MOHALI: She came from a dreamy, little village. That worked just fine for her, as she dreamt big and turned it into reality by getting the 143rd  rank in the civil service (mains) exam of 2008. 



Harpreet Kaur, 28, of Alkara village in Barnala district had moved to Mohali after her matriculation to be an Indian Police Service officer. 



It took Harpreet five years of preparation and effort to make the grade. Her father Joginder Singh is a retired headmaster. 



She studied for class XII in commerce stream at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 35, Chandigarh. Later, she enrolled in BCom under Panjab University and attained the qualification of a chartered accountant simultaneously. 



She gives the credit of her success to her parents, “My father has been a great motivation for me. He said I should study till the level I wanted to. My family supported me at every step.” 



“I had moved to Delhi in 2004 and joined a coaching institute there. Later I started studying on my own in 2006,” she added. Her subjects in the mains exam were commerce and public administration. 



She will be joining the IPS. Harpreet stated that she originally spent 10 hours in studying every day and later increased the duration to 15 hours, which bore fruit. 



Her father Joginder Singh said his daughter had proved that girls were not less than boys. “From the very beginning I had backed her to join administrative services. Her hard work of many years has made my dream come true,” he said with a smile.