Serving your Country with Pawan Badhe

  

I am super excited to share my conversation with Pawan Badhe. He is currently the Deputy High Commissioner of India (Ministry of External Affairs) stationed at Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was really an honor to talk to him and I appreciate him taking the time to talk to me. Our conversation was a lot of fun! Here are some of the questions I asked him:

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in the Indian Foreign Services?

Pawan studied computer engineering in college. After he graduated, his first job was at Infosys. He worked there for a year. During that time, he was curious about civil services and while exploring that option he got interested and excited about foreign policy. This set him on a path to pursue a civil services career. Pawan has represented India at many meetings around the world. For e.g., in Geneva, Switzerland, he talked about women’s rights at the UNHRC, (United Nations Human Rights Council).

2. What types of educational degrees do you need in order to be a high commissioner officer? What technical skills do you need to have?

Pawan explained that the minimum requirement in India to apply for civil services and take the exam is to have a bachelors degree. He also mentioned that once he passed the exam he took a specialized training at the foreign services academy. The institute trains folks into the service, which means teaching them everything that they need to know about this job. After one year of training, you get a specific role assigned to you. There are many branches and parts of foreign services. Pawan mentioned one of the key skills that he learnt over the job is to adapt his surroundings. This was very important since he kept changing his locations over time.

3. Before you became a commissioner did you have any old careers or professions or your previous assignments?

He previously mentioned that he worked at Infosys. Pawan has traveled to many countries around the world for assignments. After each experience he has developed many new skills and has gained knowledge.

4. What excites you most about serving your country?

Pawan represents India at important world meetings, where he meets world leaders from different countries. This allows him to travel, learn new cultures and understand world problems from a variety of different perspectives. He can then represent India accordingly which is very exciting to him.

5. Are there any struggles of being a high commissioner officer?

Pawan shares that he faces challenges every day. One of his main challenges that he faces is something called being in the public eye. This means that people are constantly monitoring every move of his. He's very careful about his actions and words. He also mentions that whenever he meets someone he’s always cautious about what he says, wanting to make sure he doesn’t embarrass his country or put his country in a weaker position.

6. What are some of the most valuable lessons you have learnt throughout your career?

Pawan told me that one of the most valuable lessons he has learned as a diplomat is to keep talking to people. At important meetings, he talks to potential allies, adversaries, and friends. He says, the more you talk to people, the more you know. He gave me a scenario of why we should keep interacting with people. If there are 2 countries that are having a disagreement and you don’t speak up for your country, nothing about the situation will be resolved or will change.

7. My dad told me many stories about your time in college, which of them are very memorable for you?

Pawan says his four years of college are a very fond memory for him. He mentioned that in his third year, he and my dad were on an organizing committee for an event at their college. Pawan told me that those three days of the event were particularly memorable for him, and I could tell it was a happy memory because he was smiling so much during the conversation.

8. What advice would you give kids like me growing up abroad to stay in touch with our roots and heritage?

Pawan says that knowing about your roots is a really important part of life. He told me that you grow accustomed to the customs of the country you are growing up in, but at the same time, it's important to stay connected with your roots. He gave me a tip on how to learn more and stay connected with one's roots which is to read about your country, spend as much time as you can on vacations, travel as often as you can, and meet new people who can become friends.

I had such an awesome discussion with Pawan. He has taught me to always keep exploring and talking and learning from people. I would like to thank him for his time and I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed interviewing him and writing this blog!

You can check all of the great work Pawan is working on here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pawan-badhe-63281720

I would really love to hear your feedback and comments. Please reach out to me@hanikachhajer.com.