A Great story by NICHOLAS KEUNG, immigration reporter for The Toronto Star about a man who immigrated to Canada from Mumbai and took a job as a security officer. Although it wasn't his chosen profession, that first worksite served as the launching pad for Mayank Bhatt's eventual career. -- Ed.

 

The last time Mayank Bhatt was in this Forest Hill condo building he wore a navy blue uniform and worked as a security guard.

 

It was one of the new immigrant’s first jobs in Canada, a position the Mumbai native landed just weeks after arriving at Pearson International Airport with his wife, Mahrukh, and son, Che.

 

Seven years after he left that job, Bhatt, 54, recently returned to the warm embrace of the tenants he used to serve at 260 Heath St. W., but this time as a published author invited for a reading of his debut novel, Belief — the story of a new immigrant family’s struggles in Canada. The book will be officially launched at the Gladstone Hotel on Tuesday evening.

 

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“I wanted to read at this condo building. I came to Canada not knowing anyone. I was a complete stranger and they welcomed me. My new life started here. The residents in this building were the first set of people who made life possible for me and my family,” said Bhatt, his voice choked with emotion.

 

“My idea was not to come to Canada to become a security guard. I wanted to come back to show what I have become today, that I’ve lived up to that expectation. This is a bit of a homecoming for me.”

 

The Heath St. condo was also an apt venue for the occasion because this is where Bhatt first conceived of the idea for his book and started crafting the story while working the graveyard shift guarding the building and protecting its residents.

 

“I had nothing else to do. You read but you need to do something else” to keep yourself occupied and engaged, said Bhatt, 54, a former journalist who had also previously worked as a media adviser and trade officer for the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai.

 

It wasn’t a straight path for him from doing survival jobs to getting his work published; he still works full time to support his family, now as a marketing and administration co-ordinator at Simmons da Silva LLP, a Toronto law firm.

 

Upon his arrival in Canada, Bhatt took a one-year journalism program at Sheridan College, while working as a security guard, with the hopes of getting back into his profession. But it was a tough task, with every door closed to him despite delivering more than 500 resumés to prospective employers.

 

Read the rest of the story here.