Veerpal always wanted to become an officer in the Flying Branch of the Indian Air Force but could not become one. He, however, worked hard and got selected for the Forest Department.

Veerpal Singh Rana is a retired DFO from the Forest Department in Udaipur.

Veerpal was born and brought up in Bulandshahar District, Uttar Pradesh, and is currently living in Udaipur. Five years ago, he retired from the Forest Department. He completed his schooling in Uttar Pradesh. After completing his schooling in 1972, although he had taken admission in B.Sc., due to certain circumstances in his family, he joined the Indian Air Force as an Airman in its Technical Branch. Thereafter, he kept on trying for the position of a commissioned officer, and in 1975, he got selected as a flying pilot in the Indian Air Force.

Veerpal then went to Coimbatore for his six-month administrative training, and thereafter, his flying started at the Elementary Flying School, Bidar. He says that he could not bring the required accuracy in his flying that was needed to become a Grade-A Fighter Pilot, so he got suspended as a flying pilot and got recommended for another branch, navigation. Then he left the Air Force and came back home. He says that during this period of five years in the Air Force, he got an opportunity to improve his English language skills, as whatever education he had earlier was in Hindi.

Coming back home, Veerpal started helping his father in farming, and in the meantime, he came to know about a forest ranger’s post in Rajasthan. He gave that exam and got selected, after which he underwent two years of training at the Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, and did his private graduation too from Meerut University. In 1980, the regular service of his Forest Ranger started, and he got his first posting in Tonk. He has also done service in Jodhpur and Bharatpur. Finally, he got promoted, went to Udaipur in 1972, and worked on different posts in almost all the other districts of the Udaipur division. In 2011, he worked as a DFO in Chittorgarh. His last posting was in Udaipur, and from there he retired in April 2016.

Recalling his childhood, Veerpal says that his entire childhood was spent in the village. He says that back then, there was no pressure on the children at all, and neither did the parents care about them. He shares that there were no schools in his village, so he used to walk to another village that was 2 kilometers away from his house. He studied in the city from ninth grade on, and because he did not belong to a well-to-do family, he spent his school life with very little resources. He topped the twelfth grade and bagged a gold medal for that. Thereafter, he got selected for engineering in Roorkee, but due to the bad financial conditions of his family, he dropped his studies and joined the Indian Air Force.

Sharing about his hardships, Veerpal says that from leaving the Air Force until joining the Forest Department, that time was very challenging for him. He had a heartfelt wish to become an officer in the Flying Branch of the Air Force, but it proved to be the biggest setback of his life. He had to leave the Air Force because he could not qualify for the Grade-A Fighter Pilot flying test. But he didn’t give up and started working with his father in his village.

Veerpal’s role model is his maternal cousin brother; because of him, he could overcome his past experience and join the Forest Department. Also, his brother taught him to work hard and never give up on his integrity and truthfulness. Veerpal also admires Rajan Mathur, who was a DFO in Dholpur. He learned from him that the more we control our anger, the more we grow.

In sharing about his COVID experiences, Veerpal says he was already on bedrest before COVID arrived because of a serious health issue. He says that since he had retired, he had no official obligations during the lockdown, so he did not face any problems staying at home. Secondly, he is also very fond of plantations, so he planted several plants and took care of them during that time.

While comparing education and experience, Veerpal believes that basic education is very important even if you do anything in the future because it gives you many things that will be useful even in doing business. He says that you can go into service, business, or any sector only on the basis of minimum education, i.e., graduation.

Advising aspirants to his field, Veerpal suggests that one should come with the mindset of benefiting more and more people and should know how to manage the entire forest unit. Also, he advises that you must make your career in whatever interests you have because employment is not everything; just believe in yourself, and it will lead you to success.

In his free time, Veerpal likes to garden, plant trees, rear them, nurture them, and take care of them. Also, he likes to read Sanskrit, religious, and spiritual books and take spiritual teachings.