Hem Narayan Ray in front of the VIP lift at Writers’ that he has manned for three decades. (Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya)

Hem Narayan Ray can’t stop smiling when you ask him: “What would you do if you were stuck in a lift with Mamata Banerjee?”

“My job is such that I am always in a lift with one very important person or the other!” quips the liftman of the VIP wing at Writers’ Buildings, holding out two pages torn from a diary.

Scribbled across those two pages in blue ballpoint ink is Hem Narayan’s “special welcome gift” for Mamata.

“I am looking forward to giving her this. It’s a poem I have written in her honour,” says the 54-year-old.

Hem Narayan hasn’t titled his ode to Mamata yet, but there’s no mistaking who it is meant for.

“Kya kehna hai Mamtadi ko/Gajab ka naam kamali hain/Paribartan ko nara dekar/Gaddi khud apna li (What do I say about Mamatadi/she has blazed a trail/Shouting the slogan of change/She has wrested the seat of power),” writes the liftman.

In his 32 years at Writers’, Hem Narayan has rubbed shoulders with the entire Left Front pantheon — from Jyoti Basu to Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — in the confines of his small workspace. You name a leader, he has seen the person up close.

“Jyotibabu was a stern man who seldom smiled, although I can’t remember one occasion when he scolded me or anyone else in my presence. Buddhababu is a very nice human being and that comes across in the way he conducts himself. I have the highest respect for him,” he says.

But this is the first time in his career of more than three decades that the former co-ordination committee member has “felt inspired” to sing a paean to someone.

So what is it about Mamata that has prompted Hem Narayan to put personal admiration above protocol and pen a poem for her?

“Aurat mein woh agnikanya hai…. Larne mein Jhansi Ki Rani (She is the epitome of the fiery woman….a fighter like the Rani of Jhansi),” recites Hem Narayan, who has been fond of poetry since his younger days.

Born in Bihar’s Samastipur district, Hem Narayan learnt how to operate a lift from his father, whose job at Writers’ he later inherited. “I started working here on August 23, 1979, and am due to retire on March 31, 2017,” he says.

His mother, wife, three sons and two daughters live in Bihar, where he intends to return after his retirement.

“This is the centre of my universe at the moment. I spend more than eight hours here every day, from 8am to 4.40pm. I have grown used to the routine after 32 years,” smiles Hem Narayan.

Of all the celebrities he has escorted to various floors of the VIP wing, the two faces that Hem Narayan says he won’t forget are of Sourav Ganguly and Ratan Tata.

“Both are such powerful personalities. I feel privileged to have seen them from close quarters,” says Hem Narayan.

One of his anecdotes dates back to the Jyoti Basu era when the late chief minister was stranded in the lift between two floors during a power cut. “After that incident, the lift was replaced with one that doesn’t stall between floors,” he recalls.

So is the lift the only change that he has seen at Writers’ in all these years?

“The mood at Writers’ seems to have been lifted by the change that has just come about,” signs off Hem Narayan.