The Superstar

31

"Good morning Sir. How may I help you today?"

...

"Thank you. Hope you have a pleasant stay. I will be here for your assistance or you can call the front desk at 1011." Pari said with a smile at the visitor.

A year and a half later after her graduation, she was working at The Leela, a five star hotel with luxurious amenities for leisure and business travellers. She worked as the guest service associate of this hotel and so far, she enjoyed the job. She loved the grandness of the hotel with a touch of opulence and the perks that came with working here.

One day, she dreamt that she would be able to book a stay at such expensive places and enjoy.

After college, Pari felt the need to come out of her shell and talk more to people, even if it is fake. Because that's what she needed to do for this job. Today, she talks to almost every staff member in the hotel and initiates a conversation with anyone new in the team. The old her would never be bothered about making conversation. The present her doesn't enjoy it either but she knows to stay here at the job, especially as a representative of the hotel, she needs communication skills not just with the guests but also the staff working here.
However, she avoid indulgence in gossips or going out with any of them. Her sweet nature with them is just for the hours she works there. She is very clear that she doesn't want to make real friends with anyone.

A meeting was called by the Manager to brief the team about something important. She just hoped it doesn't take too long as she was meeting Ashley and Ashish today.

The Manager briefed them about a movie cast coming to their hotel in a week. The crew and the actors will be staying there till their schedule is wrapped. The cast will be given a different section to stay and relax at the hotel and the team in the room would be at their service. Everyone in the room was excited about actors coming to their hotel. The wealthy businessmen always visited the hotel but their hotel had not served any actors before.

As the meeting was done, she rushed to meet Ashley and Ashish who were waiting for her at the near by Shiv Om restaurant. It was a small budget friendly place and had the best Pav Bhaji ever. More than her excitement to meet her friends, she was excited for the Pav Bhaji.

Ashish was working as an accountant at a steel manufacturing company whereas Ashley was an aspiring model. She had recently walked for a fashion show in Mumbai and Jaipur. They chir chatted about their family and office gossip.

Pari was frustated with her family as every day it was the same topic of Priya's marriage. The guys who came for Priya asked Pari's hand for marriage seeing her beauty. This had caused more problems with her and her aunt's relation. Her aunt used to ask her to hide in the room whenever there was a family coming to see Priya. But thankfully, Priya was sane and didn't hold any grudges against Pari.
Once Priya's marriage would be fixed, they would also start seeing boys for Pari. But Pari hated the idea of settling down right now. She wanted to enjoy more and in her head, marriage would only confine her to four walls.

Both Ashley and Ashish explained her that if she marries a nice boy, he would never confine her and may actually open new horizon and they both would explore together.

As Pari went home, it was Kabeer who opened the door. Kabeer had become a teenager who was going through his tantrum phase, as Pari would call it. He liked being alone, talked less at home, spent more time in the mirror. Whenever Kabeer would take more than 5 minutes infront of the mirror, styling his hair, Pari would tease him.

"Who are you doing all this for? Who is even getting impressed with this face of yours?" Pari would say this and push him from the mirror and he would push her back.