Her knowledge of all the eateries in town is encyclopedic. She’ll not only give you directions to these eateries, but also enlighten you on the House Specials. Why, she could even give you a ballpark estimate for a dinner for two. The quintessential people’s person, you’re most likely to find her holding court, and blowing smoke rings, either on the second or the third floor landing. She’s 21 or thereabouts, and has often been heard announcing that rather loudly. Quite traumatic for those who are no longer so young.s a u r a b h . p a t e l
A man of few words. When he does speak, it’s in a delightful accent that’s somewhere between Yankee and Amdavadi. He’s spent seven long, dhokla-deprived years in the United States and is still prone to dropping the odd Americanism: Zip Code, for instance, instead of Pin Code. You’ll often find him reminiscing about the snowfall in New York City, especially on days when there’s no air-conditioning. He needs to quickly get out of the habit of walking up to Accounts every Friday, demanding his paycheck. Another habit picked up in America.
s u b h a s h . p a i s
Entertained visions of being a steely Warrior until the butterflies claimed him. He’s not taken very kindly to this and is running a lone campaign to regain 'warrior' status. An absolute film buff, he loves watching films in his spare time and then writing about them. But then he ends up watching so many you’d think he’s flush with spare time. He has a wicked sense of humour, delivering his funny lines with a poker face. Often to be seen exchanging friendly banter with his immediate neighbour, Shikha Johnson.
s n e h a . p i a r e j i
One of the few remaining members of that rapidly disappearing species—the 'silent executive'. She’s so quiet, you’ll barely know she’s in the same room. She’d much rather let her writing do the talking. She, too, was bitten by the film bug quite early, and harbours hopes of making a film some day. She’s a non-conformist when it comes to food, surviving at times on an intriguing diet of bread, jam and boiled grams, followed by generous helping of bitter chocolate. She does consume an alarming amount of coffee though out of a huge mug that bears the legend ‘Sophia Polytechnic’, a piece of college memorabilia.
p o o j a . k a u r a
She’s a feisty one, always in the thick of action, always eager to take up the next challenge. Part of the old guard at Culture Curry, she has tried every trick in the book to get people to contribute: e-mails, private requests, veiled threats, incessant follow-ups. They’ve worked at times, and at times they haven’t. But knowing her, she’ll continue to persist. A doting mother, no conversation with her is complete without a mention of her little boy and his most recent exploits. These elaborate descriptions have been christened Madhav ke kisse.
p i y u s h . j a i n
He walks with a swagger ala King Viv in the eighties. And when he sits for a meeting, he monopolises the conversation much like Microsoft monopolises software. He’s perpetually in a state of excitement, forever brimming with ideas, never satisfied with status quo. His enthusiasm and his big booming laugh are infectious. He writes regularly for Culture Curry, and very insightful articles they are too, but his contributions always come in at the eleventh hour—at the time of going to press, so to speak.
a r i n d a m . c
He’s a bit of an anachronism in the present-day setting. A lot of people feel he would have been perfect for the sixties. But he makes up for it by listening to a lot of vintage music and watching a lot of old classics. He’s unwittingly earned the reputation of the 'guy who rarely smiles'. He thinks it’s a cool title though and in trying to live up to that image he’s smiling even less these days.
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