(Editor's Note: In this edition, Business Edge turns its Edge@Work section over to a guest columnist, who explains the driving force that took him from bull-cart racing in India, through blue-collar jobs on arriving in Canada and then to the life of a professional businessman in Mississauga.)

I am Paramjit Garcha. My friends call me Gary. I was born in Punjab, India. Belonging to a farming family, I grew up in an environment of bulls, cattle and cultivation of the land. In my childhood, I was very fond of kabaddi (a physical game played in Punjab), bull-cart races and other similar rural sports.

On April 30, 1976, aged 17, I landed at Pearson International Airport, Toronto, along with my two siblings and parents. My older brother Rattan Garcha was already in Canada. (He is now an engineer working in Fort McMurray, Alta.) He had a family and was a student at the University of Waterloo.

Within a week we rented a place in Toronto. Soon, I started an odd job, and then another one. My first job, for a few months, was at a fibreglass factory that manufactured autoparts. After work, I used to complain that the itching from fibreglass exposure was so bad that I felt as if ants or termites were biting my body.

Brennan O'Connor, Business Edge
Paramjit Garcha and wife Jasbir have worked hard to build a thriving optical business in Mississauga.

My second job was at Wimco Steel in Oakville, Ont., a steel-sheet cutting and shipping facility. Within a year, we moved to Hamilton. There, I first worked as a kitchen helper at the downtown Royal Connaught Hotel. Then, after learning welding, I started working as a welder at the National Steel Car.

The money was good, but the job simply was not to my expectations. My mind was elsewhere. I used to watch my brother go to work in a suit and a tie, and would wonder how I could get out of the blue-collar job. I wanted to be something similar to my dear brother.

With Grade 11 education from Punjab, I wanted to prosper and wanted to be some kind of professional. It was then that I came into contact with a family friend, Balbir Dhillon, who was an optician. This fellow used to go to work in a suit and a tie. So, I drew inspiration from Balbir to become an optician.

To take an optician's course I needed Grade 12 education with English, physics, chemistry and math as elective subjects. This I started by correspondence courses under my brother's grilling tutorship.

After obtaining a Grade 12 diploma, I registered as a part-time student at the Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto for the optician's course. I started a job at an optical outfit as a student optician. So, I fondly started going to work in a suit and tie, and became a happy camper.

I graduated from Seneca College in 1988. When I look back, I had come a long way from participating in and watching bull-cart races in Punjab to becoming a licensed professional optician and contact lens-fitter in Mississauga. I had the drive in me to succeed and so I did.

My brother was always instrumental and happy to provide me the guidance and logistical support. I learned from my dear brother that one can obtain any degree by studying part time while providing for his/her family by working a full-time job. My brother is the main driving force behind my success and those of our close relatives and many of our friends as well.

He himself completed his master's degree in engineering from the U of Waterloo mostly part time while on a full-time job. At age 54, he graduated from the University of Alberta in Edmonton with a master of business administration (MBA), while working full time as a professional engineer in Fort McMurray, about 450 kilometres away.

While still at Seneca College, I married Jasbir who would later become the backbone of my family's future business.

Having graduated from Seneca College in 1988, I started working for local optical companies as a licensed optician. I started my own business, Jason Optical, at Westdale Mall in Mississauga in 1992. For the past 15 years I have served the eye-care needs of Westdale Mall shoppers with passion, integrity and pride. My efforts have been well received and handsomely rewarded.

To serve my customers even better, I recently expanded my store in Westdale Mall. On Sept. 1, Jason Optical launched a campaign called Light, Sight, Hope in which $5 from each eyeglass and contact lens purchase is donated to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

I and Jasbir have been married for 22 years. We are blessed with a beautiful daughter and a handsome son. My family is very proud to be part of the Westdale Mall area of Mississauga. We wish the very best for all the residents of our beautiful city.

(Written by Paramjit and Jasbir Garcha.)