How Student Became Teacher

- by Janie Lee

Pankaj Verma is a 25 year old from a village in northern India, near Nepal. He comes from a family of six – in addition to his parents, he has two older sisters and an older brother. His father is a mechanic, his mother is a housewife, his older brother owns a small jewelry shop, and his sisters are also housewives.  

Since growing up, Pankaj loved teaching. He volunteered to help little children locally, but decided to pause his passion for teaching in order to better sustain himself. He did not have enough income to maintain a good standard of living. As a result, he enrolled in the food and beverages course at the PACE Center in Aurangabad, which is about three days of travel from home.

(Pankaj Verma exhibiting plates and cutlery he uses to teach students in his food and beverages course)

Pankaj excelled in the food and beverages course and was subsequently employed immediately after the course had ended. He was placed as a steward at the Taj Hotel, where he had a wide variety of experiences. For six months, Pankaj worked within Chinese cuisine. Then, he spent time working in the banquet hall and the bar at the hotel. In these different settings and roles, Pankaj has had the opportunity to serve India actors and actresses. After two years of being a steward at the Taj, he was promoted to become a senior steward for his high quality performance and diligent work ethic.  

Instead of continuing to thrive in the hospitality business, Pankaj decided to go back to Aurangabad to return to his passion of teaching and to give back to an institution that had given him so much. Since October 2012, he has been an assistant teacher for the same food and beverages course he took two years ago. He is happy to give others the knowledge and skills necessary to getting jobs in the hospitality sector. His long-term goal is to become a master trainer for food and beverages.