Checking in with the stars

Many perks sit by your side while you work with one of the luxury hotels. Meeting celebrities hailing from various fields is one of them. Thankfully, my mind is etched with scores of such memories, birthed at the front desk more than a decade ago.

Joy erupted the moment my colleagues and I would learn about their arrival – usually in meetings, where our manager would discuss plans for their stay, fixing duties and responsibilities and even certain dos and don’ts. Often, we would swap our shifts or spend extra hours to personally welcome a certain famous person, in most cases, a singer, actor or cricketer. At times, their reservation would also get cancelled or postponed at the last moment.

Most surprising was when some of them exceeded our expectations right with their arrival. Singer Kailash Kher’s check-in scene is one of them; he commenced singing his very popular Teri Deewani as I praised his melodious voice, despite seeming tired. It was a treat for everyone around, including a large group from Japan, which was waiting for the check-in. Once, actor Pankaj Kapoor arrived in the middle of the night with his family, including his son Shahid Kapoor. They behaved so ordinary. “We are vegetarians, and I hope your chefs will make dosa and idli for breakfast,” the senior Kapoor said, smiling. As I guided them to their room, taking the lift, they opened up about their tiring air journey.

There were also those with whom I was very candid. “I was flying abroad for my higher studies when I saw your Rang De Basanti movie. Scenes of my hometown Amritsar watered my eyes,” I told Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, the film’s director. “I never thought that one day I would meet you personally, and I am also into writing,” I said to author Ruskin Bond, whose stories dominated our school syllabus. “You were the chief guest at our school’s founder’s day, and I met you for a brief moment while representing the photography exhibition,” I told former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh.

Unpleasant scenes also cropped up, like when actress Kareena Kapoor checked in while a large wedding group was also checking in. They surrounded her like honeybees, but the security team instantly played its role. One day as Punjabi singer Gurdas Mann and his wife turned up without any prior reservation, the two South Indian staff members failed to recognise them, but thankfully one of them rang the room reservations where I was working that afternoon.

“There’s a guest called Gurdas Mann, who wants to book a suite. We can’t take a walk-in, right?” “Is it the singer Gurdas Mann?” I asked curiously. “I don’t know about that,” he conveyed. To be sure, I looked out of the little glass window and ended up laying my eyes on the famous couple. I rushed out, apologised for the wait and took them straight to the suite, where I completed the check-in formalities. I still remember I was a bit sad that day, but their arrival had cheered me up, but I also felt embarrassed that our staff had failed to recognise them, and that, in Amritsar. But they did enjoy their stay with us and left with beautiful remarks. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.