The Kitchen King
Sangeetha Narayan
It had been a regular day in school. One of our teachers asked us about our ambitions. I wonder what came over me as I foolishly expressed my secret ambition, “I want to be a chef!”
There was total silence for a minute, and then the entire class burst out laughing. I had suspected this would happen but I was tired of hiding my true passion.
I let them laugh for a minute and stood as straight as possible. “I’m not kidding! I love to cook and I want to be a chef. What’s so funny about that?”
“Nothing,” my best friend Raj got up from his seat, “except that boys shouldn’t cook! Isn’t cooking a girl’s duty?”
It was my turn to laugh. “Which century do you live in? Almost all restaurants today have male chefs, don’t they?”
“But there are so many professions to choose from. Why would you want to become a chef?” Ria was the sportswoman of our class.
I looked at her and smiled. “Isn’t football a manly game? Why do you play that game?”
Ria shrugged, “I just love to kick things!”
I laughed. “And I love to cook things!”
And then, something amazing happened! Vivek, the class bully, stood up and confessed, “I would love to be a singer!”
The entire class looked stunned. We’d never even heard him hum, let alone sing! Soon, the dam burst and one by one, everybody stood up and declared their true vocational passion, regardless of how crazy it sounded. Sameer wanted to be a violinist, while Richa wanted to be a writer. When it was Raj’s turn to confess, he grinned and declared that he wanted to be a comedian.
We’d been classmates for so many years and it felt like we had just met each other for the first time. I seemed to have made a new start for everybody — kids who were so scared of being laughed at that they had kept their dreams secret for so long!
“Yes!” I thought. “A new start for my friends, and for myself — The Kitchen King! I wasn’t ashamed of it!”
Teacher’s Corner
Want your students to look forward to your class?
Try this:
Kids love magic, riddles and jokes. Tell them they can have time twice a week if they promise not to let it distract them during the rest of the class.
Get one student to allocate every Tuesday and Friday (or any other days) to one or two students.
These students can plan and practice a short magic trick, riddle or joke to present on the specified day.
Preparation has to be done in their own free time, so class time won’t be lost.
Give them the last five minutes of your class. They’ll love you for it!
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