TOWARDS BECOMING A DIPLOMAT

— Dr Ausaf Sayeed*

It was rainy season in September in the year 1963 in a hospital in the city of Hyderabad where a
new-born baby was the cynosure of all eyes. The parents were full of ecstasy for their first child
was born ... That was me!

My father, Late Awaz Sayeed, worked for a public sector undertaking, the Food Corporation of
India, as an administrative assistant till he retired in 1982 as a gazetted officer. His life was a
transition from great opulence to wanton struggle. Son of a Yemeni-born father who served as the
State Financer of the Sultan of a small principality called Mukkalah in Yemen, my father was the
youngest of five brothers and four sisters. A reckless wastage of wealth by some of his elder
brothers forced him to join government service at an early age.

He had a passion for literature and took up short-story writing in Urdu at a young age, earning
great fame in life. Being scholarly and intellectual he used to involve his two children — me and
my younger sister, in his literary activities. Any new story written is first narrated to us before it
is finalized for publishing or narration on All India Radio. His commitment to story-writing was
so great that other aspects of life like monitoring the children and disciplining them when needed
were of lesser importance to him. That is where our mother filled the gap and took exceptional
pains for our education and upbringing. Being the daughter of a District Judge, she realized the
importance of properly educating her children and convinced my father to admit us to a good
missionary school, the St. George's Grammar School in Hyderabad.

I had studied up to the fifth standard in an obscure school, the Jawahar Upper Primary School in
the Vijayanagar Colony in Hyderabad, which hardly contributed to grooming my personality in
those formative years. The influence of peers in our locality Mallepally also had a negative impact
on my academics. The transition from a purely ordinary school to a missionary school was not a
smooth one for me and soon I became one of the most prominent back-benchers of my class. My
favorite avocation was to bunk classes and go to theatres on the Abid Road and watch movies
while still in 6th or 7th class with a blithe lack of concern for academics. I had to ingenuously
tamper with my scorecards every semester to save myself from the wrath of my parents for scoring
outrageously low marks. I remember the incident when after scoring 2 out of 200 marks in
mathematics; I took the courage to ask my math teacher why he had given no marks for practical
geometry in which I claimed I had constructed circles and triangles. He had looked at my shabby
work and remarked "Is this construction or destruction?"

When I reached the tenth grade, much to the anguish of my parents, I decided to leave the school
and appear for the SSC examination as a private student, as I perceived it to be a much simpler
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education pattern than the ICSE. I got through with reasonably good marks ... but missed the first
division, which I felt was due to the wrong totalling of my Special English paper... and secured
admission in a neighbourhood college, the Anwar-Ul-Uloom Degree College, in Intermediate
(10+2) with Biology, Physics and Chemistry as my optional subjects.

When I completed my Intermediate with first division in 1982, my parents wanted me to take the
MBBS entrance test, which was, and still is, the most popular trend among all science students in
India. I declined to oblige them, for I was not interested in becoming a doctor. I was not sure what
I wanted to do.... probably a typical feature of the youth. My parents were heartbroken and gave
up on me and owed to make my sister a doctor instead. My sister, Seema Nishat, who was a brilliant
student right through, always used to add feathers of academic accomplishment to her cap, and
getting admission into MBBS was only a matter of routine for her. I vividly remember the
announcements made on the annual day celebrations of St. George's Grammar School (Girls’
Section) during the price distribution ceremonies year after year “First in class, first in maths, first
in science, first in English…. Miss Seema Nishat” … and amidst thunderous applause my sister
would go and receive all those trophies, barely holding them together. I thought that she was a nut!
She is at the moment a successful practicing doctor living in Tampa in the United States with her
husband Dr Wajahat Ali and three children, Maaz, Baseema, and Ammar.

Coming back.... after declining to appear for MBBS entrance, I developed a passion for writing
articles on topics of science published in many students' magazines like the Junior Science Digest
and Science Master. Being not so interested in sports, I used to use my spare time to acquire
technical skills like typing, shorthand, telex, etc. I obtained a Higher Technical Degree in Typing
and a Lower Technical Degree in shorthand! My short-hand instructor's dream was to make a first-
grade steno so I could become a Personal Assistant to an IAS officer!!

Then I graduated from the PG College of Science, Saifabad taking a rather rare and less popular
subject, Geology, about which I had no background. My parents were now almost certain that I
was a nincompoop. However, my life turned from this point and I took an exceptional interest in
studies so much so that I passed my graduation as a top ranker in my college and scored the first
rank in the entire university in the entrance test for securing admission into the Masters. My
penchant for studies helped me emerge as the brightest student of Osmania University in geology
which won me the Y.G.K. Murthy Gold Medal in the Masters. Thereafter, I received a scholarship
from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), a premier organization for science
and research in India, again after securing exceptionally good marks in their qualifying test. This
enabled me to register myself as a research fellow at Osmania University in Hyderabad.

At this point in time, one of my professors called me and advised that I should look beyond my
normal career options and take a go at the Civil Services examination, which is one of the toughest
competitive examinations in India for entry into different prestigious services in the government.
I took his suggestion to heart and started serious preparations, working almost 12-15 hours a day
for nearly a year. It was a phase when the thought of getting into Civil Services used to linger in
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my mind day in and day out. I was obsessed by this ambition. Even when I was with my friends
or relatives I used to think and plan about the exam while feigning I was happily conversing with
them on subjects of their interest. My efforts paid off when I got selected for the Civil Services
examination in 1988 and joined the service in August 1989.

While preparing for my subject Geology for the Civil Services examination I faced certain
difficulties like paucity of good reading material, lack of awareness of the examination pattern,
etc., since the university professors were not conversant with the pattern of competitive
examinations and could not guide me properly. This prompted me to write a book in 1990 titled
'Trends in Objective Geology for Civil Services' for students like me who aspire to become civil
servants. This book is now in its 33rd year of publication and is still widely referred to by geology
students.

Joining a prestigious service, like the Indian Foreign Service, did not deter me from continuing my
studies. I continued with my research work, which was half completed when I joined the service,
and finally obtained a Ph.D. in 1992. This gave me immense academic satisfaction. I am a firm
believer in the concept that a man learns at every stage of life and should therefore never be
complacent.

After a rather long probation period lasting for about two years during which I was exposed to
various facets of diplomatic and office work in India, I was sent to Egypt in 1991 as a language
trainee to learn Arabic and familiarize myself with all aspects of work in diplomatic missions
abroad. I studied at the American University in Cairo for three semesters and picked up the Arabic
language to the best of my abilities. After two memorable years in Egypt during which I
extensively travelled and explored this ancient country, I was posted as the Regional Passport
Officer in my home city of Hyderabad in India in May 1993. It was a challenging job that required
me to meet over 500 people a day and try to solve their problems. I tried to devote my time to
simplify procedures and make life easier for the common man unmindful of the stiff resistance
from vested interests in different quarters and the consequent personal inconveniences I had to
bear, which are best left unsaid here.

I joined the Consulate General of India, Jeddah in January 1995 as Consul (Haj) and spent one
year ameliorating the hardship of 60,000 odd pilgrims from India who came to Saudi Arabia to
perform the pilgrimage. In March 1996, I was deployed with the Embassy of India, Riyadh as First
Secretary (Economic and Commercial), an assignment which I will not forget for providing me
with a lot of challenges and for enabling me to contribute my mite for giving a visible thrust to the
vibrant Indo-Saudi bilateral economic and trade relations. This was followed by my posting to the
Embassy of India, Doha, Qatar as a First Secretary/Counsellor (Commercial). I served as Consul
General of India in Jeddah from August 2004 to July 2008. Thereafter, I served as Joint Secretary
(Director-General) for West Africa in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, looking after
bilateral relations with around 25 countries in Western and Central Africa. This was followed by
stints in Yemen as the Ambassador of India and in Chicago as the Consul General of India in
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Chicago, the High Commissioner of India in Seychelles, and the Ambassador of India to Saudi
Arabia. After completing 34 years of diplomatic service, I retired in September 2023 as Secretary
of the Ministry of External Affairs responsible for Consular and Diaspora affairs.

I have three sons, Faateh aged 32 years, Faaleh, aged 28 years, and Azhaan aged 25 years. I am
fortunate to have a good, caring, and loving wife Farha, who is an egg sculptor and a painter. This
sums up briefly my journey from childhood to adulthood and to a career as a diplomat!

***

* The author is a retired senior diplomat of India.

* This article was written by me several years ago but updated slightly thereafter to provide
inspiration to others. Originally it was an ice-breaker speech delivered in the Kohinoor
Toastmasters Club, Riyadh, in 1997.