The Session

In 2026, I was invited to speak at the Department of Tourism & Hotel Management at Alagappa University, Karaikudi, as part of their new student orientation.

The audience: over 200 students from the BSc Catering Services and MBA Tourism programmes — people at the very start of their hospitality careers, on the day they officially entered the industry.

The talk ran for 90 minutes: a 35-minute address, followed by a live Q&A and a group exercise built around a real service scenario.

The title was: “This Industry Will Show You Who You Are.”

What I Told Them

The talk was built around three moments that every hospitality professional will face — and that no classroom fully prepares you for.

Moment 1: The Guest Who Tests You

A guest, mid-rush, who is visibly frustrated before you’ve said a word. The instinct is to justify — to explain the kitchen, the portion size, the busy shift. The right response is five words: “I understand. Let me fix this.” Because the guest is not angry about the food. They want to feel seen. Listen first. Fix second.

Moment 2: The Day You Fail

Not a small mistake — a real one. The instinct after is to disappear: go quiet, go small, wait for the shift to end. That is where careers quietly start to end. The professionals who last are not the ones who don’t fail. They are the ones who own it immediately, fix it, and then write it down. Every mistake contains a lesson about a system that wasn’t built, a communication that didn’t happen, a decision made too fast. Capture it.

Moment 3: The Quiet Moment When It Clicks

After a hard shift, the last guest gone, you realise — without anyone telling you — that you handled something today. A regular sits in your section on purpose. A colleague asks how you do something and you realise you have an answer. Most people miss this moment. It is the moment worth paying attention to.

The Close

The talk ended on one idea: by the end of year one, every person in that room will have split into one of two groups.

Group one: doing the shift, going home, waiting to be taught.

Group two: watching, asking why, writing things down, looking for systems that don’t exist yet — and building them.

The difference is not talent. It is a decision made every single day.

Recognition

The Department of Tourism & Hotel Management responded after the session:

“Thank you, Mr. Pramodh Kuppan, for inspiring our students with your valuable industry insights and real-world experiences. Sessions like these empower our future hospitality professionals to learn, grow, and lead. We look forward to more such collaborations.”

What This Means for TheCover

Teaching, for me, is inseparable from what TheCover is trying to build. What I can share with a room of 200 students in a single session should be accessible to every hospitality professional in India — wherever they are, whatever stage they are at.

The longer vision: a community and resource centre where people in this industry learn from each other’s real experience. Not textbooks. Not theory. The things that only come from actually being on the floor.