Lalit Modi, the mastermind behind the Indian Premier League (IPL), who is currently living in exile in Sardinia, has opened up about what he called a “tough” childhood growing up, even though he himself admitted that he was born with the proverbial “diamond spoon” in his mouth. Modi was interviewed by former Australian cricketer Michael Clarke for the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, where the former IPL Commissioner opened up about the league, his personal life and many other things. He also revealed — perhaps for the first time — how he made it to a prestigious university in USA despite “flunking the 12th exams”.
Modi was sent to 7 boarding schools
Modi started the interview with Clarke by talking about his early school life. He spoke about how, as a child, he was sent away to seven boarding schools. He described his early life as a “strict upbringing”.
“I was born with a diamond spoon. Not a silver spoon, not a gold spoon, but with a diamond spoon,” Modi told Clarke in the podcast. “And so I always grew up having everything. I went to boarding school at the age of five. It was tough. I went to seven different boarding schools, by the way. It was very tough. My grandfather was very strict. My father was very strict. I came up with a very strict upbringing.”
How Modi cheated his way into Duke University
Modi also revealed that he had actually paid someone else to take the SATs (Scholastic Assessment Test, which is a standardized test used in the USA for college admissions) for him.
“I was always the black sheep of the family and I always broke every rule in the book because I always wanted more and more and more. It wasn’t easy, you know? I went to seven different schools. I finally ended up in Delhi and I flunked the 12th exam. But I fudged myself because I wanted to go to America, because I wanted to go there and party. I had to get into college. And I got into every college. Somebody did my SATs for me. I got 1560 on 1600. It was my name and his picture. We got away with it in those days. You can’t today. When I went to college again I went to a place in North Carolina called Duke University. I was probably one of the very few Indians that were there and I never lived away from home as such outside the country. I was in boarding school so I knew how to make my bed. I knew how to live and look after myself from the age of five. But what made a difference was you went from a world in India to a totally developed first world America,” Modi added.
Was a scorer in school cricket
In the podcast, Modi also revealed that in his younger days, he could not play cricket well, but volunteered to be a scorer so that he could eat like the cricket team players.
“I was in the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. The cricket team or the football team or the hockey team had these lavish lunches and dinners for them. When you’re in boarding school, you’re always looking for that extra meal or the extra food. So if you were part of the cricketing squad you would get to eat with them. So as a young kid from the age of seven or eight, I volunteered to be on the scoreboard. So I used to be on the scoreboard of the cricket and I had to change those numbers and do those wheels up and down and climb up high and sit there all day just so you could have a great meal,” said Modi.
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WATCH: Lalit Modi interview with Michael Clarke
Modi said that in his early days in university he would face questions about life back in India. He said he would be asked if there were vehicles in India or people used bullock carts.
He said he had learnt to look the other way in the face of such derogatory questions.
“I got used to that, being picked on. I wasn’t very well built. I had to fend for myself and I didn’t have bodyguards and things like that in those days. So best thing was just give in and look the other way and move on and that taught me a lot,” he said.
