Against All Odds: Dr. Haresh Mirani’s Inspiring Life Story
Dr. Haresh Mirani’s life is a testament to resilience and determination. Born in the aftermath of India’s partition, he overcame poverty and hardship to become a successful medical doctor in the United States. A devastating car accident forced him to re-evaluate his priorities, leading him on a spiritual journey of self-discovery and, ultimately, to the formation of the Mirani Foundation.
Partition, and a father’s obsession with education
The partition of India was one of those epoch-changing events of modern history that have tended, in recent years, to slip out of public consciousness. The British controlled India until 1947, whereupon independence was given to both India and Pakistan.
The rationale associated with dividing the country into two was based on irreconcilable differences between the Hindu and Muslim sectors of Indian society. What neither the British nor the emerging governments predicted was the genocidal levels of violence that accompanied the mass removals.
Dr. Mirani’s parents escaped from Sindh as it reverted to Pakistan, settling first in one of the many refugee camps around Bombay, and later in the teeming district of Mahim in Mumbai. K. Mirani Senior worked as a clerk in the financial department of the Burmah/Shell organization. His primary objective was to educate his eldest son to a professional level - a goal that, at times, became an obsession. He wanted his family to escape the routine of poverty he had become mired in.
The sacrifice was rewarded in 1979 when Haresh emerged from Bombay University as a qualified medical doctor - sadly, just a year after the death of his father. Soon after, he married and set off for the United States.
Forty dollars, and a torn bag of clothes
The difficulties did not end. He entered the country with a torn bag of clothes; a Delta agent gave him $40. That was his net worth. Three years of exhaustive qualification to practice in the United States followed, including a stretch on food stamps in St. Louis while waiting on ECFMG. In 1984, Dr. Mirani was at last able to get to work.
The twelve years that followed saw a man acculturated by discipline and hard work surge forward - ultimately owning the largest and most profitable medical practice in the Greater Knoxville area, with an investment portfolio that completed a radical transition from rags to riches.
Ruin, and the long night
That driven quest for wealth ended in April 1996, when a catastrophic motor vehicle accident shattered his left ankle and effectively ended his career. Seven surgeries followed, including an artificial left ankle. He was 43, in his prime. Chronic pain - “the beast” - has been with him ever since.
He had acquired a great deal of material wealth. The journey through injury, denial, depression, anger, and eventually acceptance led him to realize that the wealth he had accumulated was of very little long-term value. As a Hindu, Dr. Mirani believes implicitly in the cycles of life, in reincarnation, and in karma.
He describes those years as feeding the wrong wolf: pity me, look at what has happened to me. An old proverb says there are two wolves inside a person, constantly fighting. Who wins? The one you feed.
Kilimanjaro, and a guide named Moses
From the moment he began to recognize that a positive frame of mind facilitated an improvement in physical healing, Dr. Mirani embarked on a long spiritual quest. It reached its zenith at the summit of Kilimanjaro.
He was 60. Eight months after the artificial ankle. There is, he says, no other documented case of that nature. He had not planned a summit. Crossing from Kenya into Tanzania, the clouds parted on the snow-covered peak. His safari guide - named Moses - asked if he wanted to set foot on the mountain that had been a younger man’s dream. Last-minute arrangements were made, at full price, for a seven-day climb. Each night a companion asked him for one more day. On the sixth night he sat at the summit.
That is when the revelation came: he could not live sulking in suffering. He had to look outward. The brain, he says, had been asleep from 1996 to 2012. After Kilimanjaro it woke.
Returning
It took a couple of years to know what to do. He started with small things - volunteering, keeping his medical license current so he could still help. About eleven years ago, with investments comfortable and his two sons grown, he asked why not help other children who were not as blessed. After the legal work of a nonprofit, the Mirani Foundation was born.
He lives on half of his dividend income and gives the rest. The goal is closer to two-thirds, after the example of Ratan Tata. Assets go to the foundation at death. Hana and their sons sit on the board.
The arc he names is rags → riches → ruin → recovery → redemption - of spirit, not of material. The three stages remain: learning, earning, returning.
He still stocks a church pantry on Wednesday mornings. He still keeps a tiny fridge in the back seat, with water and snacks for whoever is standing at a red light. He still believes a person does not need to donate 50% of income. If the average American, already more philanthropic than almost anyone, moved from 2.5% to 3%, the difference would be a hair - and millions of lives.
Physiology, he says, never lies. At 17 his blood pressure was 140/90. In his seventies it is 110/70. Anatomically every joint is worse. The pain is less. He does not think he is giving. He thinks he is receiving a whole lot more.