Mittra eventually ends up back in Florida. He obtains his doctorate in economics, something he did not set out to study. He goes into teaching. Mittra succeeds, despite many roadblocks, in staying in the United States. He becomes wildly successful in financial planning. He authors more than a dozen books. One of them, Practical Financial Planning for Professionals, becomes a foundation book for generations of financial planners.
He marries his Indian sweetheart. He raises a family. He beats the ostensibly impossible odds.
The underdog is standing in the winner's circle. The rebels beat the empire. The Brooklyn Dodgers finally overcome the mighty Yankees and win the 1955 World Series. The Boston Bruins actually defeat the supposedly invincible Montreal Canadians in the playoffs.
Sometimes it is the person who is voted least likely to succeed who ends up with the brass ring. This is Sid Mittra’s story.
Yes, The Bee Can Fly, by
Sidebar: Growing Up In India In The 1930s
“Our beds consisted of mattresses on the floor, buttressed by long pillows. Our toys were pots and pans and rags. Our clothes were simple and always handed down to the next child. Because we did not have central heating and air conditioning, let alone refrigerators, we improvised by creating hand-held fans with banana leaves for cooling off during the hot season. We used a clay pot with a long, slender neck called a surahi for cooling drinking water. In the winter, we heated our rooms by burning charcoal in earthen posts. The practice fouled the air and was dangerous, but no one questioned it because it was useless to complain. It simply was the way it was done at the time.” -- “Yes, the Bee Can Fly,” pages 21-22