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 \u201ctough\u201d childhood growing up, even though he himself admitted that he was born with the proverbial \u201cdiamond spoon\u201d 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 \u2014 perhaps for the first time \u2014 how he made it to a prestigious university in USA despite \u201cflunking the 12th exams\u201d. <\/p>\n
Modi was sent to 7 boarding schools<\/p>\n
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 \u201cstrict upbringing\u201d. <\/p>\n
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\u201cI was born with a diamond spoon. Not a silver spoon, not a gold spoon, but with a diamond spoon,\u201d Modi told Clarke in the podcast. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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How Modi cheated his way into Duke University<\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019t easy, you know? I went to seven different schools. I finally ended up in Delhi<\/a> 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\u2019t 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,\u201d Modi added. <\/p>\n Was a scorer in school cricket<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n
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