A challenge-accepting sportsperson, a vision engineer, a robust personality – his dream was to build a successful life. “Coming to the US and establishing myself wasn’t easy. But I don’t like anything easy, not even the easier challenges. I want tough and exciting hurdles,” he says. Founded in 1993, Monpat in its last 29 years has been providing timely, high-quality construction and value-engineering services to the likes of The New LaGuardia Airport, Moynihan Station, Rockland Psychiatric Center, City of New York parks and recreation, flood mitigation sandy projects and numerous correctional and transportation facilities.
His professional success took him to be appointed the President of SIAEA in 2013 – a position that he served for the next two years. His desire to make housing easy for every US resident led him to join the society. “The question is not how many years are in your life but how much life is in your years. Live life to the fullest.”
Still Discovering the World
Mihir was born to Induben and Bababhai Patel on March 3, 1961, in Mehsana. His parents always prioritized studies and he had a very encouraging atmosphere at home. His father, an MSc in Mathematics and Statistics, was a mathematics Professor at Ahmedabad Polytechnic while his mother had a double MA in Psychology and Sociology. “She was a wonder woman – rare women back then were educated and she had two post-graduate degrees! But her education meant she often caught us red-handed. I’d tell her I’d get late for my extra classes and as soon as I returned, she would ask, ‘How many movies today?’ It was impossible to get past her,” he laughs. A born leader, he was always surrounded by 10–11 friends who called him the captain. “My mother joked, ‘You’ve your own cricket team’.” Later, when they moved to Kenya in 1962, Bababhai started working with Bank of Baroda and Induben became a school teacher of Hindi, Swahili and Biology by the day and a news reader by night and also worked for the Voice of Kenya, a media company which now is known as Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
His maternal grandfather, Puroshottam Das Patel aka Das kaka, was a famous lawyer, a Member of Parliament of India for 15 years and was appointed the Minister of Education in Gujarat in 1972. His paternal grandfather, on the other hand, was a hardworking farmer.
For so much inspiration right at home, Mihir was still a notorious and mischievous child! “I always looked after my younger brother, Miten. In school, a kid once bullied him and I carried that boy out of the school premises and threw him away. The principal asked my father to see him immediately but I was spared. My friends never hid anything from me as I’d give them a hard time if they did! I once had twisted my friend’s cycle at a right angle.”
Mihir, for his personality and also owing to changing many schools, had many friends. He started schooling in Nairobi; however, when Bababhai returned to India during the 1971 mass expulsion of Indians from East Africa, he took admission in grade 7 in Palanpur where he studied till grade 9. Moving to Kalol for grades 10 and 11, he completed senior secondary education at Vidyanagar High School in Ahmedabad.
Toward a Dream Life
Was Mihir’s love for playing with building blocks symbolic?
His father wanted him to become an engineer and so he completed his graduation in Civil Engineering from Birla Vishvakarma Mahavidyalaya and started working with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in Mehsana. “Had we not returned to India, I wouldn’t have been living this life in the US today. It started with a dream of owning Rado watch, Mercedes, US Polo t-shirts and Ray-Ban glasses.”
When you get down to work really hard to live your dreams, fate aligns the rest of the things.
He got married to Bhavna on July 12, 1986 – the same date as his parents. Things changed with Bhavna entering his life: She had studied Mathematics for graduation in the US. Her father was an established Civil Engineer, whose guidance came helping later. Moving to the US in 1986, Mihir started working at EMD Constructions Inc. As he struggled to find a sound footing, Bhavna too started working. Her salary from Deutsche Bank paid off their bills. In the meantime, Mihir not only excelled his art but also learnt the nuances of business and started Monpat Construction in partnership in 1993. “MON comes from my then-partner and now a friend’s name, Moniaros, and PAT comes from Patel. I learnt a lot at EMD and found my gurus there. And here we are – running strong!”
Once he found his career sound, he started to take out time for himself and went back to his childhood hobbies. An avid sportsperson, he started investing time in active sports and now has a cricket pitch in his backyard. “Yeah, I have had it for 16 years now. Till before COVID-19, my friends and I played cricket and volleyball here. And for my love of sports, Bhavna has often hosted as many as 50 people right here!” Legendary Indian cricketers, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulakar, too have played here and this makes his backyard even dear to him! “I also had a chance to meet the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and I told him that Das Kaka was my grandfather. To my wonder, he remembered him all these years later!”
Mihir proves that to be successful in life, one must stop chasing money and start chasing passion. And soon you’ll have abundance and you will live a life you never even dreamt of.
Play, Laugh, Grow
Mihir has always believed in life – as a celebration. As much as he loves challenges, the more difficult the better, life has more than often given him many! “I remember, it was 1989. We were blessed with Priyank, but I still had a long way to go career-wise. Bhavna pitched in with her efforts for us and started working. I just knew I wanted to do things on my own but how… I had no idea. It all came in gradually. We had to persist a lot, our patience was tested but here we are! I still am not half the way I wanted to but now I know I am on the right path! And then, recently when COVID-19 hit – the construction industry was at an ever low but we couldn’t stop.” And he never did. He took up three new projects, hired more people for timely delivery, followed the protocols and managed to finish them in 26 months, which otherwise would have taken three long years! “Passion and commitment make it possible.”
Priyank studied landscape architecture and graduated from Penn State in 2012 and has now joined Monpat as Project Manager and Estimator. He got married in 2021 to Taylor Hutchinson, a Marketing Director at NYU Langone. The young couple loves their sports and take out time to play tennis and pickleball. “It’s great that they stay active… My parents also encouraged me to play sports saying that it helps in making efficient decisions.” Mihir has a passion for luxury travel – his favorite place is New Zealand. The Patels often take out time to travel as a family where they indulge in adventure sports, like skiing. “After a few months of smooth working, I hope for some problems. I believe it adds excitement to life and I feel more pumped up and thrilled at work. Facing challenges and navigating one’s way through them builds resilience capacity. Knowing that one can overcome obstacles, learn from struggles and benefit from mistakes lays a solid foundation for success in later life.”
A devotee of Lord Tirupati, Mihir believes a lot of what he is today is because of his faith in Him. Other than staying actively involved in SIAEA and making housing ecosystem easy for the needy, he has extended his support to the Gujarati Samaj of New York and has also received a proclamation from the former New York Senator, Toby Ann Stavisky for his commitment to society.
The most powerful Lord who grants sincere wishes of his devotees, Mihir believes that you can manifest whatever you set your heart on with faith in yourself. “I never have a plan B. I strongly focus on that plan A and make it work.”