Day Two
Sidharth Narula is a Business Management Student in his 3rd semester at the college, hailing from India. Sidharth is also a member of the College of New Caledonia Education Council.
Damon: Hey Sid, could you introduce yourself?
Sid: Hi, my name is Sidharth Narula. I’ve been in Canada for about a year and a half. I’m pursuing a diploma in Business Management, and I’m also a line cook at Original Joe’s.
Damon: So, what’s your story? How did you get to CNC?
Sid: I got offer letters from some colleges, but I figured that I wouldn’t be a good fit there so I waited. Afterwards, I applied for North Island College and the College of New Caledonia. I received an acceptance letter from North Island College, but my consultant urged me to wait for a week. I said, sure why not? Luckily CNC sent me a letter and I knew I could come and live in Prince George, next to my sisters’ city.
Damon: How was it getting here?
Sid: I landed in Canada on the 28th of April, 2018. I was so shy man, I couldn’t talk to anyone.
Damon: Anyone?
Sid: Anyone. When I came to Prince George on May 2nd, I had an interview with Denny’s who wanted me to work there. All I could say was ‘hi’ and ‘thank you’. I couldn’t understand the accent, and I was so shy so I couldn’t answer. I think at most I said ‘hi how are you?’ That’s it.
Damon: That’s rough.
Sid: (Laughs) Yeah, and in my first semester, I couldn’t talk to anyone. I had no friends, so in the second semester, I took an oath to make friends and be friendly. I wanted to put the shyness to the side, improve my life and my self-confidence. I built my ‘friendly habit’ after that.
Damon: Well, it’s definitely worked!
Sid: Yeah, and that’s how I got started with volunteering.
Damon: Yeah, you started with the international department, right?
Sid: I went to International Education to get some payment plans settled, and a few days later I got a call from Miley Yang. At that time, I was so shy and not confident at all. Miley said that I should consider being an MC at that year’s Diwali, but I had never even been on stage before. It was crazy. She said ‘No you’ll be fine’. I was one of the three considerations, alongside RD Sharma and Jashanpreet Kaur.
Damon: You were one of the options for MC? That would have changed a lot of things.
Sid: Yeah, that would have. It ended up being Jashandeep and RD after a coin toss.
Damon: Is there any advice that you would be willing to give students coming to CNC next semester?
Sid: First thing, we should learn to struggle. Second thing, CNC offers so many opportunities. It depends on the individual whether he or she will grab them or not. I grabbed. So, I’m one of the lucky students who get to be highlighted now. So, grab every opportunity.
Damon: Everybody has to learn to struggle?
Sid: Yeah, everybody has to struggle. You have to accept some new things, concepts. There are a lot of things different from my country, so we need to learn new things. Instead of saying no and rejecting things we do not know, we should try. Then at least we will know if it is good or not.
Damon: What are you planning to do, after you’re done school?
Sid: I want to open up my own business and make a life here. My interest is in cars, beginning as a car salesman. I hope to eventually get to the point where I can manufacture cars.
