The year was 2016. Chandni Chandran, an IAS officer today, was then only one of the thousands of aspirants who had appeared for the Civil Service Exam 2015 and were awaiting their result. To beat the stress around the time results were expected, Ms Chandran decided to take a walk with then-boyfriend, now-husband Arun Sudarsan . What followed is a hilarious story that anyone who has ever sneaked out with a boyfriend will find quite relatable. Ms Chandran took to Twitter on Tuesday to reveal the story.
"May 10, 2016. Results of Civil Service Exam 2015 was expected to be out and I was roaming with @mrarunsudarsan to not stress over it," she wrote on the microblogging platform, tagging her husband. "I didn't make it," she added.
Ms Chandran eventually cleared the UPSC exams next year and belongs to the 2017 IAS batch. She is currently posted as sub-divisional magistrate of Kanchanpur, North Tripura.
In her Twitter thread, she recalls that while she did not clear the highly-competitive exam that year, her photo did appear in a newspaper alongside pictures of UPSC toppers. "Next day newspapers were filled with pics of toppers and @timesofindia published this pic of us!" she wrote, sharing a picture that shows her walking in the rain with Mr Sudarsan. The picture, which shows the two of them sharing an umbrella, was published in a small piece about rains in the city.
"Arun called ToI and complained as we weren't married then," the IAS officer wrote. For her part, Ms Chandran took it as a sign that her photo was destined to appear in a newspaper filled with UPSC toppers. "I can happily walk towards any destination with someone holding an umbrella and looking out for me with love unbound when I take each step," she wrote.
So what happened when the picture appeared in the newspaper? In the comments section, Ms Chandran explained why they had taken issue with the photo and complained to the publication.
"Nothing illegal! Just that such pics create uncomfortable conversations at home," she wrote.
She also explained why she was reminded of the photograph recently and decided to tweet about it. "I made it and we got married," wrote Ms Chandran. She said she was recently reminiscing about the picture and her husband contacted the photographer, Rakesh Nair, who graciously sent them a copy.
"Can' thank you enough," she wrote, tagging the photographer in her tweet.
The lovely story has gone viral on the microblogging platform, clocking in nearly 7,000 'likes' and hundreds of reactions.
"Might be one of the best pics! Such a lovely story," wrote IRS Aman Preet.
IAS MV Rao suggested that the story deserved a movie based on it.
The photographer, Rakesh Nair, also responded to the tweet.
Take a look at some of the other reactions it has garnered:
What do you think? Let us know using the comments section.
