This program motivates students to participate in social and cultural activities, says Sanket

I have always been the curious kid, with unending questions. I believe, this curious nature of mine made me opt for Science for my High School education. After graduating High School, I found myself obsessed with Physics and the questions that it answered. I then took admission for a BSc course to major in Physics and did very well in my first year, but towards the beginning of my second year I had realised that I was not fond of the professional life this course had to offer and by then my hobby for cooking has transformed into passion. I realised that cooking is like meditation for me. Every time I was in kitchen, there was not a single thought in my mind to bother me. Also, the satisfaction of creating something with my own hands, is unmatched. So, I decided of doing what I love for a living. I believe we all need to go through this phase of confusion to clear all the doubts, gain experience and know better for the future. I then read about Hospitality Management Courses on the interned and liked the subjects and the syllabus it covered and at that moment I was sure of what I wanted to do with my life. I shared this with my girlfriend, and she informed me about this college, where her brother had graduated from with a very delightful experience. I was sold when I visited the college and interacted with the faculties.     

There was no entrance test required, but only a couple of interviews with the teachers and the principal of the college. The only difficult part which I believed at that time was to convince my parents of dropping out of the previous course and getting into this new one. But my parents have always believed in me and supported me. They made it very easy on me to make this decision.

This course has four core subjects to offer, which we study for four semesters and for one of those semesters we go for our Industrial Training in Hotels to get hands on experience. This year however, due to the pandemic most of us couldn’t do our Industrial Training. Rather we got to conduct research which was related to the industry. I conducted research on ‘Mead’ which is an ancient alcoholic beverage with a deep history with the ancient India and is now regaining popularity in India and all over the world. This was a great opportunity for me to reach out to the industry experts and gather all the knowledge and make contacts.

Currently, I’m in my final year which focuses on specialisation in two core subjects. The subjects being, Food Production with Food and Beverage Management and the other combination being Front Office and House Keeping. I naturally chose Food Production and Food & Beverage Management. As the curriculum was shifted to online mode, all the theory part of the studies were completed in the lockdown. When the college reopened, the curriculum was only focused on the practical aspect of the course.

So, presently most of my time is spent on practically learning about different food preparations, the techniques used, the different ingredients of different cuisines, various professionally used terms in the kitchen and so on. We have alternating practical for Food & Beverage Management, wherein we study about different types of services, carrying ourselves as a professional in the industry, managing people, various daily operations that take place in the hotels, different liquors and liqueurs, wines, their origin, their production process and so on.

There are various activities that takes place in the college and there is always food that is to be served at these events. Being the HoD of the department I am responsible to take care of the operations and help my fellow friends with it.

I am also a part of the DLLE program, which is one of the authorities of Mumbai University. This program motivates students to participate in social and cultural activities to educate them on hot topics and create awareness among the masses, which contributes towards the development of the society.

If given a chance, I would like to learn photography and food styling.

My college has always organized various seminars and activities which certainly helped a lot of the students. But I have observed that these activities have helped me to improve on my language, made me confident, made me socially active, improve on my professional skills and knowledge, encouraged creativity and improve on my grooming.

I am looking forward to go abroad for my masters and start my professional career in a reputed organization

About the author

Sanket Sameer Kasabe is a hospitality student of Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Hotel and Tourism Management Studies. He aspires to be a Chef in his career.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha