Vikas Khanna conferred alumnus award

Follow your dreams with hope, with optimism, with determination, with unflinching passion and fire in your hearts, said ITC Limited Human Resource Senior Vice President Anand Nayak addressing the students of Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration on their 26th annual day celebrations at Fortune Inn Valley View here on Friday.
 

“With India set to become one of the largest economies in the world in the next 30 years, look at the opportunities that will open up for the country. You must decide to live your dreams, however, outrageous these might seem to be,” he stressed.

“Each of us are unique. Each of us have our own special strengths. Each one of us have special talent. We do not need to compare ourselves with others. We don’t need to envy others who may be ahead of us in class. We need to feel good about ourselves. We need to convince ourselves that we are doing our best to live life to the full, to stretch beyond our limits, to strive fore excellence in whatever we do,” he said.

Celebrity chef Vikas Khanna grew emotional as he related his own rags to riches story. The sixth batch student of WGSHA, today he is a chef known world over.

He gave a vivid picture of how he overcame a congenital problem first, then poverty and also how he struggled through various adversities to get to where he is now. About his admission to WGSHA he said, “I was not even selected to join WGSHA because I could not speak English. But I met the then principal shortly after I had failed to qualify and gave him my side of the story. He promptly gave me the admission saying, ‘you speak from the heart’. That is how I came to Manipal. The rest is history,” he said.

Chancellor Dr Ramdas M Pai in his presidential address congratulated WGSHA for its commendable performance. Certificate of merit and cash awards were also given to the best outgoing students.
 
Vikas was given the most distinguished alumnus both by Manipal University and ITC Limited. Varun Cyrus Vesuvala was awarded Rs 20,000 for his over all academic merit through the four years of BHM. He was the first rank holder on the basis of Cumulative Grade over 4 years.

 He also got prizes for the overall excellence in F&B service subjects had the highest marks in Financial Management.

Varun was also the recipient of the gold medal awarded by the Manipal University.Rynelle Melissa Fernandes was awarded a trophy for being second rank holder.

She had the highest marks in F & B Management and BusinessLaw. Rynelle was also the recipient of the ITC cash award of Rs.30,000, as the overall Best Graduating Student of the course based on her all round performance.

Vikas instituted the “Chef Vikas Khanna” Award for the Best All Round Graduating Student and the Award this year went to Sanaa Absar.