As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am a part of the Senior Reading Raccoons on Facebook and that is the forum where many new authors take birth. They showcase their work to other fellow members and ask for their frank opinions and reviews. On this forum, I met Shruti Johri, who recently released her book, Her Master Key. It was not available on Kindle earlier and as soon as it was available, she informed me about the same and I promptly bought it and started reading it on my Kindle.
I am a lover of short stories. I love prim and to-the point language. I love vivid descriptions and all these points were wonderfully presented in the book. The book has just 8 stories and they present the author's life during her early days in the hospitality industry. I hadn't really read any book about the hospitality industry and I was pleasantly surprised to read "behind-the-scenes' tidbits in the lives of people working there. It is not always hunky dory and behind that smile (which seems plastic and superficial to us) lies a treasure of hidden and suppressed emotions in personal life.
Gauri, the protagonist narrates her experiences in form of different stories.
I was blown away by the story of a bartender who gets emotionally attached to an artist guest. He is just a muse and an inspiration for the famous and rich artist, but he slowly gets sucked into her simplicity and passion. Unaware of his affection towards her, she just leaves one fine day as she was supposed to, to never come back and with her departure, his life loses all the charm and the longing for any material thing. He just waits for her to come back some time and refuses all the promotions and other perks. Only at the end he finds out that she is no more and that she saw him in every piece of art she made. She carved a mark from his past onto all the pieces of art that she made after leaving the hotel. And that shows how pure and real was the bond between them. It was something like an unrequited love which shattered him even more.
Then there is a story of the 'Babus' (Bureaucrats) and their tantrums and how the staff keeps up to their whims and fancies by managing the show with a smile on their face. The story of the Sheikh who exploited his wives sexually gave me jitters and I thanked God for being able to live a life with dignity and a right to say no when I want to. Then she also writes about 2 men who had a different face (a negative image) in a mob and which whom she had not so pleasant experiences. But when the protagonist needed help, they came to her rescue without thinking twice. This story leaves us all thinking, 'Is the face of the mob different than what an individual really is'?
When Gauri is heavily pregnant, she sets off to rescue the CDs accidentally thrown by a customer and how she gets help from unexpected people is also a nice story. Human beings are really complicated. They get help where least expected and they help when it seems there is no end to the tunnel. Finally Gauri gives up her job owing to a much more responsibility of a mother. She loses her own mother shortly before that and the turmoil of her emotions and the emptiness moves any daughter to tears.
In short, I liked the book. I wish it had more stories. The language is very simple, the back-end processes are elaborately discussed and it left me in awe. What all goes into the rooms and the reception and everything else in the hotel look so spick and span. We take the people working in hospitality industry so much for granted. There are lot of efforts, no doubt and I really appreciate their commitment and hard work to make our stay pleasant and enjoyable.
Thanks Shruti for this wonderful treat and I wish you all the best for your future endeavors.
I am a lover of short stories. I love prim and to-the point language. I love vivid descriptions and all these points were wonderfully presented in the book. The book has just 8 stories and they present the author's life during her early days in the hospitality industry. I hadn't really read any book about the hospitality industry and I was pleasantly surprised to read "behind-the-scenes' tidbits in the lives of people working there. It is not always hunky dory and behind that smile (which seems plastic and superficial to us) lies a treasure of hidden and suppressed emotions in personal life.
Gauri, the protagonist narrates her experiences in form of different stories.
I was blown away by the story of a bartender who gets emotionally attached to an artist guest. He is just a muse and an inspiration for the famous and rich artist, but he slowly gets sucked into her simplicity and passion. Unaware of his affection towards her, she just leaves one fine day as she was supposed to, to never come back and with her departure, his life loses all the charm and the longing for any material thing. He just waits for her to come back some time and refuses all the promotions and other perks. Only at the end he finds out that she is no more and that she saw him in every piece of art she made. She carved a mark from his past onto all the pieces of art that she made after leaving the hotel. And that shows how pure and real was the bond between them. It was something like an unrequited love which shattered him even more.
Then there is a story of the 'Babus' (Bureaucrats) and their tantrums and how the staff keeps up to their whims and fancies by managing the show with a smile on their face. The story of the Sheikh who exploited his wives sexually gave me jitters and I thanked God for being able to live a life with dignity and a right to say no when I want to. Then she also writes about 2 men who had a different face (a negative image) in a mob and which whom she had not so pleasant experiences. But when the protagonist needed help, they came to her rescue without thinking twice. This story leaves us all thinking, 'Is the face of the mob different than what an individual really is'?
When Gauri is heavily pregnant, she sets off to rescue the CDs accidentally thrown by a customer and how she gets help from unexpected people is also a nice story. Human beings are really complicated. They get help where least expected and they help when it seems there is no end to the tunnel. Finally Gauri gives up her job owing to a much more responsibility of a mother. She loses her own mother shortly before that and the turmoil of her emotions and the emptiness moves any daughter to tears.
In short, I liked the book. I wish it had more stories. The language is very simple, the back-end processes are elaborately discussed and it left me in awe. What all goes into the rooms and the reception and everything else in the hotel look so spick and span. We take the people working in hospitality industry so much for granted. There are lot of efforts, no doubt and I really appreciate their commitment and hard work to make our stay pleasant and enjoyable.
Thanks Shruti for this wonderful treat and I wish you all the best for your future endeavors.
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