Book review: Hotel Adventures with the Stars by L. Aruna Dhir

Just finished reading my friend L. Aruna Dhir`s sparkling memoir-of-sorts, HOTEL ADVENTURES WITH THE STARS, Vishwakarma Publications.

Dhir has had a long and memorable career, first as a Media Relations officer in the Australian High Commission, then as a hotel PR strategist at some of Delhi`s top-rated hotels, a career which put her straight in the path of a constellation of shining stars, the likes of Dimple Kapadia, Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Ismail Merchant, Madhuri Dixit, Mira Nair, Shabana Azmi, and many more.

In a lateral jump, she was meeting stars of other stripes, too, people like the inimitable Ruskin Bond, Khushwant Singh, Sonal Mansingh, Kapil Dev, Tina Ambani, Maneka Gandhi, Kiran Bedi, Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan…. and yes, many more.

What stands out is Dhir`s warmth and kindness of heart; rarely if ever does she have a disparaging word to say about the celebs she has met.

Despitre the clunky title and a near total absence of blue pencil work, it`s a fun read, this book.