A Journey of a Thousand Miles

A conversation with Ramesh Patel.

An inspiring story of an engineer who left his hometown with just a few dollars and built a new life and community from scratch in America.

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Transcript

Interviewer: Welcome, Ramesh. Thank you for joining us. Can you tell us about your early days? Ramesh: Thank you for having me. I arrived in New York in 1985 with just a suitcase and fifty dollars. I knew no one. The city was overwhelming, the sounds, the lights... it was a different world. My first job was washing dishes in a small restaurant. The work was hard, but I was determined. I had a dream of becoming an engineer in America. Interviewer: How did you go from washing dishes to engineering? Ramesh: I saved every penny. I lived in a tiny room with four other people. During the day I worked, at night I studied. I enrolled in a community college. It took me six years of part-time study to get my degree. There were many times I wanted to give up. I missed my family, the food, the festivals. But I remembered the promise I made to my parents. I would not fail. After graduating, I got an internship, and from there, my career started. It was a long road, a journey of a thousand miles, but every step was worth it.