When you are17, you’re either in high school or awaiting college results. Life gets a little better if you’re from a financially well off family or a middle-class family who can at least support your education. Life of a 17-year-old from the lower belt isn’t anything similar.
This is why things were difficult for Prem Ganapathy when he was in his teens. He was a young boy from Tamil Nadu who barely earned Rs250 in a month during those days to help his family survive. He put in a lot of hard work in small tasks and jobs to get that amount which was still too small to help him fulfill his responsibilities.
Life isn’t a cake walk, surely!
Well, when he was 17, he moved to Mumbai. He had an acquaintance in Mumbai who promised to get him a Rs 1200 per month job. Prem left his home behind, didn’t inform his parents who wouldn’t have let him go away from them and entered the city of dreams. However, his first step broke his dreams in an instant. The acquaintance robbed him of his money and Prem was left with empty pockets in a strange city. However, did he go back home? No he didn’t.
Life hits you harder when times are hard!
Prem didn’t give up. He got a job in a bakery in Mumbai and washed utensils to earn Rs 150 per month. He got lucky and got a place to sleep in the bakery at night due to the owner’s kindness. However, as days turned into weeks and weeks turned into two years, Prem’s hard work left him with enough money to start his own business. He rented a Rs 150 per month rental outlet, invested Rs 1000 on utensils and started selling dosas outside the famous Vashi railway station of Mumbai.
Then came a small restaurant, Prem Sagar dosa plaza with a Rs 50000 advance deposit and Rs 5000 rent.
How are things now?
Well, as of 2002, he made 105 types of dosas. He has had outlets open in malls, risen to international outlets in places like Dubai and New Zealand from that small outlet at a railway station. Oh, he has a business worth RS 30 crores.
If Prem would have given up when life was at its lowest, if he would have turned around and gone back home, he wouldn’t be where he is today. Sometimes, life has better things planned for us. Sometimes, we need to put in the effort, make tough choices and most importantly never give up. It is only then that true success can be achieved.
