Memories of Daddy, Post 6: Daddy Lived the American Dream.
Updated: Sep 11, 2020
Daddy was a self-made man and very proud.
Everything he achieved was not only because he was brilliant (my family in India still speaks to this day about how crazy smart he was), he was extremely hard-working as well.
He never paid a cent for his education.
He graduated near the top of his mechanical engineering class at BITS-Pilani (one of the top engineering schools in India).
He was accepted into both MIT and University of Hawaii-Manoa for his MSME, but only Hawaii guaranteed him a graduate assistantship to cover the cost of his schooling, so he went there (he often spoke fondly of his time in Honolulu, and obviously, I was super-jealous).
He earned his MBA from Case Western Reserve, but his job at the time paid for it.
He was a smart investor, a small business owner, and a successful engineer.
As many of us have parents who immigrated to the US, this story is likely very familiar. But just as many of us state as absolute fact that our mom's cooking is the best, to me, Daddy's story of living the American Dream rings the most impressive to me. He was my hero in many ways and his dream set the groundwork for success for me and future generations of Dalmia's.
Thank you, Daddy.