Right on the money

Rati Rajkumar, co-founder and CPO of India’s first neutral online banking marketplace, bankbazaar.com, finds balancing a booming enterprise and two growing kids a breezy task to master. At a fairly young age, she has travelled to, worked in and lived across three continents, beginning with Kraft Foods’ Toblerone in the US, moving to Brazil and then to Taiwan before coming home to Chennai and founding the start-up with her husband. “The inclination to be an entrepreneur was always there in me, perhaps also on account of my being born into a family of entrepreneurs. I was always keen on learning and organically gravitated towards it when a good enough opportunity presented itself,” she shares.

Today, with a successful start-up and two children at home, how does the family-work balance pan out for her She responds simply, “I think one should be involved a 100 per cent in everything one does and learn on the job. Being a mother is something no one’s ever done before, so you just start learning on the go! For me, both areas consume attention full time. When I am giving my time to either of them, I’m always trying to give it everything I have. I wouldn’t give up either of the two for anything in the world.” She goes on to add that each area also has something important to teach her about the other. “One great thing is that I learn a lot from my kids about dealing with people, which applies to the work I do and to life in general. All those times when I’m figuring out how to motivate these guys to eat, for example. There is so much to be said about how that helps me deal with stubborn elements at work! Ultimately, it all comes down to how you manage people, time and optimise the things you are expected or required to do. You can achieve at least 80 per cent of what you need in both areas, and I try to do my best to make that 100 per cent,” she avers.

Ask her how she fits in time for herself in the midst of this constant balancing act and she explains, “I actually wake up very early in the morning for that, taking time out to exercise and clear my mind. On a typical day, that is followed by the whole process of waking my kids up and getting them to school. I try my best to come back from work early too, though that never happens. I try to optimise whatever time I have with myself and with my kids too.” She also affirms that when it comes to time for herself, she loves to spend it with her dearest friends too. “We have a good set of friends with whom I sometimes catch up late in the evening, along with our families. That really helps me unwind. I love watching movies too, which is like alone time within a group of people. I enjoy both kinds of outings, in different ways,” she says.

Having travelled across the world before coming home to settle down in Chennai, Rati is very fond of exploring new places and new cuisines. “I like every kind of place — mountains, beaches or otherwise. My husband, kids and I do travel quite a bit, making sure that we do at least one trip a year,” she shares and adds,”We haven’t done much of India yet, which is quite shameful, but we’re always looking to try something new. Recently, we were in Australia and Thailand before that. On second thoughts, I think I have soft corner for beaches.If you look at my husband and my choices in the past, we’ve done a lot of beaches. One of my fondest memories is of when we went diving in Andaman a few years ago. It was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. As for food, I’m a total foodie and love exploring food in India particularly. I love the traditional South Indian food that you only get here in the South, in small messes and such like. I also love Kerala food and am a little biased towards Japanese cuisine too,” she concludes.