42 years ago, Dad graduated from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.
The son of an optician in small-town India, my father's route to IIM-A wasn't 'optimised' — far from it. His parents had no idea what those four letters meant, let alone how prestigious the institution was.
No, Dad's route to IIM began quietly, serendipitously, thanks to a chance encounter with an ad in the newspaper.
Take this exam, it said, and you may just be eligible to enjoy a world-class management education, right here in India.
So, he applied on a whim — no real expectations, no parental pressure, no idea quite how life-changing this application could be.
He simply collected his limited pocket money, hopped on a train to Kanpur, and showed up for the CAT, for the interviews.
He was accepted into all 3 Indian Institutes of Management at the time.
Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta.
And that's where it all began.
Dad spent the following forty years building, overcoming, thriving. Inspiring.
He built an illustrious market research career abroad, bringing us up across continents, cultures, languages — everywhere from Egypt to England to Bali to Malaysia, and many places in between.
Along the way, he suffered several years of unacceptable trauma, but never once let it affect us.
Instead, he did everything he could to protect us, to give us the best possible education, no matter how difficult the circumstances.
But that wasn't enough for our over-achieving Dad.
In 2019, he took a leap of faith to leave behind the corporate world — a leap of faith to give back, to become a marketing professor.
And, most importantly, a few years ago, Dad finally found time for himself — which is when we all discovered what an extraordinarily talented chef he was.
He went on to make it to MasterChef India's top 40 contestants in 2023.
Dad has shown us that, with the tenacity, grit, and — most importantly — positivity you bring to your everyday, quite literally anything is possible.
I say this because, if you look at even a small fraction of the hurdles Dad's had to overcome to be the strong, successful, and kind human he is today, you'd think they would have broken him.
But he refused to be broken.
He knew what he could become, and he didn't stop till he achieved it all (and, in true Ravi Miglani fashion, he ended up achieving so much more).
Thank you for inspiring us every single day, Dad.
You're incredible, truly.