The book is here : page three

Page Three

Eight years ago, in March 1997, a combination of events changed all that. The first was the acceptance of Nida (my younger sister) at MIT, Harvard College, Caltech and Cornell after her A levels (University of Cambridge equivalent of high school). MIT and Harvard gave her fully funded offers to complete four years of education at their expense in Boston. My family and I found out one fine morning at four am when Nida woke all of us up by banging on our doors and jumping up and down on the floor with an athletic ability that had not been witnessed before in our family. This was the first hint toward something in our mutual gene pool which would be amenable to attending a school with the right pedigree in the US. Quickly after that came a chance meeting with a friend who suggested that armed with an Ivy League MBA, there was a higher path, way above the one that I was currently on, which could be explored irrespective of my decision to come back home to Pakistan after graduation. As it happens with destiny, this bit of inspiration (Nida) and bit of greed (friend) was soon after followed by conflicting elderly advice by two individuals I respected. The first confirmed that a top ranked MBA would open doors that I was not privy to in my sheltered existence and the second vehemently denied the possibility of any such rumors. When I look back now, I think the denial sealed it. Take a twenty six year driven alpha male; first tell him professional paradise exists on the other side of the door that he is reaching for; then tell him there is no door and then watch.

(To be continued)