I am strong and life will never get me down, because the harder I fall, the higher I bounce

She started her career 30 years ago as an entrepreneur, selling eateries from a mobile cart on the Marina beach amidst all odds — battling a failed marriage, coping with her husband, a multiple addict, and taking care of two kids.

Meet Patricia Narayan – Director, Sandeepha Chain of Restaurants based in a city that simply adores food, Chennai.

Whatever happened in Patricia’s life which led to her entry into the world of entrepreneurship was evidently not a planned one but was more due to the twist in circumstances that life threw before her. Instead of cribbing and living in problem she successfully transformed her life into a more meaningful and inspirational tale for the world to look back at.

Patricia Thomas was only 17 when she married Narayan, a Hindu Brahmin boy, against the wishes of her conservative Christian family. After marriage, they have disconnected from their family. Hence, Patricia moved into a rented house in Anna Nagar with his husband, only to realise that life was nowhere close to a Mills & Boon story and was just a big bloat of disaster. She figured that she had become pregnant by a husband who was heavily into alcohol and drugs, had no money to survive and had no intentions to earn as well.

She wasn’t able to bring him out of the addiction and got beaten up almost every other day. Now with no money, no earnings and two small kids, she was left stranded without a roof and had nowhere to go. That is when her father, who although still never forgave her, but he gave Patricia, her husband & two children a refuge at his place.

Her husband remained sober during the day, but at night would become abusive and brutal if he did not get money to take care of his cravings. Luckily, Patricia’s father worked night shifts and barely got to see this side of Narayan. But the question of earnings still remained unanswered. It was a question of survival for her. It was either surrender to the burden or stand-up and fight.

Left with no choice, Patricia took financial help from her mother and started a mobile cart at Marina Beach. She employed two disabled persons to help her in selling snacks, fresh juice, coffee, and tea. Over the next years, her hard work and dedication paid off, as she started branching out into running canteens for offices across Chennai. In 1998, she become a director of Sangeetha group's Nelson Manickam Road restaurant.

By then, her children had grown up, but her husband's behaviour worsened. Narayan would stub her with cigarettes when he didn't get money from Patricia, and disappear for months. In 2002, during one such disappearance, he died. Two years later, her recently-married daughter also died in a road accident, along with her son-in-law.

Devastated, Patricia and her son started their first restaurant ‘Sandeepha’ in memory of her late daughter. Patricia has, since then, loved and nurtured her restaurant the way she would nurture her daughter. She won the 'FICCI Woman Entrepreneur of the Year' in 2010 for her extraordinary life and struggles

I started my business with just two people. Now, there are 200 people working for me in my restaurants. My lifestyle has changed too. From travelling in a cycle rickshaw, I moved to auto rickshaws and now I have my own car. From 50 paisa a day, my revenue has gone up to Rs 2 lakh a day- Patricia Narayan.

Today she is a proud winner of “[Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry] “FICCI Woman Entrepreneur Award” (2010); after successfully fighting all the odds of failed marriage, addict husband, and taking care of two kids, lives in a well-furnished duplex apartment in Velachery with a shining luxury car parked outside the door.

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