Mukesh (Micky) jagtiani remembers well some last words from his dying father. "I don't know how Micky's going to feed himself—being Indian with no degree," his father lamented. "On what is he going to live?" His dad had reason to worry. An Indian immigrant who had moved his family to Kuwait, he had scraped together the funds to send Jagtiani, then 17, to accounting school in London. But his prodigal son had flunked several exams and eventually dropped out. Micky was also drinking and smoking heavily. To support himself he cleaned hotel rooms and drove a taxi around the city until he could barely afford to do even that. In 1972 he rejoined his family in the Persian Gulf, where life took a turn for the worse. His older brother Mahesh was diagnosed with leukemia and died within months. His father, a diabetic, died soon after; he lost his mother the next year, to cancer. Micky Jagtiani was 21 years old, without a family and with no prospects.
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