Gazing for long at the pamphlet of the Culinary Competition that David received from his friend who had pleaded with him to participate and make the most of it. David was still contemplating whether to participate or let go of the competition, even after a week of deliberation.

David's dream is to be a successful and internationally acclaimed Chef. He was pursuing his studies in a leading school that had the reputation of churning out perfect chefs out of the students.

With his hopes soaring high he seemed to be happy with how things were going for him. This news of the competition was an unexpected turn of events.

He never doubted himself. But somehow he hesitated to take part in this event and wondered whether he should really give his name.

But then, thinking again and again about it, he decided to give it a go, opened the Website with the URL specified in the pamphlet and submitted his details. Within minutes he finished entering his details and pressed the enter key. 

Heaving a sigh of relief, he left the whole thing to fate and focused on his current workload.

After an hour or so he received an email, which gave him a specific number and an admission card to the competition. He was supposed to go to an address and receive the details from the office for the competition.

Now that he was accepted into the competition, he felt great and was looking forward to the competition. Mentally he started getting himself prepared for it, by choosing the dishes he could cook, the ingredients he would need, what things needed to be prepared prior or can be done from scratch, so on and so forth. 

Setting his eyesight on the goal, he hoped he would be at least one of the contenders of the competition if he can't win the three declared prizes. His heart wanted himself to be one of the winners. Daily keeping himself abridged about various dishes and things to go with it, reading a lot of articles and watching YouTube channels he kept himself on his toes. Days rolled out and the day of the competition arrived.

He went to the venue, with his heart racing inside lots of expectations brimming inside, he hoped this event would make some difference in his life. 

The morning, he went and registered himself and after the registration process he went with the tag around his neck, with loads of excitement he walked into the venue. 

While waiting in the queue for his turn, his thoughts ran wild and he kept thinking - “Okay, I have come so far so I would be able to do a lot of things.”

A lady in business attire came and gave everyone a few papers. They were printouts with some quizzes, memory games, some fun facts, some geographical coordinates, etc.

He kept looking at it and then the lady said, ”Please wait some time, you will be instructed with the time duration and explain as to what you are supposed to do.”

After what seemed like an echelon, a man in a suit came forward and told them the rules of the game and then he said, “Each one of you will have to go through a big maze, which is laid out for you and the mace is divided into various levels, you have to pass through each level and come to the exit.”

He continued, “So the person who finishes the maze and:solves the levels, comes out of it will be the winner and he would be subjugated to a lot of Culinary Activities at the end of the maze. You will be given a few tasks, such as, you would have to prepare some delicacies decided by the judges and then you would have to serve them consecutively.

It is estimated that the maze would take about four to five hours for each person to successfully finish every level and come out of it. But it does not mandate to finish the maze in the said timeline, you can take your own time, the most foremost important thing is you have to finish the maze.”

David on hearing this wondered how he would successfully come out of the maze. He has never done anything like that before and it was a delirious task for him. He was so bewildered he wondered, why did he get into it. 

Coming so far he resigned to his faith and thought to give his best. While he was debating inside his mind, he looked around and saw that a lot of people who were there were bewildered by this maze and they were whispering amongst themselves. 

David put up his hand and asked, “What would happen if someone is stuck in the maze?”

The emcee replied- “The maze is quite simple and though they don't have to worry about somebody getting stuck inside the maze and not able to come out, as they will monitor and help the person come out of it.”

Saying that he closed the question and answer session and asked each one of the contestants to move ahead towards the maze. 

David with a heavy heart started walking forward and came upon his first task in his hand. He saw a piece of paper stuck to the maze wall, he picked it up, read through it then got about doing it.

He had to solve a word puzzle to open a door like structure, with the help of the text in that paper. It took some time for him to understand the text, find the missing words, unscramble the words, join them and solve the puzzle. Once he successfully opened the door structure, he knew he could do any task thrown at him. He gained confidence and looked forward to the whole maze and it's puzzles. 

Slowly, slowly, he got to know the maze,started enjoying the game and solving one task after another. His solving skills gave him a little bit of confidence and joy in his step, he looked forward to the next task and kept moving into the maze further and further, closer to the exit.

He had finished about seven tasks and thought about how many more to go. He was not allowed to have any kind of gadgets that let him know how much time has lapsed so he was not sure how much time has passed. He got worried and started looking at the task and getting it done quicker. He kept moving, left, right and then again left and before he knew he was at the exit.

He quickly ran along the instructions that were placed on the way, went to the counter and submitted those tasks, they acknowledged and asked him to wait in the hall for some time.

A lady came and announced that it was almost five hours from the time they had started and the quickest time that one person had taken to finish, who was none other than David. David was appreciated for his quick thinking and his logical way of solving things.  The contestants were monitored throughout their tasks, without their knowledge.

They had been given a camera and hearing device to monitor each contestant. So,they could hear how David spoke to himself and how he applied his learnings to successfully exit the maze.

David was thrilled hearing it, started jumping, and hugged the person next to him, and cried in joy. 

Now for the first time, wholeheartedly looked ahead for the culinary tasks, and waited patiently for the doors of the competition to open.

David went in and faced the judges with a smile on his face. He was asked to make a three course meal - one entree, one main course and a dessert. 

The dessert was something new to him, he hadn't ever eaten or cooked it. So, he wasn't sure how he would perform but somehow the new found confidence gave him courage. He went about preparing the dishes. He had to finish each dish, serve and proceed to the next dish. 

The desert was something David had to Google and find out how to prepare the dish and learn it quickly from YouTube videos. He learnt the trick and got about doing it.

The French dessert was a little laborious task, needed a lot of attention and precession to prepare. The task on hand kept him very busy and kept running up and down, whipping up the ingredients for it, mixing them in the right proportion, measuring, putting them together, kneading them together and finally set the dessert in the oven. 

While he waited, he kept his fingers crossed, hoping things go his way and things go in his favour with the dish turning out perfect. He served it to the judges and waited with bated breath about the results. David kept his fingers crossed and hoped he would be selected. At least he would come one among the three winners. To his surprise he was the third winner of the competition. 

Though it did not bring him much celebrity status, it gave him an experience of immediate glory and he was happy with it and walked away with his prizes. He carried with him a lot of experiences, confidence, knowledge, and he could take on the world with a new found gait.