LOSING his father at the tender age of 10, Atish Chand dropped out of school to help put food on the table for his family.
Twenty-four years later, Mr Chand owns a taxi which he drives to earn a living and support his family.
Coming from a family of five children, his eldest brother, Anil, told Fiji Times his brother helped their mother put food on the table for them after their father died.
Now a manager at Westpac bank in Lautoka, Mr Chand said his younger brother pulled out of school for their sake.
"I was studying at Fiji Institute of Technology at the time and a few years later I dropped out of the institute and got employment by doing odd jobs before joining Westpac," he says.
"Atish did a lot after our father's death by helping our mother and also helped in getting my other brothers educated.
"After I found work and started to earn enough, I bought him a carrier to operate since he had sacrificed a lot for us."
Being a middle child, Atish said he was not good in school the reason why he decided to drop out and sell peanuts to help his mother.
His father died in 1984 -- one of four killed at the height of Cyclone Eric, when the wall of the school they were sheltering in collapsed.
To make ends meet back then, Atish sold not just peanuts but also confectionery on the streets of Lautoka.
He looks back at those days with satisfaction for his oldest brother, Anil, who is now a bank manager, while two other brothers have migrated to Australia and New Zealand.
"Sunil was a former teacher at Natabua and is in Brisbane while Jagdish is an accountant in New Zealand," he said.
Atish's determination and sacrifice makes him one of the nominees for the Pride of Fiji awards.
