The Soccer Mom and the Superstar

The Soccer Mom and the Superstar

(Day 1, A high-rise in Bandra, Mumbai)



"Please remember, Sir only has ten minutes between meetings to talk to you." 



The three ladies nodded their heads, as they tried to keep up with the harried PA.



"Please talk to the point.  At eight minutes, I will return and remind Sir that he has another meeting in two minutes.  Immediately begin to say your goodbyes.



Almost running now to keep up with the PA, the trio could barely keep track of where they were in the vast building. 



Shailajah Shervington held the basket in her arms.  She had been almost as careful of it as she had been of her own babies. 



Finally, the PA ushered them into a room. One wall was glass, and beyond the glass a glorious view of the Arabian sea.  The PA was still giving his instructions but Shailajah ignored him for the view.  She put the basket on a coffee table and moved towards the glass wall. 



Shailajah focused on the sea and willed herself to calm down.  The door opened and in walked Vijay Shastry. His reflection in the glass didn't look like a superstar.  He looked like a real man, dressed casually in his trademark jeans and a white V-necked T-shirt.  If she had met him on the streets of Mumbai, she would have written him off as just another man.



"Sir, may I introduce Ms. Sarah Goodman?  She is the owner of the online fan site, Vijay's World.”  Shailajah stayed where she was as the PA introduced Sarah to Vijay Shastry. 



"Nice to meet you, Ms. Goodman." Charisma at full wattage, Vijay Shastry, shook Sarah's hand. 



She heard Sarah's gentle, "It's an honor to meet you, sir."



"And this is Ms. Pooja Ghatghe, Sir. She is one of the founding members of Vijay's World."  Shailajah started to brace herself for her own introduction.  She wiped her hands on her skirt just to make sure her hands were not sweaty. 



“Ms. Ghatghe.”

 

The PA either forgot about her or thought her of no consequence because he didn't introduce Shailajah.



"Please have a seat, ladies."



Shailajah continued standing, while Vijay Shastry and her fellow compatriots sat down.



"Thank you, sir." Sarah was saying, "We would like to present you with a basket .…”  At that Shailajah turned from the view of the sea and moved towards the basket.  She almost  tripped when she realized that now every eye in the room was on her.  Walking slowly and deliberately, she picked up the basket, and handed it to Sarah. 



"And your friend is.…?."  From the tone in Vijay Shastry’s  voice, she knew his PA would have some explaining to do when they were alone. 



Where that certainty came from, Shailajah had no idea.  This was the first time she had met him. Since Shailajah had watched her first movie starring Vijay Shastry, she had wanted to meet him.  But she had never thought that she actually would. 



Sarah, Pooja and Urvashi Pradhan  were to have been the ones to meet him. They had been organizing this meeting for more than a year.  Instead, Urvashi had had to rush to her father's death bed, and Shailajah had been asked to take her place. 



"Sir, this is Ms. Shailajah Shervington.  She is one of the ladies that translate for Vijay's World."  Sarah Goodman introduced her to their host.



Vijay Shastry stood up, and came to a stop directly before her.  He put out his hand and said, “Ms. Shervington.”



Shailajah reluctantly shook hands with him.  "Sir"  was all that came out of her mouth as her eyes met his. 



"Did you like the view, Ms. Shervington?" 



He had noticed her looking at the sea?  Mortified, Shailajah tore her eyes from his. “Oh, yes!"   



Suddenly, very aware that Vijay Shastry was still holding her hand, Shailajah eased it out of his clasp as unobtrusively as possible. He gave her a rueful smile as he redirected his attention back to the other ladies in the room, and the basket in Sarah’s hands. 

"So, what do you have in that basket?" 



"Well, sir, it is a well known fact that you enjoy technological gadgets.” Sarah said. “Our members have pooled together to get you these.  We hope you will enjoy them." 



"I am sure I will." Gracious to his fans as always.  Shailajah had the sudden urge to roll her eyes.  He probably already had these gadgets.  But he played superstar to the hilt. 



"Sir, you have a meeting in two minutes." The PA interrupted as promised.  Keeping to his instructions, the ladies said  their goodbyes. 



Vijay Shastry shook hands with them, wished them the best, and then walked out of the room. 



More than a year's worth of preparation and the show was over in ten minutes.  Quite a lot like a movie, Shailajah thought. 



(Day 1, Later that night, Vijay Shastry's office) 



Vijay Shastry turned his chair around so he could watch the sea. 



Immediately the vision of the lovely Ms. Shervington popped into his head.  She had been more interested in the sea than in the decor or the occupants of the room. 



Ms. Shervington was fascinating. 



Surprised at that thought, he got out of his chair and went to the basket his PA had thoughtfully brought back to his office. 



He couldn't afford to find Ms. Shervington fascinating.  Everyone he had ever been interested in got tired of his lifestyle sooner or later. 



He was who he was. There was no hiding from the fact that his was the most recognized face in the world. 



The kind ladies at Vijay's World had included an information packet with their gifts.  Taking it out, he headed back to his desk and put on his red rimmed reading glasses. 



Making himself comfortable in his chair, he began to read.  They were quite an intrepid bunch but he was bored with their accomplishments almost immediately. 



He flipped through the packet until he found Ms. Shervington's bio. 



He knew he needed to stop this, and he needed to stop it now.  If he didn't do anything, this wouldn’t go any further.  But somehow he just couldn't let it go. 



He typed in Vijay's World into his browser.  While he waited for it to load, he made a note to his PA to have someone from the fan site department report to him about Vijay's World.



Vijay's World was well organized and seemed to be run exclusively by women.  Nothing new there.  He had been a romantic hero for more than twenty years. Most of his fan sites were run by women. 



After a while he got tired of reading about himself, so he typed in Ms. Shervington's name. 



Her posts on the forum went from being open and disarming, to almost secretive.  It amused him to think that he was doing the electronic equivalent of reading the diary of a girl he was interested in. 



In the beginning, all her posts had been about him or his movies.  But about a year later her posts suddenly changed.  Why had they changed?  She almost never talked about him or his movies anymore. 



She did translate something of his, either song lyrics or press meets once in a while.  He clicked on the translation of one of his most harrowing press meets and read it.  He didn't realize how much of it had been in Hindi.  She did a good job of translating his words, even the Urdu ones. 



If he remembered correctly, she was originally from Andhra Pradesh, so she must have had to do some research to get the meanings correct. 



He laughed his way through her translation of Punjabi songs. 



She seemed to have a very level head on her shoulders. Reading through her posts made him feel he knew her.  Although you never really could know someone just through their posts, now could you?



Vijay sent some of her translations to the head of his HR department and asked him to hire her. 



Then he turned off his computer and went to bed. 



(Day 2, A hotel in Mumbai, nine am, next morning)



RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG



"Wha…?” 



“This is Nikhil Savant, Mr. Shastry's PA.”



And just like that, Shailajah was fully awake. 



“Mr. Shastry's PA?” came out in a squeak.



“Yes, Ma‘am.  Mr. Shastry asked me to call and ask you to come by the Yellow Banana offices today.  He would like you to join the translating team.”



“He wants to hire me?” 



“Yes, Ma'am.  What will be a good time for you?”



“Uh…”  She had no idea. 



“How about I send the car at one pm.?”  Savant’s question made the decision for her.



Shailajah slowly put the phone down and concentrated on not screaming.  Did she just have that conversation? Was she still dreaming?  There was only one way to find out.  She pinched herself, hard.  Cliche but effective. That was a real call. 



She had barely been able to sleep. And now she would be seeing him again? At this rate she would never sleep again.  And he wanted to hire her? Why?



What was that all about?  Should she call Sarah?  Pooja?  Nah, they had their own schedules. 



That meant she had to cancel her flight to Hyderabad.



The phone rang again. 



What is this, Victoria Terminus?



Finally awake, and with the possibility of an “important” person calling, she picked up the phone, and as regally as she was capable said, “Hello.”



"Girl!  How’d it go?"



It was only Beth. 



Shailajah sat on the bed once more.



"What's the big sigh about?  Did you get to see him?  How was he?  Was he just as we had thought -”



"Beth, he wants to hire me."



At Beth's whoop, she held the phone away from her ear. 



"Tell me everything.  From the beginning.  Don't leave anything out."



"…And this morning his PA called me and said that he wanted to hire me and would send the car around at one o'clock to pick me up. I don't know.  I can't work for him. I'm sure he has better translators on his pay roll.”



"Yeah, but does he have one that has been living in the US for the past 25 years?" That was Beth, staunch as always.



"Beth, that's not the only problem."



"What problem?"



"You remember 2010."



“What about 2010?”



“Beth, it all came back yesterday.  The feelings.  They all came back”



Beth's "Oh!” was hushed. "Damn"



“Exactly.  I can't go to work for him.  I could barely stay in that room with him.” 



“It's not like you are going to be working with him.  You will probably be working with other translators and such.”



“And what about the fact that I live in Podunk, USA?”



“Well, Sarah lives on the other side of the USA from you. You still do translations for her.  You don't see her everyday.  It could be done.  Just go and see what he wants.  If not for you, then do it for me.  You know I live vicariously through you anyway.”  Beth laughed and it made Shailajah smile. 



“Yeah.  I am making a big deal out of this, aren't I?”



“Yes! You are, as usual.  You think too much.  Just this time, go with the flow. Gotta go.  Let me know how it goes.”



“I will.  Bye.”