Destined for praises

Name Abdul Hameed means ‘Servant of the Praiseworthy The Ever-praised (God).’ Several men with this name are known to have done a lot many praiseworthy deeds.
Posted as SP-Transgomti in Lucknow, the young and good-looking 2006-batch IPS officer Abdul Hameed was not even born when another Abdul Hameed, belonging to the state of UP itself, died fighting gallantly against the Pakistani army in the Khem Karan sector during the 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. Commanding a recoilless gun detachment, this gallant son of India knocked down two enemy tanks amidst intense enemy shelling and tank fire before he was brought down through concentrated machine gun and high explosive fire on him. Abdul Hameed was awarded with the country’s highest military decoration, the Param Vir Chakra, for his brave deed.
Providence needed to shower accolades on yet another gallant son of India when destiny led a young Abdul Hameed to become an IPS officer so as to enable him to serve his country. Knowing more about him, one realizes that it were a lot many blessings in disguises which combined to enable him to reach this position. As if an invisible hand was leading him towards a direction that he hadn’t thought of at all while beginning his career.
Born to a doting father, Shamsher Khan, our young hero Abdul Hameed lived in various cities during his childhood on account of his father’s transferable job. Shamsher Khan was very supportive and guided his young child all through during his growth towards youth and maturity. The father had a tremendous impact on the life of his son.
After Class X, Abdul Hameed studied for two years at Etawah and then went to Lucknow for graduation. After completing the three year Bachelor of Management Studies course from LU, he went on to do MBA from another institute and completed it with marketing as major specialization. Through campus interview, he got selected in a Chennai based company. As it was to turn to his advantage, Abdul Hameed didn’t like this job and left it within six months. This decision was to turn his life for ever. Under this father’s encouragement and pursuance, he decided to try for civil services.
Abdul Hameed went to Delhi and joined an institute for coaching. “I had to do everything on my own in Delhi. This included the choice of the coaching institute, the choice of subjects, and all other related choices,” says he. A brilliant student that he was, Abdul Hameed cleared the ‘Prelims’ on the first attempt. ‘Mains’ were an altogether different cup of tea. “I knew nothing about the kind of paper that will come in the ‘Mains’. There was nobody to guide. Moreover, I had 104 degree fever when I went to give the exams.” Abdul Hameed tried yet again next year and even qualified the ‘Mains’. Says the young officer: “When it came down to the interview, there was nobody to guide me once again. One needs to do specific type of preparation for interview, but with little or no guidance whatsoever, it was very difficult.” Learning fast from the mistakes committed earlier, Abdul Hameed cleared the IPS exam on the third attempt in 2006.
Says he: “When the result was out, I went to see my name in the list. I started looking from bottom and moved upwards. There were 513 candidates who had been selected. The more I moved up, my heart beat grew louder. Finally, I spotted my name. It was 141st from the top. You can guess how much upward I must have moved. Initially I didn’t believe my eyes. I checked the roll number. And rechecked!”
Leaving Chennai was a blessing in disguise for him. Says Abdul Hameed: “When I had done MBA, out of the several companies that had come for campus placement, Colgate was one of them. I was thinking that Colgate was a good company. If I would have got selected there, I wouldn’t have come so far.”Divinity has its own means to lead people to where they belong. And Abdul Hameed was destined to be an IPS officer. Finally this man, who claims he had never set his foot inside a police station till he got selected as an IPS officer, spends the entire day sitting in a police station. There is surely a big difference, isn’t it?