Ontario man has done Punjab proud

toronto:ask anybody about big indian names in the corporate sector in canada, and sabi marwah is inevitably the first answer. inarguably, he is the ultimate indian on bay street in toronto which is canada's third largest bank with branches in more than 50 countries, marwah ranks third in its hierarchy. yes, sort of. ''the chairman and the president are above me in the bank hierarchy.i am also its chief financial officer,'' he says modestly. elaborating his role, marwah says,''i look after many operations.these include budgeting, finances, forecasting and financial analysis.'' a pause. ''and, of course, mergers and acquisitions,'' he adds. couldn't one call him a financial poacher? ''oh.., yes,'' he lets out a huge laughter. mergers and acquisitions, he says, are part of the corporate world. marwah ascribes his success in this highly competitive field to hard work. ''i think you can succeed in any field.you have to be on the ball all the time.you have to learn, unlearn and relearn a lot of things.'' does he not believe in in the so-called notion of discrimination? ''subtle forms of discrimination are in all human societies.that's part of human nature. canada is a wonderful, open society. here you get recognised for your talent. indeed, i feel favoured by this system.as i said, you should have the determination and talent,'' says the talented marwah. born in calcutta, marwah did his schooling in the ''city of joy''. ''though a sikh, i am part bengali because i speak the bengali language much more fluently than punjabi. bhalo, bhalo,'' he laughs. moving to delhi in 1967, he enrolled in st stephen's college for his graduation. ''for my master's, i joined the delhi school of economics. in 1973-74, i finished my ph.d form that institution.'' marwah didn't drop his anchor there. he left for the university of california in los angeles to pursue his mba.''i wanted to enter the financial world.that was my dream. being at ucla was wonderful. i learnt so much.'' having learnt so much, marwah joined the financial world. ''canada fascinated me. so i moved toronto in 1978 and joined scotiabank as a financial analyst.'' and the rest is history. ''sabi (as he is fondly called) has broken the ceiling,'' says a colleague. the indo-canadian chamber of commerce feted him some time ago by nominating marwah as the professional of the year. father of two daughters named nanaki and gurbani, this bankman — and a keen golfer — has also made an immense contribution to social and religious causes. he was instrumental in his bank's huge contribution to the 1999 exhibition on the arts of the sikh kingdoms in toronto. ''i visit amritsar — where my parents also live— every year to stay in touch with my roots. it is all god's grace,'' muses the man who earns more than a quarter million dollars annually.