Characters

Those who live in the apartment building, or work near it:

Vishnu (a drunk who occupies the landing between the ground and first floor, and does odd jobs for the families in the building)

Tall Ganga (promised the landing and her paid duties to Vishnu when she left to live with her son)

Short Ganga (hired to deliver the milk and other chores when Vishnu was found to be incompetent)

Radiowalla (Nathurum) lives on the landing above Vishnu

Cigarettewalla (Romu) (cigarette seller)

Paanwalla (the bread maker)

Thanu Lal (lives on the top landing)

Mrs. Asrani (Aruna)

Mr. Asrani (Manohar)

Kavita (their 18 year old daughter)

Mrs. Pathak (Usha)

Mr. Pathak

Veeru (their eldest son who is away at college)

Rajan (younger son, about Shyamu’s age)

Mrs. Jalal (Arifa)

Mr. Jalal (Ahmed)

Salim (their only child, who is about Kavita’s age)

Mr. Taneja (Vinod)

Mrs. Taneja (Sheetal) his wife who died many years ago

 

Others:

Padmini (a prostitute whom Vishnu loves)

Nafeesa (Mrs. Asrani’s sister who takes her to a shrine to break the evil spell on her husband)

Swammiji (guru of the ashram Mr. Taneja visits)

The Kitty Party participants:

Mrs. Jaiswal (Sheila) (controls the desirable kitty parties; long ago appeared in a couple of films; her son Rojit goes to school in the United States )

Mrs. Bawa (mentioned as one who has been banished from the card game circuit)

Mrs. Mirchandani

Mrs. Ganesh

Those involved in Kavita’s possible marriage:

Mrs. Lalwani (the one who brings Pran and Kavita together)

Pran (the prospective husband, an engineer)

Mrs. Kotwani (his mother)

Members of the board of the Greater Bombay Social Cooperative:

Mr. Wazir

Mr. Kailash

Mrs. Bhagwati (wealthy widow who proposes to Mr. Taneja)