In a world where fame comes on quickly, Tarun Gupta was not expecting the sudden burst of popularity he got in May of this year.
Gupta’s son posted a photo of him in his Collin College culinary arts uniform to a Reddit forum with a caption reading, “After driving an Uber for over 15 hours a day for a few years, my dad finally decided to realize his dream of starting a restaurant. Here’s him getting a culinary degree.” The post caught fire, with thousands voting up the photo until it was a Top 25 trending post on Reddit. It was shared by Diply and other social media aggregators with the headline “32 Fascinating Pics with Equally Fascinating Backstories.”
“He never asked me before doing it,” Gupta said. “He was traveling with his mom and texted me, ‘Hey, I just posted this article.’ I don’t know what was going on in his head.”
A former textiles and furniture importer with a bachelor’s degree in business who took the ride-sharing job to pay the bills, Gupta said he enjoyed the temporary fame, but felt like people were getting the wrong idea from the post. He is just starting his current academic career, having taken one culinary class with plans to finish another in August.
“If I was closer to finishing my degree, I’d be much more excited,” he said.
He said that coming back to school is different than he expected and a little tougher as well, but that he has enjoyed the classes so far and is thinking about changing from a certificate program to a degree in the culinary arts.
Not one to take the hard work necessary for granted, he won’t say that he will definitely own his own restaurant one day. What he says is that he has dreams and he is working toward them.
That dream is of a small restaurant with Indian Fusion food, a twist on the food he saw being cooked and served as a child in New Delhi. He said the classes are his way of being exposed to other cooking styles and food preparation.
“Everything is new,” he said.
Gupta said that spending so much time ferrying passengers with Uber gave him a new perspective on business and culture in America. He said that the discussions led him to the conclusion that he should try to do something he loves.
“I thought, ‘Forget the corporate world. I enjoy serving people. I enjoy cooking. Maybe I should just study the culinary arts,’” he said. “That was my motivation.”
Underneath that motivation was another. Gupta said he wants to be a good example for his children. Judging from the social media response to his son’s post, a lot of people believe that he is.