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This is an inspiring success story of E Sarath Babu, an IIMA, BITS Pilani alumnus, who came into limelight for choosing entrepreneurship over safe, high paying jobs that he was offered at IIMA. It is taken from an interview he gave to rediff.com.​​When 27-year old Sarathbabu graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he created quite a stir by refusing a job that offered him a huge salary. He preferred to start his own enterprise -- Foodking Catering Service -- in Ahmedabad.He was inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, to educate him and his siblings. It was a dream come true, when Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy lit the traditional lamp and inaugurated Sarathbabu's enterprise.Sarathbabu was in Chennai, his hometown, a few days ago, to explore the possibility of starting a Foodking unit in the city and also to distribute the Ullas Trust Scholarships instituted by the IT firm Polaris to 2,000 poor students in corporation schools.In this interview with rediff.com, Sarathbabu describes his rise from a Chennai slum to his journey to the nation's premier management institute to becoming a successful entrepreneur. This is his story, in his own words.Childhood in a slum​​I was born and brought up in a slum in Madipakkam in Chennai. I have two elder sisters and two younger brothers and my mother was the sole breadwinner of the family. It was really tough for her to bring up five kids on her meagre salary.As she had studied till the tenth standard, she got a job under the mid-day meal scheme of the Tamil Nadu government in a school at a salary of Rs 30 a month. She made just one rupee a day for six people.So, she sold idlis in the mornings. She would then work for the mid-day meal at the school during daytime. In the evenings, she taught at the adult education programme of the Indian government.She, thus, did three different jobs to bring us up and educate us. Although she didn't say explicitly that we should study well, we knew she was struggling hard to send us to school. I was determined that her hard work should not go in vain.I was a topper throughout my school days. In the mornings, we went out to sell idlis because people in slums did not come out of their homes to buy idlis. For kids living in a slum, idlis for breakfast is something very special.My mother was not aware of institutions like the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, or the Indian Institutes of Technology. She only wanted to educate us so that we got a good job. I didn't know what I wanted to do at that time because in my friend-circle, nobody talked about higher education or preparing for the IIT-JEE.When you constantly worry about the next square meal, you do not dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer. The only thing that was on my mind was to get a good job because my mother was struggling a lot.I got very good marks in the 10th standard exam. It was the most critical moment of my life. Till the 10th, there was no special fee but for the 11th and the 12th, the fees were Rs 2,000-3,000.I did book-binding work during the summer vacation and accumulated money for my school fees. When I got plenty of work, I employed 20 other children and all of us did the work together. That was my first real job as an entrepreneur. Once I saw the opportunity, I continued with the work.Life at BITS, Pilani​​A classmate of mine told me about BITS, Pilani. He was confident that I would get admission, as I was the topper. He also told me that on completion (of studies at Pilani), I will definitely get a job.When I got the admission, I had mixed feelings. On one hand I was excited that for the first time I was going out of Chennai, but there was also a sense of uncertainty.The fees alone were around Rs 28,000, and I had to get around Rs 42,000. It was huge, huge money for us. And there was no one to help us. Just my mother and sisters. One of my sisters -- they were all married by then -- pawned her jewellery and that's how I paid for the first semester.My mother then found out about an Indian government scholarship scheme. She sent me the application forms, I applied for the scholarship, and I was successful. So, after the first semester, it was the scholarship that helped me through.It also helped me to pay my debt (to the sister who had pawned her jewellery). I then borrowed money from my other sister and repaid her when the next scholarship came.The scholarship, however, covered only the tuition fees. What about the hostel fees and food? Even small things like a washing soap or a toothbrush or a tube of toothpaste was a burden. So, I borrowed more at high rates of interest. The debt grew to a substantial amount by the time I reached the fourth year.First year at BITS, PilaniTo put it mildly, I was absolutely shocked. Till then, I had moved only with students from poor families. At Pilani, all the students were from the upper class or upper middle class families. Their lifestyle was totally different from mine. The topics they discussed were alien to me. They would talk about the good times they had in school.On the other hand, my school years were a big struggle. There was this communication problem also as I was not conversant in English then.I just kept quiet and observed them. I concentrated only on my studies because back home so many people had sacrificed for me. And, it took a really long time -- till the end of the first year -- to make friends.The second yearI became a little more confident and started opening up. I had worked really hard for the engineering exhibition during the first year. I did a lot of labour-intensive work like welding and cutting, though my subject was chemical engineering. My seniors appreciated me.In my second year also, I worked really hard for the engineering exhibition. This time, my juniors appreciated me, and they became my close friends, so close that they would be at my beck and call.In the third year, when there was an election for the post of the co-ordinator for the exhibition, my juniors wanted me to contest. Thanks to their efforts I was unanimously elected. That was my first experience of being in the limelight. It was also quite an experience to handle around 100 students.Seeing my work, slowly my batch mates also came to the fold. All of them said I lead the team very well.They also told me that I could be a good manager and asked me to do MBA. That was the first time I heard about something called MBA. I asked them about the best institution in India. They said, the Indian Institutes of Management. Then, I decided if I was going to study MBA, it should be at one of the IIMs, and nowhere else.Inspiration to be an entrepreneurIt was while preparing for the Common Admission Test that I read in the papers that 30 per cent of India's population does not get two meals a day. I know how it feels to be hungry. What should be done to help them, I wondered.I also read about Infosys and Narayana Murthy, Reliance and Ambani. Reliance employed 20,000-25,000 people at that time, and Infosys, around 15,000. When a single entrepreneur like Ambani employed 25,000 people, he was supporting the family, of four or five, of each employee. So he was taking care of 100,000 people indirectly. I felt I, too, should become an entrepreneur.But, my mother was waiting for her engineer son to get a job, pay all the debts, build a pucca house and take care of her. And here I was dreaming about starting my own enterprise. I decided to go for a campus interview, and got a job with Polaris. I also sat for CAT but I failed to clear it in my first attempt.I worked for 30 months at Polaris. By then, I could pay off all the debts but I hadn't built a proper house for my mother. But I decided to pursue my dream. When I took CAT for the third time, I cleared it and got calls from all the six IIMs. I got admission at IIM, Ahmedabad.Life at IIM, Ahmedabad​My college helped me get a scholarship for the two years that I was at IIM. Unlike in BITS, I was more confident and life at IIM was fantastic. I took up a lot of responsibilities in the college. I was in the mess committee in the first year and in the second year; I was elected the mess secretary.Becoming an entrepreneur​By the end of the second year, there were many lucrative job offers coming our way, but in my mind I was determined to start something on my own. But back home, I didn't have a house. It was a difficult decision to say 'no' to offers that gave you Rs 800,000 a year. But I was clear in my mind even while I knew the hard realities back home.Yes, my mother had been an entrepreneur, and subconsciously, she must have inspired me. My inspirations were also (Dhirubhai) Ambani and Narayana Murthy. I knew I was not aiming at something unachievable. I got the courage from them to start my own enterprise.Nobody at my institute discouraged me. In fact, at least 30-40 students at the IIM wanted to be entrepreneurs. And we used to discuss about ideas all the time. My last option was to take up a job.Foodking Catering Services Pvt Ltd​My mother is my first inspiration to start a food business. Remember I started my life selling idlis in my slum. Then of course, my experience as the mess secretary at IIM-A was the second inspiration. I must have handled at least a thousand complaints and a thousand suggestions at that time. Every time I solved a problem, they thanked me.I also felt there is a good opportunity in the food business. If you notice, a lot of people who work in the food business come from the weaker sections of the society.My friends helped me with registering the company with a capital of Rs 100,000. Because of the IIM brand and also because of the media attention, I could take a loan from the bank without any problem.I set up an office and employed three persons. The first order was from a software company in Ahmedabad. They wanted us to supply tea, coffee and snacks. We transported the items in an auto.When I got the order from IIM, Ahmedabad, I took a loan of Rs 11 lakhs (Rs 1.1 million) and started a kitchen. So, my initial capital was Rs 11.75 lakhs (Rs 1.17 million).Three months have passed, and now we have forty employees and four clients -- IIM Ahmedabad, Darpana Academy, Gujarat Energy Research Management Institute and System Plus.In the first month of our operation, we earned around Rs 35,000. Now, the turnover is around Rs 250,000. The Chennai operations will start in another three months' time.AmbitionI want to employ as many people as I can, and improve their quality of life. In the first year, I want to employ around 200-500 people. In the next five years, I hope to increase it by 15,000. I am sure it is possible.I want to cover all the major cities in India, and later, I want to go around the world too.I have seen people from all walks of life -- from the slums to the elite in the country. That is why luxuries like a car or a bungalow do not matter to me. Even money doesn't matter to me. I feel bad if I have to have food in a five star hotel. I feel guilty.Personally, I have no ambition but I want to give a house and a car to my mother.AppreciationI did not expect this kind of exposure by the media for my venture or appreciation from people like my director at the IIM or Narayana Murthy. I was just doing what I wanted to do. But the exposure really helped me get orders, finance, everything.The best compliments I received were from Narayana Murthy and my director at IIM, Ahmedabad. When I told him (IIM-A director) about my decision to start a company, he hugged me and wished me luck. They have seen life, they have seen thousands and thousands of students and if they say it is a good decision, I am sure it is a good decision.ReservationReservation should be a mix of all criteria. If you take a caste that comes under reservation, 80 per cent of the people will be poor and 20 per cent rich, the creamy layer. For the general category, it will be the other way around.I feel equal weightage should be given for the economic background. A study has to be done on what is the purpose of reservation and what it has done to the needy. It should be more effective and efficient. In my case, I would not have demanded for reservation. I accepted it because the society felt I belonged to the deprived class and needed a helping hand.Today, the opportunities are grabbed by a few. They should be ashamed of their ability if they avail reservation even after becoming an IAS officer or something like that. They are putting a burden on the society and denying a chance to the really needy.I feel reservation is enough for one generation. For example, if the child's father is educated, he will be able to guide the child properly.Take my case, I didn't have any system that would make me aware of the IITs and the IIMs. But I will be able to guide my children properly because I am well educated. I got the benefits of reservation but I will never avail of it for my children. I cannot even think of demanding reservation for the next generation.​

Decide to be a good police officer. That does not mean writing the most tickets or making the most arrests. It means writing the right tickets and making the right arrests.Maintain interests and friends outside of law enforcement. These are your safety nets.Make sure you love the job. If you do not, find another job.Have thick skin.Get used to having everything you do, say or write second-guessed. You will be evaluated by your peers, your supervisors, the public and the media. This is how it is supposed to be.Be able to express yourself verbally and in writing. One of your most important responsibilities will be report writing. You might be able to shoot the wings off a gnat at 500 yards, but if you cannot write a decent report you will not be worth your paycheck. Also, expect to testify in court, in front of a judge, a jury, a room full of observers, witnesses, victims, and peers.Know that telling the truth is easy. Lying is hard. And totally unforgivable.When you think no one is listening, they are. When you think no one is watching, they are. When you think no one cares, they do. When you think you are alone, you aren’t. When you think what you do doesn’t matter, it does.You will learn something new every day.Be able to make hard decisions, and stand by them. Defend them, articulate them.Humility is essential, but know when and how to employ command presence.The day you graduate from the police academy you are a newborn infant. You know how to breathe, eat, crap, and cry. You will learn how to fly after seeing many crashes, some of them your own.Learn that listening is a form of communication.If you find the job is incredibly difficult, you are doing it right.It doesn’t matter what rank you hold, or how many shiny pins and medals are on your chest. If you cannot get down on one knee and comfort a child who is afraid, you have not earned the most important one.You have chosen to put yourself in harm’s way. No one forced this choice upon you. They owe you a paycheck, nothing more.Pretty much anyone can fill out an application. Written tests and physical/psychological exams do not make you a police officer, even if that is what the star says that they hand you.Becoming a police officer happens after you have been hired, equipped, trained, tested, certified and shined your boots. It happens every day or night you put on the uniform, and it is a process that ends the day you quit or retire. Only then have you, hopefully, become a police officer.

One of the worst double standards in football is the hypocrisy of corporate football clubs that position themselves as central to their local areas through community initiatives, charity work and grass-roots football programs while failing to pay a Living Wage to all their staff.I have written about this topic here at www.howtowatchfootball.co.uk: Should we hold players responsible for the Football Pay Gap?Should we hold players responsible for the Football Pay Gap?By Greg GordonOn 2018-01-17Inside Anfield, home of Liverpool FC © Liverpool Fundamental Consultants LimitedLast week, I came across this fascinating news feature by the Irish Independent’s Eamonn Sweeney Philippe Coutinho and the lack of living wage sums up football’s disconnect.It is a perfect encapsulation of the Football Pay Gap or what the writer calls Downton Abbey economics.And it is a feature not just of elite football clubs, but also within wider society where “Upstairs the aristocrats have so much money they hardly know what to do with it” while “Downstairs the servants scrape by on a pittance.”The genesis, for Mr Sweeney is the high finance comings and goings at Anfield both on and off the field this winter.Liverpool, of course, have just sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142 million. Previously, they bought Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton for £78m.And at the other end of the spectrum, in November, Liverpool agreed to pay their lowest paid staff £8.45 an hour, in line with the recommendations of the Real Living Wage campaign.The men and women that keep the Anfield show on the road can look forward to their 95p hourly rate increase in June. Just in time for the start of next season.Liverpool, who employ around 1,000 part-time staff on match days, have reached accord with the Living Wage Foundation and Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool City Region.Liverpool chief executive, Peter Moore said: “As a club, we have paid the national minimum wage at the higher rate only for many years and in June this year we ensured that all directly employed staff were paid at least the real living wage. By taking the next step, we are not adhering to an obligation, we are doing it because we feel it is the right thing to do.”But it is hard to know where to start with this one because there is villainy everywhere you look. And Liverpool’s commitment to an £8.45 rate for matchday staff really shouldn’t be a cause for celebration, given prevailing attitudes in England’s top tier.Liverpool are one of just five Premier League clubs that have agreed to pay rates which the organisation Citizens UK have estimated represents a living wage for workers in Britain today.The Reds join Chelsea, West Ham United, Spurs and neighbours Everton in supporting the campaign but it is the list of omissions that confirms the vulgar reality that football, our ‘people’s game’, is governed by cynics of the deepest dye.This is a reality confirmed by the 2015-16 annual turnover and minimum-wage rates for the likes of Manchester United (£515m, £7.05 per hour), Manchester City (£392m, £7.50 per hour) and Arsenal (£354m, £7 per hour), as detailed in the Irish Independent report.Citizens UK: Premier League clubs league of shameNo doubt someone will come up with a tortured rationale to explain why Man United, to name but one offender, cannot find an additional £50 a week pro rata for their lowest earners to combat in work poverty and meet the living wage recommendation. But whatever that rationale might be, it sits uncomfortably with the £290,000 a week paid to Paul Pogba, the £15m annual salary of Jose Mourinho or the £2m+ annual earnings of the CEO’s at Man United, Man City and Arsenal.Phillipe Coutinho in action for Liverpool prior to his £142m move to Barcelona © Kevin WalshThis is clearly a question of ideology for the men that arrange things at England’s biggest clubs. That is, the offending clubs in the Premier League are expressing an active choice when they fail to meet their moral obligations as employers operating at the heart of their communities. It is a ‘because we can’ viewpoint that informs each club’s wage rates for their lowest earners and also, I suspect, a true reflection of how the men in charge really view the people that do important, and unheralded, work within their clubs.Watford have a £94m turnover and yet they pay a beyond mean £6.50 base hourly rate. Meanwhile at debut season Premier League additions Huddersfield Town the equivalent staff are paid £8.50 per hour on the back of a turnover of just £13m.And remember, Watford FC’s £6.50 per hour rate should be set against the Real Living Wage campaign’s £9.75 hourly rate for London and its commuter belt that forms a natural border with Hertfordshire.So, Huddersfield, despite their location, and an average crowd of around 24,000 deserve credit for paying an additional £2 per hour to staff in a part of the world where average salaries are just £20,792 per annum.Emperors, gladiators and serfsEamonn Sweeney certainly paints an accurate picture of the current malaise when he says: “Football tells its supporters that the high achiever can never have too much money and that everyone else should be happy with what trickles down. The emperors in the Colosseum would approve.”Due to the politics of divide and rule it is customary to kick downwards and blame ‘the gladiators’, the players that are the stars of the show. But there is also no doubt that at a fundamental level Messi, Ronaldo (or the megastars of other sports and showbiz) earn their wages in generating an incredible exchange of both cultural and economic capital. And that captures the imagination (and wallet) at a far more profound level than the machinations of the shadowy Hugo Boss men that inhabit the expensive seats at every major football ground.I disagree with millionaire ex-players like Alan Shearer, who court public favour by saying footballers are overpaid.Alan Shearer blasts English Football’s overpaid stars ahead of new season.This is specifically because he really is extrapolating on the basis of his own experience having won his own version of the lottery as a Premier League legend.Here is the reality of things for any boy that sets out to follow Shearer’s gilded path. At the top of the game, footballers’ wages have to reflect the limited opportunities to join the super rich elite simply because of the massive downsides involved in trying to get there.Household names like Alan Shearer are the exception to the rule and this is how the numbers stack up as per Michael Calvin’s superb book on youth development ‘No Hunger in Paradise’ The Players. The Journey. The Dream.BT Sport documentary: No Hunger in Paradise“Less than one half of one per cent of boys who enter the [English] academy structure at the age of nine will make a first-team appearance. More than three quarters are jettisoned between the ages of 13 and 16.The odds are no less intimidating the further a boy progresses. Almost 98 per cent of boys given a scholarship at 16 are no longer in the top five tiers of the domestic game at the age of 18. A recent study revealed that only eight out of 400 players given a professional Premier League contract at 18 remained at the highest level by the time of their twenty-second-birthday. Since only 180 of the 1.5m boys who play organised youth football at any one time become Premier League pros, the success rate is 0.012 per cent.”Here’s the reality: five out of every six of the scholars starting with Premier League academy contracts next season will not be playing football for a living in five years.And of those that prevail, most players fall out of the game with nothing or make peace with their dreams. Others play as journeymen players for say £250 per week part time, retiring at 34 or so. Again with little prospect of anything substantial.Compared to the physical, emotional, educational and career sacrifices schoolboys make you could argue in favour of an income redistribution, sure. A soft landing. But elite salaries for footballers must reflect dynamic market factors – and the fact that someone, somewhere is still able to profit, to extract surplus value, above and beyond players’ wages.Middle class valuesI can understand £10,000 a week for a Celtic defender far easier than I can the inflated salary of a mediocre university professor in a Russell Group University – who contributes well nigh nothing to wider society in terms of impactful research, quality teaching or even simple application. And the same is true of the money taken from the game by the massed ranks of male, pale and stale corporate lackeys.Let’s not kid ourselves. Most of what passes for ‘the good life’ is just accident of birth stuff and knowing how to play the middle class game of private school tie, dad’s connections and the cushion of family wealth. The lack of meritocracy in the prime professions, protectionism and structural impediments to social mobility are the real scandals, not the earnings of sportsmen who have a marketable skill only a few can even hope to aspire to, never mind match.There is no such hiding place for footballers, as exists for most professionals in middle class occupations. For all but the lucky few, football remains a precarious life with some nasty side effects such as lower life expectancy, high divorce rates and of course the negative physical legacy of having played an impact sport later in life.The Football Pay Gap within clubs that should pay a universal Living Wage, is The Premier League’s secret shame and rather than indulge a game of ‘whataboutery’, it is right to call the people that are truly responsible to account.