Excelling in economics

At the All India Senior School Certificate Examination (AISSCE) for class XII conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in 2012, Arshan Soonawalla of Delhi Private School, Sharjah secured 93 percent in the commerce stream. He was the School’s subject topper in economics with 98 percent, notes a family source. Beginning October, he will start his three-year BSc classes in accountancy and finance at the prestigious University of Warwick in UK.

Listing "cars, stock market and current affairs” as his areas of interest, Soonawalla describes his religious leanings as "moderate.” Wearing the sudreh-kusti regularly, he says he believes in prayer that can "bring peace of mind.” Every year the youngster visits India to meet his paternal grandmother in Lucknow and his maternal grandparents in Jabalpur. His maternal grandfather Dorab Bajan is the president of the Parsi Anjuman in Jabalpur.

Arshan’s mother Farahnaz who is the headmistress of the Delhi Private School had earned her MA and BEd from India, having studied at the Christ Church Girls’ School and St Aloysius College in Jabalpur. His father Cyrus, the Trade Lane manager of Panalpina, a logistics firm in Dubai, had completed his postgraduation in history being the product of La Martiniere, Lucknow and St Stephen’s College, New Delhi.