To pass the time, the former wharf-operations supervisor pushed paper for his father, who ran a cleaning business. But the Italian food-lover had a grand plan. He wanted to be his own boss.
Mr Danaraj said: 'I hope to run my own little place. To do that, I have to know the ins and outs of the food-and-beverage (F&B) business.'
So Mr Danaraj - who did not even know how to hold a knife properly when he first started out - enrolled himself in the At- Sunrice GlobalChef Academy in 2007.
He graduated with a Workforce Skills Qualification (WSQ) diploma in culinary arts last December, and has been working as a cook at European-Asian restaurant One Rochester since January.
Over 200 graduates from WSQ courses related to the tourism and F&B sectors attended an inaugural graduation ceremony last night.
About 30,000 Singaporeans have gone through such WSQ training programmes since 2006.
Guest of honour Lim Hng Kiang, the Minister for Trade and Industry, said that the 'longer- term prospects' for Singapore's tourism sector 'remain bright'.
He added that 'WSQ programmes provide workers an advantage when they seek employment in a tight labour market'.
But hard work is still required to excel, even when one is armed with the diploma, as Mr Danaraj found out at his new job.
'This is the path I chose, so I have to learn how to deal with the pace,' he said.
