“North American Awards”

I refer to the write-up on my son Firdaus Bhathena, founder president of Relicore Inc. in Boston ("North American Awards,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, September 2002).

For the benefit of those working mothers who might be struggling in Bombay, like I did, to educate their children in the face of unusual hardship, I would like to state as follows:

Firdaus is first and foremost a TELCO boy and were it not for the support of my employers Tata Engineering in Bombay House, the principal and masters of Campion School who nurtured Firdaus for 10 years, and finally the support and glowing references given by the then principal Pradhan of Ruparel College in Bombay, there would have been no Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for Firdaus. It is thanks to all the abovementioned people as well as to his own courage to dream the impossible dream and then work relentlessly towards it, that Firdaus secured a five-year scholarship to MIT at the age of 18. He received similar offers from each and every Ivy League College in the USA.

The purpose of my letter is to inspire the children of struggling working mothers to aim high and persevere.

MANI BHATHENA