“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”
Oprah Winfrey
He belonged to a poor family. A family which used to do odd jobs to provide for its sustenance. He always longed to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty which gripped his family. He wanted to become one of the most famous chefs in the world. The reason was simple: he simply loved to cook. But who apart from his mother could understand his passion for cooking? He never had the support of his father who was content being poor. Instead his father used to mock him for seeing a dream which seemed impossible and what according to him was a job done by the ladies of the household. But, the fire in him burned brighter each day as he had posters cut from glossy magazines of chefs who had made it to the top in the fascinating world of culinary world. You might be wondering if the family did not have enough means to sustain themselves where did he get those pictures from ? Well, that is where his best friend came into the picture. He was the son of a scrap dealer who collected magazines from various households. There was this one family who had the subscription of a cooking magazine, What’s Cooking. This magazine was kind of a window to everything related to the field of cooking . It had interviews from the top chefs, the best places to eat , the best recipes submitted by chefs and readers alike.
In an age where children like him were attracted to film magazines or comics, he spent his time in reading this. It was thanks to his education that he could make sense of some parts in the magazine but some parts were unfathomable to him. This is where his English teacher , who was a kind person and loved him came to his rescue. The teacher’s language skills and the school’s Internet facility helped him to make sense of the magazine. Did he neglect his studies for his passion ? No, he was a very responsible child who not only did his studies diligently but also supported his mother in the small catering business she ran. It was this sight of his mother in the kitchen along with the aromatic smell of the spices which wafted from their small kitchen which made him fall in love with cooking. So, he lent a helping hand to his mother as well as provided inputs to her as to how she could better the dishes she made. And in return, he was her what he jokingly called ‘her unofficial taster.’ This tasting activity which he undertook for his mother helped him acquire a sharp palette as well as develop a keen sense of smell.
Even though he wanted to pursue cooking,life did want to test him to check how passionate he was about his dream. As soon as he finished his senior secondary exams, he wanted to enroll in the Culinary Academy. The Culinary Academy was a gateway to pursue your dream of entering what was known as the club of elites -the Nomary Bjorg. But was it an easy path ?After all there is a price you need to pay if you want to achieve something. Also, there were many applicants who applied to the academy every year. But only the few lucky ones made the cut. And from those few, there were a handful who made it to the elite club. The Culinary Academy prided itself for having such tough evaluation standards as they wanted to differentiate diamonds from glass stones. Anyone could be a glass stone but very few could be diamonds. Will our hero make the cut? What is the price that he will pay for his dreams?Will his dreams come true and will he be able to prove his father wrong ? Stay tuned as this piece continues next week. Till then take care, enjoy the rains or whatever weather it in your country (we are experiencing showers here ) and have a rocking week ahead.
Lots of Love,
Roshani
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