I was born in Karachi but spent every other summer in Bombay. Neither of the twin cities could survive two consecutive summers of my loving attention. I still refer to myself as a Bombaywala (meaning from Bombay) first and a Karachiite second. Bombay, after my refusal to cease and desist from using this unsanctioned affiliation, switched to the name Mumbai.

At the impressionable age of 14 years, I found myself working as an intern in a high-tech startup named Next Hardware Shop. There was active debate on whether it was Sarwar or Steve Jobs who came up with the name first and who should sue whom. All the more so because Sarwar’s Next sold and repaired apple computers in Pakistan. Before long it really didn’t matter since both Nexts first slipped into disrepair and then obscurity.

It was at Next that I set the precedent for the rest of my life—blowing up power supplies and writing off expensive and (then) rare portable computers. Within a few days of my arrival, I was banished from the organization’s workshop and all things electrical. Over the next two decades my family and friends added to this “can’t-touch-this” list plastic (bags, wrappers, Ziploc and the spending friendly kind), plumbing, driving, baby sitting, real work, and the ability to earn a living.

Years of sloth and an inability to make quick decisions ultimately presented me with a career choice of software engineering or actuarial sciences. I failed to pick either one in time and had to opt for both. This profound combination led to a calling devoted to building really bad actuarial software, followed by equally disastrous attempts to sell the same. Somewhere along this path, I managed to pick up an FSA (Fellow Society of Actuaries) designation and an MBA from Columbia Business School (the one in New York) and decided to step out into the real world on my own.

My international career began with a talent for getting lost in London (first), Boston (next), and Washington D.C. (last) on cold and wet winter evenings. This was balanced by a similar talent for getting lost in Jeddah (first), Dubai (next), and Riyadh (last) on hot and humid summer nights. Along with my adventures, I discovered mismanagement, late deliveries, budget over-runs, all-nighters, personality conflicts, Mountain Dew, nachos, Bob Seger, 10-speed bikes, Costco, credit cards, mid life crises, pacific coast highway, working with family, and bugs that defied pesticides and all known laws of physics, biology, and chemistry. I also lost the equivalent of my forefathers’ combined lifetime earnings in less than a year and topped this dubious distinction by quickly borrowing and then repeatedly losing similarly enormous amounts within progressively shorter intervals.

In the hope that my children may someday learn from their father’s misadventure and that my friends, family, and parents may forgive me for my displays of greed, ignorance, arrogance, selfishness, anger, and quite often just plain bad manners, I wrote this book. In step with my character, I expect everyone to pick up a few copies and pay for them. Random strangers are excluded from this condition but their compliance would still be appreciated.

Learn more about Jawwad: Alchemy, DesiStartup, DesiBackToDesh