My first day in a Culinary School by Prashant Joseph

MY FIRST DAY IN A CULINARY SCHOOL
We always say time changes things, but we actually change them ourselves. One of these changes that occurred in my life was joining the Culinary Academy of India. I joined college on July 23, 2007. As our batch reached college, we were asked to sit in one of the classrooms on the 6th floor of the building. There was silence in the room as all of us were not familiar with each other and did not know what to expect from the college. There was mixed thoughts and emotions going through everybody's minds. Some were sad about leaving home and others because summer vacations had got over. For me everything felt just right. I had been looking out for a good culinary school in India and got to know about the college just a few days before the opening.
As the day progressed, we were welcomed by our Principal, Chef. Sudhakar N. Rao who within minutes made us feel that we were in the right place and also gave us an insight of what to expect from the college and the hotel industry. His ability to put things across to people and get the right things out of people was commendable. He also shared his experience on the cruise and in the hotel industry which wowed all of us and got us thinking of what we should work to achieve in the years to come. We were then introduced to all faculty and board members of the college and had some time to interact with each other. Within a matter of minutes, I felt surrounded and engulfed by a group of extremely friendly people. All of us actually just wanted to know if there was anybody from the place we come from or someone we could 'gel' with.
Most of us including me had already seen the fully equipped college campus previously while undergoing counseling and had been briefed about the various kitchens and labs where we would be training. I felt a sense of ease after the first day and eagerly waited for the days to follow. Two years down I can say that I've never looked back and thought that maybe I should have done something else. George Bernard Shaw said “Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not?". More than everything else, what the college has taught me over the past few years is to change to my "why's" to "why not".... and all other things just fell into place.