The first year went by, and I had slowly begun to realize what vegetables look like. My maid had better knife skills, and I was now getting excited every time the Chef would abuse me because the sheer thrill of voluntarily accepting abuse was insane.

Our second year of college consisted of training in a hotel for 6 months, just to give us an idea of what to expect from our future jobs as hoteliers. Sitting for training interviews was quite scary because this was my first interaction with anyone from an actual Hotel. They seemed so polished, wearing crisp suits, the lady with her makeup on point and her hair which looks like that has been cut by Javed Habib himself. The interview lasted for a few minutes and I realized that apparently, my hobbies were “f-f-f-o-otball”, “the playing the games on the computer” and “Dets it medum”.

I was very nervous, but most of us were selected. I was selected for a very prestigious hotel located in the posher part of Mumbai. I will not name the hotel because I do not want the administration of The “Taj Mahal Palace, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai just opposite to Gateway of India” to get after my life.

We began with the induction process for, which went on for a week. There, I made quite a few friends and drank at least 2-3 cups of tea every 3 seconds. Life seemed wonderful. I thought “Really? This was what it felt like to be a hotelier? This is the most relaxing job and I am exceedingly happy with my career decision.” What seemed to make me so happy was Life pulling its shorts down to take a shit on the center of my forehead.

My first department was in the service part of hotels, and I was assigned to a restaurant.  As I walked to the employee entrance, I remember thinking to myself, “oh so much to learn. If I make mistakes I will be forgiven because I am a newbie”. So yeah that didn’t happen. My very first day, I put a piece of bacon in my mouth and entered the guest area, chewing like a dog on the piece of meat, when the restaurant manager saw me and blasted me to Timbuktu. It was extremely tough; the work was arduous, and the timings were odd but doable. As I went through my training, having spent a month in each of the four core departments, it was time to choose one; I chose Kitchen.

Our third and final year of college began, and I had already improved my knife skills ten folds during my training. I had failed an exam in my second year, which happened to be the kitchen practical exam. I remember feeling constant doubt in my head if I would be able to go through with my decision of being a Chef. Time flew by and it was time for campus recruitment processes to begin. I had just one goal in my head, which was the Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development. Regarded as the MBA of Hospitality, it was something I was sure I could crack. I began learning technical terms, improved my knowledge, and reached the final round where, due to my own mistakes, I was eliminated. I was heartbroken. Although it took one peck on the cheek from my girlfriend and a mouthful of a burger, I knew I had to work somewhere before re-applying for next year’s selection process.

Link to Part 1: https://konversations.com/stories/index/my-story-in-hotel-management-part-1-to-do-or-not-to-do
Link to Part 3: https://konversations.com/stories/index/my-story-in-hotel-management-part-3-making-a-wise-decision