While growing up, Asharam Rawat had three interests—maths, kabaddi and cricket. Now at 25, Asharam, who works as a bell desk attendant at the Hyatt Regency in Lucknow, still pursues the three. He occasionally picks up a maths textbook, gently dusts it off and solves a couple of problems. That is his stress-buster. Asharam is a mathematics graduate from Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Avadh University at Faizabad (now Ayodhya). His ambition was to join the army and he cleared the National Defence Academy’s preliminary examination twice. “But there were financial constraints in the family and I decided to stop trying,” he says.
Asharam is the second of four brothers and two sisters. Two of the brothers help his father with the family’s farmland in Barabanki district, around 70km from Lucknow. The yearly income from the maize, wheat, mustard and rice grown on the land, covering an area of less than two acres, barely sufficed to make ends meet for the family. Now, however, with one brother driving a taxi and Asharam in the hotel industry, they are better off.
His first job was in 2017, as a room attendant at another Lucknow hotel. There, he underwent a five-day-long training. Yet, he yearned to interact more with guests and be more visible at the front desk. Thus, three years ago he jumped at the opportunity to shift to the Hyatt Regency—shortly after it opened. His dedication, curiosity and pleasantness were noticed by his bosses, and he was soon given additional charge of the concierge and travel desk as well.
“My father had drilled into me that work is work,” he says. “It is neither small nor big.” So, when the occasional guest is miffed, Asharam does not take offence; he puts it down to a bad day. His greatest joy and pride come from repeat guests asking for him by name.
Some months ago, Amitabh Bachchan was in Lucknow for a shoot. Asharam was his designated attendant. “He is such a big man, but so humble,” he says. “He put his arm around me and said, ‘Good job, beta (son)’.” And though no selfies were possible because of the hotel’s security norms, that memory makes Asharam smile every single time.
Most guests, Asharam says, are polite. Foreigners are more profusely thankful for every little thing. “I like interacting with them because I can learn new English words. I love to ask questions—but without being intrusive,” he says. He also reads up on all that is happening around the city, and has numerous sight-seeing and shopping tips to offer, making him especially popular with first-time visitors to the city.
Asharam’s day starts at 6am with some jogging. He stays just 200m from the hotel, and thus walks to work. He reports to the general manager at 8am for his shift. The first tea break is at 10am. Lunch hours can sometimes be erratic. By 5pm, his shift ends.
On the two weekly offs that he gets, he goes to his village with his wife Prema Devi and two children—a five-year-old son and a nine-month-old daughter. “The glamour of the hotel is one thing, but it is a different kind of pleasure at the village,” he says. A cricket match is usually a must. Asharam is a bowler, and he loves throwing jerkers which, he says, his childhood friends are defenceless against.
Though he did not get the government job he had initially dreamt of, Asharam has no regrets. There is just a searing ambition to grow. His goal is to become a concierge manager someday. “I am not scared of how long that will take. I am willing to put in all the work required,” he says.
Some days can be monotonous at work, with only a few guests in the hotel. His seniors then order some food and the whole team settles down for a leisurely lunch. The staff is also permitted access to the gaming zone.
His only wish is that his children should never have to face the life of want that he has. “I was a very serious child as I knew the family’s circumstances were not good,” he says. “I will never put my children through that.”
If he has it his way, he would want both his children to become doctors. “The aim is to serve in the best way that one can,” he says. “The manner does not matter.”