From 2013 to 2015, Nigeesh left home every morning for this so-called job and returned in the evening. Only when he secured the 3rd rank in the 2015 Prison Department warden rank list did the couple reveal their secret. Anjana, a school teacher, had not sent her husband to work in Thrissur - she had actually enrolled him in PSC coaching classes.

To parents, relatives and neighbours, they had said Nigeesh was working at a lab in Thrissur.

Anjana managed the household expenses of both families with her salary. She also paid for her husband's study expenses and coaching fees.

Their efforts paid off. Nigeesh secured top ranks in 16 government department rank lists. Though he received appointment orders for all of them, he chose to join only four departments he preferred.

He first joined the Prison Department as a warden, later worked as a clerk in the Education Department, and then as a clerk in the court. He later joined the Excise Department as a guard, but continued preparing for higher posts.

His hardwork paid off again when he secured 2nd rank in the Excise Circle Inspector list, in an exam written by 97,000 candidates. He became a Circle Inspector in 2020, and after promotion, the 45-year-old is now serving as Assistant Commissioner in the Enforcement wing of the Palakkad Excise Department.

Anjana herself had secured first rank and later 3rd rank in the Higher Secondary School teacher rank list. Since the third-rank list offered a posting in her home district, she chose to join through that list. She is currently the Principal-in-Charge of Vattenad Higher Secondary School in Palakkad.

The couple have two children - Niranjana and Ifan Gautham.

Nigeesh, a native of Ariyarth House in Kunnamkulam, completed his MCom from Vivekananda College and initially worked temporarily as an SC Promoter in the Kunnamkulam Municipality. He later moved to Riyadh, where he worked as a supervisor, accountant and driver in a seafood company from 2004 to 2013.

Anjana, a CA from Kololamb in Edappal, married Nigeesh in 2011.