Telangana autorickshaw driver’s son rides into IIM Ahmedabad

AHMEDABAD: When Laxmikanth Reddy's father dropped off children in his autorickshaw to a convent school, he nursed a dream— his son too gets convent educated and makes it big in the corporate world.
Not only did Reddy get admission in a convent school, he also secured admission in IIM Ahmedabad for a PGPX course where he commenced studies from Thursday.
"I still remember the moment when I insisted my father join me on stage in accepting the best meritorious student award given by the school where he came daily to drop and pick up children," says Reddy, 27, who wants to give a house to his parents first thing after graduating from IIM-A.
His is a story of willpower and hard work. Laxmi, as he's fondly called, never got lucky with money, but Goddess Saraswati blessed him always.
A native of Godavarikhani in Telangana, Reddy comes from a family of farmers. But as farming became unpredictable, his father took up driving auto rickshaw, which he continued for decades. He left it due to paralysis few years ago.
"I studied in Telugu medium till class VII. Afterwards, my father pooled in resources to get me to the convent school where he would drop other kids. From class 8 to 10, I studied there. I got a full scholarship to study science in a junior college. Post that, I got a scholarship to study at Sreenidhi Institute of Science & Technology," recounts Laxmikanth Reddy who completed his B.Tech in mechanical engineering in 2016. The period was marred with struggle. With father suffering ill-health, he was forced to take help from the community and offer tuition to earn and pay fee and other expenses. The community provided him lodging and boarding, but for that he travelled 28 km daily by state transport bus on a pass.
Reddy got placed with a firm for software development in Hyderabad. In 2019, he launched a startup with friends to promote terrace garden and farming. But Covid had other plans. "The pandemic kindled my dream to study further and get a management degree. I worked hard in 2020 and cracked CAT in 2021. It was a dream come true. It's been four days on the IIM-A campus, but the feeling is yet to sink in."
Reddy says once he completes his PGPX in 2023, his priority would be to buy his parents a house. "My parents stalled the dream to fund my education. I would first take up a job and earn enough to provide for them. Afterwards, I want to venture out on my own and realize my dream to become an entrepreneur – that's the purpose of coming here," he says, adding that his community and his sister – now with a firm in Hyderabad – have remained his pillars of strength.