Institute of Hotel Management, Catering & Nutrition, Pusa M.Sc Review By Praveen Kunwar

When one talks about Hotel Management, IHM PUSA is an Institute that ranks at the top. It takes the top 100 students of the general category and now you can imagine the kind of quality in terms of students that this Institute possesses. The campus is located in a serene locality as at one end there was Ridge Forest cover and IARI on the other. It's hard to find a location like this in Delhi. Many faculties resided at the campus and on and off classes we had their support. For hostellers like us, the day scholars studying here organized a farewell fest called Jamboree, and I am glad that it happened before lockdown; otherwise, I would have missed out on a fest like never seen before. One undeniable fact about PUSA is that no Hotel Management College provides exposure as PUSA provides to its students. The Ministry of Tourism is close to the College campus and students of our College have organized many of their functions like Aahar, Paryatan Parv, NTA (National Tourism Awards), and Bharat Parv, etc.

We start with practicals like many Hotel Management Colleges do. Our course started at the BTK (Basic Training Kitchen), and ended at the ATK (Advanced Training Kitchen). Apart from these two kitchens, we used to have our classes at RCK (Regional Cuisine Kitchen), and QFK (Quantity Food Kitchen). Once we pass through these kitchens, our training happens at the restaurant on campus called 'The Scholar.' So, training for two years was so ultra-careful that the room for mistakes was less than marginal. If that wasn't all, students of our batch were made to represent not our College but our country at various international food events that happen in Delhi.

Some of the faculty at the Institute have received Hall of Fame. None other than India's best chef 'Sanjeev Kapoor' is an alumnus of this College. Some politics do exist among the teachers as they have formed a nexus, because some faculties used to support the hostellers more, while some used to support the day scholars. So along with all the attributes of hotel management, we were also taught some politics by our exemplary faculties. All in all, the entire faculty of the Institute was highly experienced, and we were given some of the best lessons from them. UG in the same domain helped a lot as the Institute is not meant for the ones who are entirely raw.

QSRs and Brand chains hire M.Sc students from here at a worthy package. Due to a lockdown, we had to join six months later, but students at PUSA were more than ready to take on any challenge. ITC group, Taj Group and Oberoi Hotels hired our entire batch with a package of around 6-8 lakhs. Even in tough times when the HORECA industry as a whole was suffering, we were not discarded from our jobs because of the degrees we had. If it wasn't for this Institute, we would have been thriving today for jobs.

Here also there are two hostels, and finally, for the second time, I got lucky as one double bed room was available and I took the seat immediately. There are single and triple bed rooms also available as hostellers enjoy a lot of advantages over day scholars. Just close to 'The Residence' was a basketball court and we could play there for as long as wanted. There was a sports room in the building that had many indoor sporting facilities including a pool table. The girl's hostel was quite small though, and they have to be very lucky to get a seat there because those who get it don't leave it until they finish the course.

The campus is quite big, if not the biggest. The building had almost everything as the second floor was dedicated to confectionery and bakery. One floor was dedicated to all the kitchens required for our course and one floor for the academics. The auditorium and library were in the same building which was rarely used. Guest rooms are on the 5th floor as they are in any hotel management College. For hostellers, there was laundry service available at the campus. Now coming to the sporting facilities of the campus there was a tennis court, and a few badminton courts. Volleyball courts were in numbers as this is the most serious sport played at the campus. Other than that there was an equipped gymnasium which was used by some students who were interested in flaunting their muscles.

I missed an eventful life at UG, but all the amends were made at PUSA as from freshers to farewell; we celebrated them all at the campus. North Indian students used to cook 'Onam Sadya' during Onam for our South Indian friends while the South Indian students used to cook 'Makke Ki Roti' for North Indian students. I have never seen a place like this before in my life. Well, I have talked about events, so how can I forget the biggest event of the campus 'ABHYUDAYA' where we were distracted from our studies for a bit and were asked to show all the other skills that we had.