought hard and educated her two sons and today both of them have become Government Officials. It can be a glaring example of the benefits and radical changes in the standard of living that education reaps to any society in the world. Of course, everyone in the Barak Valley is proud of Vikram’s success and even more proud of his mother’s passion and initiative to educate her sons.

While speaking to us Vikram said, “After the death of my father, my mother worked too hard and the biggest objective for her was to educate us. She knew that the light of education could dispel darkness from our lives. We saw dreams in her eyes and we never had any reluctance to study. Once I got a government job, I requested my mother not to work in the tea garden anymore. She has worked hard from 1996 to 2013. However, our dreams did not end there and they got bigger with time. One day I saw a dream of becoming a government official and today I am living my dream. I have studied in the gap of my job and finally my hard work paid off and I received the great news today. Now I want to help others to make their dreams come true. There are others in my society who need the light of education to eradicate darkness from their lives and once it happens they too will get established in the society.”

Recently, Vikram was given a reception by the Assam Tea Tribal Students’ Association located at Sivasagar. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal attended the function and handed over Vikram a gift telling him to move further ahead in life and achieve more success. Many people including Minister Rameshwar Teli were present on the occasion. Reminiscing those memories Vikram said, “The Chief Minister told me to do a good job and work harder, I will definitely keep this in mind. Besides, my mother is very happy with my success and she wants me to improve. With her blessings, I may be able to move to a better place in the future.”